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California and Maryland Arbitration Cases

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CALIFORNIA AND MARYLAND ARBITRATION CASES

OVERVIEW

This section of the CDRS website has been constructed to provide compliance with the Maryland Commercial Law section 14-3903 and the California Code of Civil Procedures section 1281.96 that requires any private arbitration company that administers or it otherwise involve in, a consumer arbitration, including Arbitrators, Attorneys and Arbitrator Providers who conduct or participate in consumer arbitrations to publish specified information related to the arbitration including but not limited to:

CDRS ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENT AND ACCURACY OF THE INORMATION PROVIDED BELOW AS THE CALIFORNIA CCP OR MARYLAND CODES MAY BE CHANGED FROM TIME TO TIME BY THE STATES INVOLVED AND SOME OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IS THE INTERPRETATION OF THE REQUIREMENTS BY CDRS.  PLEASE REFER TO THE ACTUAL STATE STATUTES RELATED TO THE REQUIREMENT OF ARBITRATORS, ATTORNEYS AND ARBITRATION PROVIDERS WHO CONDUCT OR PARTICIPATE IN THE ARBITRATION PROCESS.

 

California Code of Civil Procedures Section 1281.96 CDRS Summary
Information to be published on the website

CCP 1281.96

a) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and private arbitration company that administers or is otherwise involved in, a consumer arbitration, shall collect, publish at least quarterly, and make available to the public in a computer-searchable format, which shall be accessible at the Internet Website of the private arbitration company, if any, and on paper upon request, all of the following information regarding each consumer arbitration with the preceding five years:

  1.  Whether arbitration was demanded pursuant to a pre-dispute arbitration clause and, if so, whether the pre-dispute arbitration clause designated the administering private arbitration company.
  2. Name of the non-consumer party, if the party is a corporation or other business entity, and whether the non-consumer party was the initiating party or the responding party, if known.
  3. The type of dispute involved, including goods, banking, insurance, health care, employment, and, if it involves employment, the amount of the employee’s annual wage divided into the following ranges: less than on hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), inclusive, and over two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000)
  4. Whether the consumer or non-consumer party was the prevailing party.
  5. On how many occasion, if any, the non-consumer party has previously been a party in an arbitration or mediation administered by the private arbitration company.
  6. Whether the non-consumer party was represented by an attorney and, if so, the name of the attorney and the full name of the law firm that employs the attorney, if any.
  7. The date the private arbitration company received the demand for arbitration, the date the arbitrator was appointed, and the date of disposition by the arbitrator or private arbitration company. 
  8. The type of disposition of the dispute, if known, including withdrawal, abandonment, settlement, award after hearing, award without hearing, default, or dismissal without hearing.  If a case was administered in a hearing, indicate whether the hearing was conducted in person, by telephone or video conference or by documents only.
  9. The amount of the claim, the amount of the award, and any other relief granted, if any.
  10. The name of the arbitrator, his or her total fee for the case, and the percentage of the arbitrator’s fee allocated to each party.
  11. If a case was administered in a hearing, indicate whether the hearing was conducted in person, by telephone or video conference or by documents only.

 

NOTES:

  1. Section 1281.96 paragraph 2(d) – No private arbitration company shall have any liability for collecting, publishing, or distributing the information required by this section.
  2. A Private arbitration company that administers or conducts fewer than 50 consumer arbitration per year may collect and publish the information required by this section every six months as opposed to every quarter as required above. (Note that Maryland Code Section 14-3902 states that “This subtitle applies to an arbitration organization that performs an arbitration activity related to 50 or more consumer arbitrations during a 5-year period.)
  3. Although the Maryland Code is very similar in its requirements to the CCP, please refer to the Maryland Code to ascertain the differences between the California CCP and the Maryland Code – Commercial Law – Section 14-3901 through 14-3905.
  4. Many arbitrations administered by CDRS do not have a specific dollar amount related to the claim(s) where CDRS arbitrators issue awards indicating whether a claim is a “covered” or “not covered” by the warranty issued to the consumer by the builder or remodeler.

OTHER INTERESTING REQUIREMENTS

  1.  CCP 1284.3 – No neutral arbitrator or private arbitration company shall administer a consumer arbitration under any agreement or rule requiring that a consumer who is a party to the arbitration pay the fees and costs incurred by an opposing party if the consumer does not prevail in the arbitration.  including, but not limited to, the fees and costs of the arbitrator, provider organization, attorney, or witness.
  2. Disclosure Requirements CCP 1281.9

(a)(4) – Disclose the names of the parties to all prior or pending non-collective bargaining cases involving any party to the arbitration or lawyer for a party for which the proposed neutral arbitrator served or is serving as neutral arbitrator, and the results of each case arbitrated to conclusion, including the date of the arbitration award, identification of the prevailing party, the names of the parties’ attorneys and the amount of monetary damages awarded, if any……..
(a)(5) – Any attorney-client relationship the proposed neutral arbitrator has or had with any party or lawyer for a party to the arbitration proceeding.
   3.   CCP 1281.95
(a) – In a binding arbitration of any claim for more than three thousand dollars ($3,000) pursuant to a contract for the construction or improvement of residential property consisting of one to four units, the arbitrator shall, within 10 days following his or her appointment, provide to each party a written declaration under penalty of perjury.  This declaration shall disclose (1) whether the arbitrator or his or her employer or arbitration service had or has a personal professional affiliation with either party, and (2)whether the arbitrator or his or her employer or arbitration service  has been selected or designated as an arbitrator by either party in another transaction.
(c) – A notice of disqualification shall be served within 15 days after the arbitrator makes the required disclosures or fails to comply……………

 

CDRS CALIFORNIA AND MARYLAND ARBITRATION CASES

As CDRS, in November 2016, was advised by our attorneys that CDRS should comply with the California and Maryland arbitration requirements, CDRS is posting the information required to our website commencing with an arbitration cases in California and Maryland where the Arbitration Award was issued subsequent to December 1, 2016.

As there are often multiple claims and there may be no monetary award granted as requested by the Parties, it may be difficult for CDRS to determine if there is a “prevailing party”.

Each case is listed according to the date that the Arbitration Award was issued by the Arbitrator.  The information is compiled by the CDRS Case Administrator without any direct input from the Arbitrator.

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CALIFORNIA

CDRS Case #COV-SP81: Homeowner v. CalAtlantic (formerly Standard Pacific)

  1. The arbitration was conducted according to an arbitration agreement specified in the Professional Warranty Services Corporation Warranty (PWSC) Booklet.  CDRS was selected by PWSC to conduct the arbitration process.
  2. The dispute was to determine if a construction issue is “covered” or “not covered” by the warranty booklet.  No monetary considerations were requested by the parties.
  3. The non-consumer party was the prevailing party as the arbitrator determined that the claim was “not-covered” by the warranty booklet.
  4. CDRS has served as the arbitration provider in five (5) previous cases involving CalAtlantic (formerly Standard Pacific).
  5. The consumer party was not represented by Counsel.
  6. The non-consumer party was not represented by Counsel.
  7. CDRS received the request for arbitration services on March 6, 2017.  The Arbitrator was appointed by CDRS in March 2017.
  8. An Arbitration Hearing was held in person on May 12, 2017 at the consumer’s residence.
  9. Date Arbitration Award Issued by the Arbitrator – May 16, 2017.
The Arbitrator was Mrs. Grace Seferian of Berkeley California.  She was paid $500.00 by CDRS for his services as the arbitrator.  CDRS received $700.00 from PWSC to administer the case.  Total remittance from PWSC was $1,200.00.