General Arbitration Concepts and Alternatives

Another option to non-judicial dispute resolution is arbitration. One of the primary differences between mediation and arbitration is the role of the third person. In mediation, the mediator is a neutral who provides no opinions nor makes decision. With arbitration, the arbitrator is given the authority to make decisions or at a very minimum, offer opinions. For those individuals who would prefer that the outside third person take a more evaluative role, then these are the alternative arbitration options to consider.

The options are binding arbitration, binding bi-nary arbitration and two forms of non-binding arbitration.

The benefits of binding arbitration might include:

You can selectively decide what issues you want to submit for arbitration if you did not want to submit the entire case;
You decide how formally you want to have the Rules of Evidence apply;
You can place limits on the arbitration decision. For instance, if the issue was alimony you could, by agreement, limit the low and high ranges of the decision;
You choose what type, if any, of a recording you want to have of the hearing;
You can arrange a hearing quickly, usually within 30 days;
You decide whether you want the decision to be reasoned, that is to include findings of fact or without, that is to just have the decision issued;
Arbitration can be conducted with or without lawyers.

See the sample Binding Arbitration Agreement.

Bi-nary arbitration has all of the same benefits listed above except under this arrangement, you and the other party would agree that the arbitration decision would be limited to a choice of either accepting the petitioner's view or the respondent's view. There would be nothing outside of or in between the two choices presented. This generally has the benefit of causing the two positions to be much closer when they are presented and less likely to have an extreme position (home run) being awarded.

See the sample Bi-nary Arbitration Agreement.

Non-binding arbitration is just that. Again, the same benefits apply but this option is basically advisory to the parties for them to accept or reject as they may both determine. If the parties agree to accept the non-binding arbitration decision, it could then be reduced to a court ordered decision.

See the sample Non-Binding Arbitration Agreement.

There is another type of non-binding arbitration that is provided for under Rule 102 of the Utah Rules of Court-Annexed Alternative Dispute Resolution. Under this process, the arbitration award is filed with the court. If either party is unhappy with the decision, a trial de novo can be requested. If the party making the request for a judicial trial de novo, fails to achieve a better result than provided in the award, that party shall pay all arbitration fees and the attorney fees of the other party.

See the sample Non-Binding Arbitration Agreement with Trial de novo.

My fee structure is $160.00 per hour which would be divided equally by the parties unless by agreement it is divided differently. The fee would also include my time to prepare any award or written opinion. The fee would be payable at the conclusion of the hearing.