November 26, 2018
Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP is pleased to announce the launch of the Same-Day Justice Program, an arbitration service where participants can participate in an evidentiary hearing and receive a decision in their case that same day.
The Same-Day Justice Program is designed to give parties with disputes in the $50,000-$500,000 range an efficient and affordable solution for resolution of their commercial disputes. Parties who use the program will waive their right to go to court and agree instead to arbitrate their dispute before a private neutral arbitrator, who has binding authority to issue an award resolving the matter.
Each side pays a flat fee—for a half-day or full day—and the expert arbitrator will carefully consider each side’s evidence at the hearing and then render a decision. That award is enforceable in courts, just like a judgment obtained after years of litigation in the court system. The parties don’t need to use a lawyer, although they are free to do so.
The arbitration hearing takes place in person, unless the parties agree otherwise. The parties bring all their evidence (documents and witnesses) to the hearing for consideration by the arbitrator. Shortly before the hearing, the parties will exchange with each other the documents they intend to use at the hearing as well as a list of the witnesses they will call to testify. The parties may present their case in any manner they chose, whether by narrative or in question-and-answer format.
The arbitrator issues a decision on the day of the session.
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The Same-Day Justice Program is administered by Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP partner Erik Groothuis, who has spent two decades practicing civil litigation—roughly half representing plaintiffs and half representing defendants.
For more information, visit www.same-dayjustice.com or contact Erik S. Groothuis at egroothuis@schlamstone.com.