Free Motion to Stay - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

Case 3:03-cv—01007-JCH Docume;LtR2Z6§X Filed 12/15/2003 Page 1 011
` WARRANTY CLAIMS V
{ ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURES _
E The following dispute resolution procedures apply to any warranty claims between United and Supplier.
1 Any dispute or claim based on breach of warranty arising out of this order shall be resolved exclusively in
accordance with the procedures set forth below. However, if either party fails to show good faith in
complying with these procedures, any remedy otherwise available may be utilized.
Step ' Procedure I
l The parties will first. attempt to resolve any warranty disputes or claims by discussion and
negotiation between their respective representatives who normally have responsibility for such
. matters. If· after reasonable efforts have been made to resolve the dispute or claim in this manner
either United or Supplienwishes to utilize the rocedures set forth below, it shall rovide
_ _ _ _ P P
l written notice to the other describing the dispute or claim, the efforts that have taken place to
resolve the matter in the normal course of business, its wish to utilize these dispute resolution
1 · procedures and its current assessments of the major issues that must be resolved.
1/I 2 Hi thin thirty (30) days of receipt of the notice under step l, each party will have executive level
_‘\ representatives meet to discuss settlement of the dispute. These executive level representatives
- shall be persons at a level higher than the representatives who have previously met under step l.
` If such representatives are unable to resolve the dispute within sixty (60) days of step l notice
, (or any other time period mutually agreed to), the parties will proceed to the next ste: of the ·
·:ce:ure.
I 3 The parties will jointly request that an Alternate Dispute Resolution firm or agency (ADR fim)
. provide a mediator to work with them to resolve the dispute. The mediator appointed by the ADR
1 firm shall have a background in the subject matter of the dispute and may be rejected by the
g parties only for bias. The mediator shall have sixty (60) days from the time of appointment to
5 meet with the parties and help them resolve the dispute, unless the parties mutually consent to an
( extension of the deadline. The fees and expenses of the mediator and the ADR firm shall be borne
5 by the parties equally. —.
4 If the dispute is not resolved by mediation, the parties agree to resolve the dispute by a binding
{ mini--trial which must coumence within six (6) months from the conclusion of the mediation.
l
5 The binding mini·—trial shall be conducted before a panel composed of two experts and an
T extrajudicial officer. The extrajudicial officer shall be selected by the ADR firm. Within sixty
l (60) days of the conclusion of mediation, each party shall submit to the ADR firm the names of
l three persons expert in the subject matter of the_dispute. Proposed panelists may not be current
or former employees of a party or .of the party'; law firm and may not have worked for a party in
‘ any capacity with respect to the subject matter in dispute. The ADR firm will select one panelist
’ from each party': list. ·
6 Vi thin sixty (60) days of the conclusion of mediation, the parties shall agree on the ground rules
Â¥ - which will govern the conduct of the parties before and during the mini-trial. The ground rules
Q shall include:
I (a) A schedule for the exchange of documents, including all existing technical reports, and a
schedule for the submission of position statements sumnarizing each party': respective
position on the dispute; I
— (b) A schedule for discovery necessary to prepare for the mini-trial, if any is required; n
(c) The format of the mini—trial, including the presentation of expert testimony and testimony
from fact witnesses; and
4 (d) The location and duration of the mini-trial.
7 The fees and expenses of the mini-trial panelists and the mini-trial Shall be apportioned equally
to each party. ·Hembers of the panel will be instructed to treat the subject matter of the
proceedings as confidential and refrain from disclosing to third parties any of the infomation or
’ ducuments exchanged.
8 The panel shall decide the matter based on majority vote. The decision of the page] shall be
binding on all parties without the right of appeal. In the event that the panel decides that a
payment is due, payment of that sum, plus interest at the Connecticut statutory rate from the date
damages we.re incurred. shall be made not later than thirty (30) days after the panel ‘s decision.
9‘ Kbihenever the provisions of sets l—8 of this procedure require that the parties ies;}. an agreement
and they are unable to agree, either party may submit the disagreement to the ADR firm rwhich shall
render a binding decision on the disagreement. The ADR firm shall also resolve any dispute with
respect to compliance with the provisions of steps l-8 of this procedure.
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