ADR in the Upper House: Mediating the Mediation Act, Rejecting Brussels

The Upper House (Bundesrat) of the German Parliament has been active in ADR related matters twice this month:

First, its Legal Committee (Rechtausschuss) sent the Mediation Act, which has been unanimously approved by the Lower House (Bundestag)  to the Mediation Committee (Vermittlungsausschuss). Pardon the pun, but I am using the quasi-official translation for the joint committee of the two Houses, provided for in Art. 77 of the German Constitution. Continue reading

German Arbitration Institution’s Suite of ADR Rules Now Available in English

The German Arbitration Institution (DIS) is the leading arbitration institution in Germany. In 2010, DIS created a suite of procedural rules for alternative dispute resolution, complementing its arbitration rules. As of this week, these rules are finally available in English.
 
One element stands out in this suite of rules, namely the Conflict Management Rules (Konfliktmanagementordnung; DIS-KMO). These rules are “meta conflict rules”, so to speak: They are designed to assist parties in identifying the dispute resolution mechanism most suited to their needs after the conflict has arisen.
 

KapMuG: Legislative Process Started to Revise Capital Market Investors’ Model Proceeding Act

During Christmas and the New Year, whilst I was taking a break and stopped blogging, law makers in Berlin remained busy up and until the last business day of the year: 

On December 30, 2011, the draft of the revised Kapitalanlegermusterverfahrensgesetz, or KapMuG for short, the Capital Market Investors’ Model Proceeding Act, has been submitted to the Upper Chamber (Bundesrat) of the German Parliament. I had reported previously about the background to the revision of the Act. Continue reading

Standard & Poor’s Can be Sued in Frankfurt – Update

As reported, the Frankfurt Court of Appeals (Oberlandesgericht) on November 29, 2011 has held it has jurisdiction to hear claims for damages against Standard & Poor’s in relation to losses caused by investing in Lehman certificates. In my opinion, the Court of Appeals has taken a surprisingly liberal approach to assuming jurisdiction; quite honestly, the first instance judgment was more in line with what I would have expected. As a New York lawyer commented: “Seems like the German courts are learning from the US courts on extending their jurisdictional reach!” Continue reading