Frustrated when -

An unreasonable party refuses to meet its obligations, and, while your claim is significant, the costs of enforcing your rights are too great and a final decision is years away.

JustForumAccess® (JFA®) is designed to address and solve these problems. A goal of the JFA system of online arbitration is to effect a major cost reduction and eliminate or reduce the size of this barrier to the enforcement of legitimate rights:

• While still involving lawyers, because knowledge of the law is essential, disputes are resolved online with focused discovery and streamlined procedures, within 6 months from commencement of the proceedings.
• The final award is a written decision based on the facts, the law and relevant agreements and is binding.
• If requested, JFA will refer a lawyer to represent each party.
• JFA appoints the arbitrator.
• Fees, including the fees for all the arbitrators and if JFA referred lawyers are utilized, their fees, are set on the basis of the amount at stake and the complexity of the case and any of the limited and specific additional procedures requested. These fees are capped and are set out clearly in the Rules.
• While no cost savings can be guaranteed or proven, if JFA referred counsel are utilized, the general goal of JFA is to significantly reduce the cost to finally resolve a dispute compared to the costs of trying a case in Court.  For example:
• A simple breach of contract case using JFA referred lawyers with a claim for damages less than $100,000 could cost a Party no more than $5,400 to try or for a case in which the largest claim is for $450,000 in a somewhat complicated case with a counterclaim and 2 additional claims along with e-discovery, the total cost to a Party would be $38,360. (See Pricing Page for an estimate of the costs for your case.)
• While precise cost comparisons can never be made, compare these JFA costs to the 2012 estimate of median costs for the cost to try a contract case in Court from the Civil Litigation Cost Model prepared by the National Center for State Courts of $91,000.
• The median award for Contract cases in 1992 according to Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, July 1995, Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 1992, Civil Jury Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, in which the plaintiff prevailed, restated to 2012 dollars is roughly the same, $90,000.
• In this case, while the median Court costs would be roughly 100% of the final award, the JFA costs using JFA referred lawyers for a case involving a claim for $90,000, would be no more than 20% of the claim and if the claim made in a JFA Proceeding which resulted in a final award of $90,000 was initially far greater, these JFA costs could not practically exceed 50% of the final award.

Why JFA?

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