{"id":895903,"date":"2019-05-21T15:36:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T21:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=895903"},"modified":"2019-05-21T15:36:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T21:36:14","slug":"mandatory-arbitration-in-your-construction-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/mandatory-arbitration-in-your-construction-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Really Want Mandatory Arbitration in Your Construction Contract?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Christopher G. Hill | <a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/do-you-really-want-mandatory-arbitration-in-your-construction-contract\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ConstructionLawMusings-RichmondVa+%28Construction+Law+Musings-+Richmond%2C+VA%29\">Construction Law Musings<\/a> | May 14, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are in construction, you have likley run across (or even drafted) a dispute resolution provision into your construction contract.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been building for any length of time, you\u2019ve read dispute resolution provisions containing\u00a0mandatory arbitration clauses.\u00a0 These clauses can be found in the AIA documents and in many of the contracts that I review for my clients in my role as\u00a0construction lawyer and counselor.\u00a0 More often than not, these arbitration clauses require arbitration (read \u201cprivate court\u201d) and refer to one of several sets of rules, though most likely the American Arbitration Association (\u201cAAA\u201d) Construction Industry rules.\u00a0 In Virginia, as in most of the United States, these clauses are read liberally and enforced by courts except in limited cases\u00a0such as waiver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main justification for requiring arbitration over litigation is to avoid the\u00a0fees and expense of the litigation process.\u00a0 In the right circumstances, arbitration does just that.\u00a0 With a carefully drafted arbitration clauses and with the right case that requires expertise in construction that a judge does not have (they have to liten to all manner of disputes so are necessarily generalists), arbitration can and should be a streamlined and less expensive version of litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, in my time as\u00a0a construction attorney, I have more often run into situations where the arbitration process is at least equally expensive and frankly not much more streamlined.\u00a0 The additional administrative burden coupled with the possibility of paying for at least half of the hourly charges of one to three arbitrators is often not worth the additional expertise of those arbitrators.\u00a0 Many construction claims simply come down to non-payment and whether the work was performed properly.\u00a0 In my opinion, the fine judges in the Commonwealth of Virginia are more than capable of hearing this evidence and making a ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does that make arbitration the wrong choice in every instance? No.\u00a0 I added \u201cmandatory\u201d to the title of this post for a reason.\u00a0 Parties can always agree to\u00a0arbitrate (or even better mediate)regardless of the contract. Even better, in our fine state where\u00a0the contract is king, the dispute resolution provision can allow for a choice to be made between litigation and arbitration at the time of the claim.\u00a0 This allows for flexibility and use of the appropriate tool for the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where arbitration is the right way to go, that can and should be the choice, however where it is not the right way to go, mandatory arbitration clauses force the use of a process that may not be the best for either party to the contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher G. Hill | Construction Law Musings | May 14, 2019 If you are in construction, you have likley run across (or even drafted) a dispute resolution provision into your construction contract.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been building for any length of time, you\u2019ve read dispute resolution provisions containing\u00a0mandatory arbitration clauses.\u00a0 These clauses can be found in&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/mandatory-arbitration-in-your-construction-contract\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Do You Really Want Mandatory Arbitration in Your Construction Contract?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41,9],"tags":[9895,224,9258],"class_list":["post-895903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arbitration","category-construction-contracts","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-contract","tag-mandatory-arbitration","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Do You Really Want Mandatory Arbitration in Your Construction Contract? 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