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7 Disp. Resol. Mag. 24 (2000-2001)
The Alabama Story

handle is hein.journals/disput7 and id is 141 raw text is: ARITRATIO The Alabama Story The state's experience with arbitration shows the connection of law to politics and culture By Stephen J. Ware T he signs on trees along the high- ways of Alabama say Arbitration: A License to Steal. This accusation also appears on bumper stickers and even on coozies (those foam things that keep a drink cold). The license to steal signs first appeared throughout Alabama in the months prior to the November 2000 elections. The Alabama Supreme Court is elected in partisan races, and five of Stephen J. Ware is a professor at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law and author of the Hornbook on Al- ternative Dispute Resolution (West Group 2001). He can be reached at sjware@samford. edu. This article is based in part on previ- ous articles by Professor Ware: Money, Politics and Judicial Decisions: A Case Study of Arbitration Law in Alabama, 15 Journal of Law & Politics 645 (1999), and Truce Possible in GOP-Dominated High Court, Birmingham News, Dec. 3, 2000, at 1C. the court's nine seats were up for election in 2000. The anti-arbitration signs were posted by the Alabama Democratic Party or its allies. This arbitration as the issue to run on. This strategy was backed by enough money to air television commercials demonizing arbitration. The television ads said that The 'license to steal' signs first appeared throughout Alabama in the months prior to the November 2000 elections. became clear in the final days of the campaign when new license to steal signs appeared containing additional text urging viewers to Vote Democrat. Partisan political issue Arbitration has debuted as a parti- san political issue.' In Alabama's 2000 judicial elections, it was a very high- profile issue. Democrats and their allies, especially plaintiffs' trial lawyers, picked in Alabama victims of Firestone tires and Ford Explorers don't even have the right to confront Ford or Firestone in court.., because a Republican Supreme Court has ruled that binding arbitration is the only option. How arbitration became a high- profile political issue in Alabama is a fascinating story of the law's connec- tions to politics and culture. Dispute Resolution MagazineSummer 2001 Dispute Resolution Magazine Summer 2001 TRIAL LAWYERS LOSE AND YOU WIN. EOUGH SAID

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