Frequently Asked Questions
Glossary:
Plaintiff: The party making the Claim.
Defendant: The party against whom the Claim is made.
Claim: The Plaintiff’s legal and factual allegation against the Defendant.
E-Judge: The party deciding who prevails (wins) in the dispute.
Discovery: The process in which the parties request information from each other.
Award: Written determination by the Judge as to who prevails (wins) the dispute.
Jurisdiction: The authority granted to the court to hear a case.
Counter Claim: An additional Claim by the defendant against the plaintiff.
Awards
Brief can facilitate a settlement between the Plaintiff and you after you register online here.
The E-Judge will typically apply the law of the state in which the Claim arose, unless there is an agreement or contract that requires the application of a different jurisdiction’s law. If there is a dispute as to which law applies, the E-Judge will evaluate that aspect of the dispute and make a determination as to which law applies.
Similar to traditional arbitration and mediation, Brief is a private service and renders the parties in a dispute an Award (decision). Again, similar to traditional arbitration and mediation, the Award will be a one-to-two page document that summarizes the Claim, the E-Judge’s decision, and why they decided in that way. That Award can then, at the choice of the prevailing (winning) party, be filed with the appropriate court to be converted into a legally binding judgment.
Not necessarily. The parties are encouraged to resolve the Award after it is issued but if the parties cannot reach an agreement after the Award is issued, the prevailing party is entitled to seek to convert or reduce the Award into an enforceable court judgment.
In the context of arbitration, a judgment is when a court with proper jurisdiction reduces or confirms the Award and converts into an enforceable court judgment.
Yes, it is a final determination of the merits of the dispute (Claim). But to become enforceable, the prevailing (winning) party must file the Award with the appropriate court to convert it into a court judgment.
An arbitration Award can only be appealed if the disputing parties agreed to an appealable Award in their original contract or in some other binding agreement.
An adverse Award may affect your credit, so attention to this dispute is paramount.
Unfortunately, in every dispute, there are winners and non-winners. Once an Award is rendered (posted) by Brief, it is up to the prevailing (winning) party to have that Award converted into a Judgment. All of the parties’ rights (Plaintiff or Defendant) are preserved in connection with that Judgment process. To avoid future adverse consequences, many parties will try and resolve the matter informally at this stage before the Award is converted to a Judgment but that is up to the parties themselves to try and accomplish that.
Under federal and state laws, there are ways to challenge an arbitration award. The Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and some state laws provide the reasons why an award can be vacated (thrown out), modified (changed), or corrected. Those reasons are very limited in general. Please review the FAA or the applicable state law to understand the standards for modification, correction or being vacated.