Assume that a statute in your state requires that all civil lawsuits involving damages of less than $ 50,000 be arbitrated. Such a case can be tried in court only if a party is dissatisfied with the arbitrator’s decision. The statute also provides that if a trial does not result in an improvement of more than 10 percent in the position of the party who demanded the trial, that party must pay the entire costs of the arbitration proceeding.
(a) One group will argue that the state statute violates litigants’ rights of access to the courts and to trial by jury.
(b) Another group will argue that the statute does not violate litigants’ rights of access to the courts.
(c) A third group will evaluate how the determination on rights of access would be changed if the statute was part of a pilot program and affected only a few judicial districts in the state.