Dispute Resolution (101)

Dispute Resolution (101)

One of the main issues that any online user should concern nowadays - whilst contracting through the internet - is dispute resolution (DR) or alternative dispute resolutions (ADR). So, what is dispute resolution? Well, the meaning of such term is simply: “ that kind of process or procedure – whether it was judicial or not- that apply and fall outside of the judicial processes, in order to resolve a dispute, claim or conflict related to an online contract, agreement or any similar behaviours”

The advantages and disadvantages of ADR:

§  Advantages:

1.      This kind of resolution give to its parties a less formal process which will make them more comfortable as there is no formal pressure comparing to the court process, (reliable environment)

2.      The process of the ADR are, usually, acceptable regarding its cost and time

3.      Privacy, as most of the ADR processes are not public ( confidentially )

4.      The parties can present any kind of evidence – whether judicial or not or whether formal or not- which will make such process more flexible to these parties

§  Disadvantages:

1.      In some cases there might be no balance between parties’ positions or status, in which one of them might have more authority than the other

2.      In some cases if the claim relied on legal matter the party might find himself facing a lack of knowledge or expertise as he/she does not know how to deal with such legal matter

3.      In some cases the ADR might fail, which will consider as a waste of time to the parties as the claim or dispute will transfer to the court to deal with it

4.      Finally, the decision of the ADR is mostly not enforceable or in other words it does not bind to dispute parties, in which the parties will go to court to settle their dispute

The types of ADR, the most common types are:

1.      Negotiation: in this type the parties can exchange their opinions trying to solve their dispute, via any agreed instrument (for example e-mails)

2.      Mediation: this type is one of the most common process that uses nowadays to resolve disputes; although, this type governed by special rules (laws or legal rules) that organised its process, time, mediator power or authority, the final decision...etc

3.      Arbitration: this type considers the most important one as it use for commercial, civil and governmental disputes. As the mediation, this type governed by special rules (laws or legal rules) in which organise the process of an arbitration, time, decision, use evidence, arbitrator power...etc

Note: there are other types of ADR but those are the most common types, although I’ll write other posts in future determine mediation and arbitration

Now let’s see how this topic is important to you as an online user:

If you are intending to buy something or to sell something through the internet, this topic should be one of your concerns as it covered any dispute that might arise regarding your transaction or contract.

Well, let’s make it easy, for example when you buy or sell from or via eBay you know that this site provides a user agreement (which placed in the bottom of the homepage). When you open this agreement you will notice that there is a term call “Legal Disputes” which look like this:



YOU CAN SEE THE IMPORTANCE OF SUCH TOPIC, THEREFORE, YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT SUCH TERM MEAN AND WHERE TO FIND IT IN ANY AGREEMENT YOU MADE, OR WHERE TO PLACE IT IF YOU ARE SELLING ONLINE. SO PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU READ SUCH TERM WHILST CONTRACTING THROUGH THE INTERNET

Mohammad Al-Thunibat