Arbitration Espresso
Can I go to arbitration if there are more than two parties?
What is there are more than 2 parties involved? Ordinarily arbitration is meant for 2 parties, as is traditional litigation. However, in certain circumstances more than two parties can be involved in a dispute. Examples are contracts with more than 2 parties, serial contracts, delivery contracts, large projects. In such cases arbitration can be difficult, because of the number of arbitrators and that everyone needs to be treated equally. A problem may also occur if not all parties have agreed to arbitration with the same arbitration clause. Such cases are not impossible to resolve, but it helps if the arbitration clauses match one another or the basis is a single contract. I recommend that you choose institutional rules that contain provisions about joinder or consolidation in order to cope with such situations.