AAA Updates its Mass Arbitration Rules

The AAA has announced, effective April 1st, new updates to its Mass Arbitration Rules.  Mass Arbitrations are defined, under the rules, as:

• twenty-five or more Consumer or Employment/Workplace similar Demands for Arbitration (Demand(s)) filed against or on behalf of the same party or related parties, or

• one-hundred or more non-Consumer/non-Employment/Workplace similar Demands filed against or on behalf of the same party or related parties, and

• where representation of all parties is consistent or coordinated across the cases.

The original Mass Arbitration Rules, which came into effect in 2021, were not without some points of contention. The updates are designed to address those.

 More specifically, the updates now require the parties to “include an affirmation that the information provided for each individual case is true and correct to the best of the representative’s knowledge.”  MA-2 (emphasis added).  The filing fees have been changed so there is only one initiation fee rather than the previous requirement of an initiation fee for each individual case.  For consumer and employment cases, the initiation fee is $3,125 for individuals and $8,125 for businesses.  For non-consumer and non-employment cases, it is $20,000 for the filing party(s).  Lastly, the role of the process arbitrator has been expanded.

 To review the updates, click here.

To review the fee schedule for consumer cases, click here.

To review the fee schedule for employment cases, click here.

To review the fee schedules for non-consumer and non-employment cases, click here.