After a few introductory words by DIS board member Jennifer Bryant, the panelists Fara Tabatabai, Moritz Schmitt and Kathrin Asschenfeldt took a look into the crystal ball and discussed the nuts and bolts of mass arbitration. While Fara explained mass arbitration as a recent phenomenon in the U.S. that has created millions of filing fees and forced companies into costly early settlements, Moritz assessed whether mass arbitration as such would be permissible in the German landscape and what the issues would be if so.
The panel, moderated by Kathrin, in particular elaborated on possible other scenarios of or similar to mass arbitration, how to avoid conflicting decisions and whether repeat appointments by the respondent should be treated more leniently in those cases. Overall, the panel and the active audience seemed to agree that mass arbitration as known from the U.S. will rather not become the new norm in Germany any time soon.
Jennifer Bryant