JAMS, Judicial Arbitration & Mediation Services, Fraud, Legal Scam, Misrepresentation, A License to steal from you! Irvine, California

JAMS (also known as Judicial Arbitration & Mediation Services) among other private arbitration services, may not be what you think it is. Most anyone would think a neutral private arbitration firm would be fair and honest.think again. I learned the hardest way possible. The public is completely unaware and mislead on the truths of private arbitration. Companies and individuals should think twice about consenting to arbitration or better yet, avoid it altogether. Here's why:

JAMS, its arbitrators and mediators are not held to any standard or authority meaning they don't have to consider the law when ruling upon claims submitted to them. They are immune from civil liability and can basically do whatever they want, however they want, regardless if it is legal or not. They can be corrupt, unfair, malicious, reckless, act in bad faith, commit fraud and violate your legal rights with absolutely no repercussions or liability for proven damages they cause you. In fact, the law protects them equally as it would for a presiding court judge. Remember, JAMS and most other private arbitration firms are private organizations comprised of retired judges and attorneys (civilians), are not conventional courts of law and thus, upon issuing binding awards against you (valid or not), you are basically stuck. Your only way out is to challenge the validity of the award against you, where presiding court judges typically won't vacate the award unless you have clear and convincing evidence that the arbitrator was completely out of line. Of course, none of this is disclosed in any of the arbitration firm's documents or on their websites advising you of the risks when arbitrating a claim.

Here is how I learned about this little secret they don't want you to know:
I attempted to sue JAMS and its Arbitrator in civil court for taking personal jurisdiction over me where they had no jurisdiction and went on to award a judgment against me. Upon my complete shock of JAMS conduct and the fraudulent liability imposed upon me by JAMS, I had to spend tens of thousands of dollars in getting the award against me vacated (reversed) in the superior court. The superior court vacated the entire award against me. The courts factual findings of law were:

1. I had not waived my right to have any dispute being asserting against me resolved by the arbitration;

2. JAMS did not have any jurisdiction over me;

3. The award issued against me by JAMS was improperly issued; and

4. IT WAS EXTRINSIC FRAUD FOR JAMS TO HAVE ISSUED THE RULINGS, ORDERS AND AWARDS AGAINST ME WHEN IT DID NOT HAVE PERSONAL JURISDICTION OVER ME, OR ANY SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION OVER THE CLAIM.

With the award being vacated against me and with the strong ruling by the court and the superior court judge reprimanding JAMS actions, I thought it was reasonable to commence legal action against JAMS for the damages I sustained and violating my rights. Every attorney I interviewed (both big and small law firms) agreed that something this malicious and reckless would be easy to recover my damages. WrongI tried to impose civil liability against JAMS and the arbitrator individually. The court allowed my suit against JAMS and JAMS filed a MSJ (motion for summary judgment) and won by pleading that the arbitrator made a simple mistake and is immune from civil liability, which the court agreed. They won the MSJ and I appealed the decision with the appellate court which eventually denied my appeal mostly in support of a widely unknown law Absolute Immunity that covers JAMS and its arbitrators.

Here is how the law protects them and the following is directly from the appellate court ruling from my case:

The concept of judicial immunity is long-standing and absolute, with its roots in English common law. It bars civil actions against judges and private arbitrators for acts performed in the exercise of their judicial functions and it applies to all judicial determinations, including those rendered in excess of the judge's jurisdiction, NO MATTER HOW ERRONEOUS OR EVEN MALICIOUS OR CORRUPT THEY MAY BE. The judge is immune unless 'he has acted in the clear absence of all jurisdictions. Like judges, arbitrators enjoy immunity from civil liability for actions taken in the arbitrator's quasi judicial capacity.

Arbitral immunity, like judicial immunity, promotes fearless and independent decision making. To this end, the courts have refused to hold judges and arbitrators liable for their judicial actions. Courts have recognized that if an arbitrator's quasi-judicial decisions could subject them to lawsuits, there is a real possibility that their decisions will be governed more by the fear of such suits than by their own unfettered judgment as to the merits of the matter they must decide.

Moreover, under both California and federal law, arbitral immunity is extended to sponsoring organizations. As noted: refusal to extend immunity to the sponsoring organization would make the arbitrator's immunity illusory. Stated otherwise, it would shift liability rather than extinguish it. As a practical matter, a grant of immunity to the arbitrator must be accompanied by a grant of the same immunity to the [sponsoring organization], an entity as indispensable to the arbitrator's job of arbitrating as are the courts to the judge's job of judging.'" Courts have extended immunity even when the sponsoring organization has violated its own internal rules.

If you think about this in depth and with the understanding of human greed, what prohibits these civilian arbitrators from being corrupt or malicious? The answer is.absolutely nothing because they are protected by Absolute Immunity meaning that no matter how fraudulent, egregious, corrupt, unfair, malicious, bogus, untruthful, or reckless the behavior, there is absolutely no repercussions or personal liability, maybe just some discipline. Basically, they are completely immune from ALL civil liability. Maybe if an arbitrator killed someone with a gun during an arbitration hearing (while being recorded on video), things would be different, but I am sure the protective legal system would probably find a way to apply Absolute Immunity relieving liability.

This is the biggest legal scam to ever be uncovered and most attorneys know nothing about this hidden truth of the law, which I became fully educated with after going through complete hell and spending tens of thousands of dollars.

The risks of private arbitration are substantial as confirmed with Mr. Kevin Baker of the California State Legislatures Judiciary Advisory Committee. He indicated they receive many complaints in regards to private arbitration. They would like to pass a new bill which eliminates arbitrator immunity. Current law is written allowing private arbitrators to be above the law and they actually have more power than court judges. If they fail to follow the rules and cause someone damages, they can get away with it because nobody is overlooking their actions.

Since there are so many individuals that have been taken advantage of by Arbitration, here are some more cases against JAMS, judges and other arbitration firms to look at:

(((6 links redacted)))

There is some new website information out there which helps impose liability or discipline on judges and arbitrators as follows:

(((3 links redacted)))
http://cjp.ca.gov./
http://www.uscourts.gov/guide/vol2/ch1.html#2
(((2 links redacted)))

The real truth about litigation is that only the legal system and attorneys prosper. It's a legal scamever wonder why litigation seems to never end? The reason is simple.the system intentionally drags on and on to make you spend more and more of your money while arguing laws that are deliberately crafted to be vague and gray so that different interpretations can be argued and decided upon by those judging them.the law is not black & whiteit's a legal racket where only the system wins. Attorneys and judges don't want closure because if legal cases are resolved quick, they can't make any money.

I, among most Americans believe lawsuits are a complete waste of time and money and should only be considered if you exhaust all your remedies on first trying to personally resolve your differences with the other party. Although there are good judges and arbitrators out there, it's still best to stay away from the system as it really doesn't have anything to offer except taking your hard earned money away from you.

If you want to learn about my case in more detail and the hell I went through, continue reading.

1. In 2000, the company which I was the president of was served a demand for arbitration for breach of contract. The demand for arbitration also named me individually even though the contract was between a corporation and an individual, not me personally.

2. The company retained a law firm and then decided to terminate and hire another firm. The arbitrator set a deadline to comply with the form interrogatories (form interrogatories are just questions unrelated to the case like what year the company started, the address, etc.). The originating law firm failed to provide all of the interrogatories to the new law firm. Because of this error made by the law firms, the arbitrator precluded the company from providing any defense to the plaintiff's claims.

3. The new law firm then filed a 473 motion, which is a lawful motion that admits an error on behalf of the attorney taking full responsibility for its error. The arbitrator denied the 473 motion and the company was precluded from defending the plaintiff's claims.

4. The arbitration was scheduled to commence shortly after September 11, 2001. As the president of the company, I was the knowledgeable person required to appear for the arbitration to defend the company. I was in Hawaii on business and was scheduled to return prior to the arbitration, but due to the 9/11 attacks, the airlines had grounded flights which caused a back log of stranded passengers. We requested a one day continuance, which the arbitrator denied.

5. The attorney appeared at the arbitration on the first day (without me or anyone on behalf of the corporation) and again requested a continuance which was again denied. Then (for the first time) the Plaintiffs counsel raised an alter ego claim in his opening statement which was immediately objected to. The arbitrator overruled the objection.

6. The arbitrator started the arbitration (without me being there), heard the alter ego claim with absolutely no evidence of any alter ego, rather just a verbal allegation that I was the alter ego of the corporation and accepted it at face value.

7. When I arrived at the second day of the arbitration, I specifically advised the arbitrator that I was not consenting to arbitration individually and was not the alter ego of the company. He responded by not allowing me or the attorney to raise any defense to this and proceeded in hearing the Plaintiffs claims fully barring my defense. The arbitrator allowed a free for all for the plaintiff and actually slept through most of the arbitration.

8. About 60 days after the arbitration, the arbitrator awarded the plaintiff 100% of its claim including 100% of the attorney's fees.

9. I hired another law firm to petition the court vacate the arbitration award. The Superior Court judge Andrew Banks vacated the award after learning of the horror of the case and facts.

The courts factual findings of law were:

(a) The companies president had not waived his right to have any dispute the Plaintiff may have been asserting against him resolved in the court system;

(b) JAMS did not have jurisdiction over the company president;

(c) the award issued by JAMS was improperly issued; and

(d) it was EXTRINSIC FRAUD for JAMS to have issued the rulings, orders and awards against the companies president when it did not have personal jurisdiction over him individually, or subject matter jurisdiction over the claim.

10. After I won the case, I filed a lawsuit against JAMS for the damages I sustained. JAMS filed a MSJ (Motion for Summary Judgment) and the court granted it based on its belief that there was not clear absence of jurisdiction rather a lack of jurisdiction and JAMS just made a "simple mistake".

11. Please note the fact that no agreement ever existed empowering JAMS to take jurisdiction over me individually. If no agreement ever existed in the first place, then how could JAMS take jurisdiction? To me, this is clear absence of jurisdiction In the MSJ ruling, the judge clearly lumps the parties together which is incorrect and he completely misses the mark. Unlike judges whom can take jurisdiction over someone, arbitrators are ordinary citizens and cannot take jurisdiction over anyone unless that person agrees in writing empowering them to do so.

12. The Supreme Court ruled that without the first threshold being met, i.e., a written agreement consenting to an arbitrator's jurisdiction, then the arbitrator is acting with "clear absence of jurisdiction". That is what happened in this case.there was never any agreement for me to arbitrate individually in the first place. JAMS contended there was a waiver of some sort but apparently a waiver is not sufficient to take jurisdiction over someone in the arbitration process. JAMS cannot commence arbitration without the specific consent of that person allowing them to take jurisdiction over them. Without an agreement and all the objections made about personal jurisdiction, it is clear to me that how else could this NOT be clear absence of jurisdiction?

13. Judge Banks, whom originally vacated the award, found that it was Extrinsic Fraud for JAMS to take jurisdiction over me individually and JAMS had no personal or subject matter jurisdiction. This is far different than the MSJ ruling that JAMS just made a "simple mistake". It is clear that the courts are protective of JAMS since virtually all the arbitrators are retired judges (friends) or retired attorneys.

14. JAMS "simple mistake" caused me millions of dollars in damages, wrecked my business of nearly 13 years which had a flawless track record, not to mention all the stress it caused me. It is simply outrageous that anything like this could even be permitted to happen and the court support this type of activity allowing JAMS to continue to harm people.

At least I diligently tried to hold JAMS responsible and found that the system is very protective of itself and turns its head from unethical behavior by arbitrators. If anyone else has been damaged by JAMS, please post your case on Rip off Report. Maybe I can help you get it reversed.

Here is a list of all the JAMS offices to avoid:

Atlanta 1100 Peachtree St., NE
Suite 640
Atlanta, GA 30309

Boston One Beacon Street
Suite 2300
Boston, MA 02108-3106

Chicago 71 S. Wacker Drive
Suite 3090
Chicago, IL 60606

Dallas 8401 N. Central Expressway
Suite 610
Dallas, TX 75225


Denver Suite 1600
Denver, CO 80202


Inland 3800 E. Concours Drive
Empire Empire Tower IV, Suite 320
Ontario, CA 91764


Irvine 1920 Main St. at Gillette Ave.
Suite 300
Irvine, CA 92614

Las
Vegas 2300 W. Sahara Ave.
Suite 900
Las Vegas, NV 89102


Los
Angeles 707 Wilshire Blvd.
46th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017

New
York 620 Eighth Avenue
34th Floor
New York, NY 10018


Orange 500 N. State College Blvd., 14th Floor
at E. Orangewood Ave.
Orange, CA 92868

Philadelphia
1717 Arch Street
Suite 4010 - Bell Atlantic Tower
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Sacramento
2520 Venture Oaks Way
Suite 400
Sacramento, CA 95833

San Diego
401 B Street
Suite 2100
San Diego, CA 92101


San Francisco
Two Embarcadero Center
Suite 1500
San Francisco, CA 94111

San Jose
160 W. Santa Clara Street
Suite 1150
San Jose, CA 95113

Santa Monica
1601 Cloverfield Blvd.
Suite 370-South
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Santa Rosa
50 Old Courthouse Square
Suite 600
Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Seattle 600 University Street
Suite 1910
Seattle, WA 98101

Walnut Creek 1255 Treat Blvd. at Buskirk Ave.
Suite 700
Walnut Creek, CA 94597

Washington 555 13th Street, NW
Suite 400 West
Washington, DC 20004

A Jam's Casualty
Irvine, California
U.S.A.

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.