The National Arbitration Forum Blog

Marvin Schuldiner of the Sanns Mediation World of ADR blog advanced the ongoing analysis of arbitration’s implications for taxpayers in What are the costs of Civil Lawsuits and Litigation in NJ?

"In a state with among the highest tax burdens in the country and no shortage of underfunded solutions for societal problems, moving cases out of the courts and into far less costly ADR forums such as arbitration and mediation can help far more than just the litigants involved. It can help every person in the state."

He notes that litigants are responsible for attorney fees, experts fees, filing fees and more, and that the estimated cost for taxpayers for each contested civil case in the New Jersey court system is $3,112.36. The evaluation came from National Arbitration Forum analysis of court data.

Bottomline: Arbitration can ease the burdens on the courts and save taxpayers thousands of dollars per dispute. Privately administered arbitration is self-funding, no need for state aid. In arbitration, the disputing parties pay the fees, not the taxpayers.

In a previous post he noted the New Jersey judiciary’s tightening budget, and its dependence on court-mandated ADR.