Alternative Dispute Resolution Paper

Alternative Dispute Resolution Paper

Nicole Barker

LAW/531

January 11, 2016

Judith Gray

Alternative Dispute Resolution Paper

        The dispute that I decided to go with was a Jack in the Box E Coli outbreak back in 1993. Jack in The Box is a corporation. It is a fast food restaurant. On January 13, 1993, the Washington Department of Health (WDOH) was notified that several people had fallen ill. All of them had eaten at Jack in The Box days prior to the outbreak. This outbreak affected their locations in Washington, Idaho, California and Nevada (Marlerclark, 2015).

        Just to give some background, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) includes dispute resolution process and techniques that act as a mean for disagreeing parties to come to an agreement short of litigations (cite. Business owners are aware that litigations can be costly and very time consuming. Over the past two decades, U.S. courts have pursued a studied avoidance of transnational litigation (Bookman, May, 2015). ADR can include resolutions such as meditations, arbitration and negotiations. Arbitration provisions jurisdictions of a franchise dispute away from the civil courts and place it in the hands of an arbitrator, which is selecting an alternative to traditional litigations (Irina, December, 2015). Lawyers at Marler Clark handled most of the litigations. It resulted in individual and class action settlements.

        Traditional litigations can take on an average of over 2 years to resolve, when in comparison ADR can be resolved in as little as 5-6 months. Trials with traditional litigations are seen and processed as public, where as if mediation is selected it is entirely confidential, (

Bryant, T. J., & Lane, M. E. 2013).Since this was made public, Jack in The Box lost $160 million within 18 months following the outbreak (Marlerclark, 2015). Stockholders even filed suites because of loss of sales due to the negative publicity.

        The lawsuit would have begun with a complaint. The defendant would need to answer the complaint. During discovery both sides gather up facts for their cases. If there is a trial, the jury is selected ad both sides are given the chance to present their case. Once the jury reaches a verdict the judge will decide the settlement amount. This brings negative attention to the corporation.

My recommendation is Jack in the Box should have used negotiations and mediation so that the business is no affected negatively.  I would want to keep this situation as quite as possible. This is not the type of case that you would want to drag on for years. You would want this resolved fast and have the business back to business. By trying to negotiate, it allows both parties to try and reach a voluntary settlement.  The mediator is not making a decision. Their job is to aid in helping both parties in reaching a decision and a settlement.