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KBR, Rape and Outrageous Contracts

Discussion in 'Alley of Dangerous Angles' started by Chandos the Red, Jul 3, 2011.

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  1. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    C'mon Snook, you know better than that. The reason that big companies, such as, especially, insurance companies like Kaiser, want arbitration is so that they have an ability to pick their judge. If an arbitrator rules again them too many times, they don't pick him or her again. It's not too hard to see in action in the legal field, and it's rather ugly.
     
    dmc, Jul 11, 2011
    #21
  2. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I don't believe they get to pick the judge; they get to pick the arbitration company who then picks the arbiter.

    Of course, it has nearly the same effect since a big corporation will send lots of business the way of an arbitration company whose arbiters rule in their favor, while each individual plaintif they will see once.

    It's really too bad that so much comes down to money in the end. Something like arbitration needs to be more independent.
     
    Blackthorne TA, Jul 11, 2011
    #22
  3. Ragusa

    Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran

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    Don't play dumb. It is exceedingly unlikely that 113 of 116 cases were just instances of sour grapes without merit, as the arbiter wisely found when he refused to award them any money.

    This sounds to good to be true. By rule of thumb, when it sounds to good to be true, it probably isn't.

    A normal ratio would be something like 40-60 vs 60-40. Everybody makes mistakes, employers and employees. Employers often make mistakes in employment law and contracting, regularly resulting in monetary compensation. But not so at KBR, who have something like 80% total arbitration rulings in favour of the company, and something 99+% as far as money is concerned? The numbers are ... unusual, to say the least. They stand in stark contrast to what experience in work law suggests, and indeed, in stark contrast to what life experience should suggest.

    dmc and BTA are probably right on the likely reasons for KBR's unusually favourable arbitration track record: KBR probably cheats. It looks as if they have rigged the process in their favour not to save time (after all, they arbitrated Jones case for five years) or to be fair but to achieve (lopsided) results they could never get in court with an impartial judge.

    There is the say that the best way to rob a bank is to own one. Building on that, I suggest that the easiest way to win in a dispute is to pick the judge, own or rent the court and set up the rules, and have everything under corporate confidentiality (trade secrets!) - and call it arbitration.
     
    Ragusa, Jul 11, 2011
    #23
  4. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    BTA - you actually get input into the specific arbitrator, not just the company.
     
    dmc, Jul 11, 2011
    #24
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