Letters from Vienna: Reflections on the Coffee House Debate on Whether Arbitration is Appropriate for the Resolution of Mass Claims in the Aftermath of the US Supreme Court Decision in At&T Mobility V. Concepcion

Abstract

Just ten days before the US Supreme Court rendered its decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, a panel of distinguished arbitration practitioners met in Vienna on 17 April 2011 to debate hypothetically whether 'arbitration is appropriate for the resolution of mass claims.' The ICDR and SCC jointly-sponsored event successfully tackled 'the proliferation of mass claims systems' and subsequent efforts by legislators and arbitration institutions 'to provide models for the resolution of mass claims.' This paper annotates the debate and provides a commentary on the expected developments after the seminal decision rendered by the US Supreme Court.