Hostname: page-component-669899f699-8p65j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-03T07:20:03.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How Dispute Resolution System Design Matters: An Organizational Analysis of Dispute Resolution Structures and Consumer Lemon Laws

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Shauhin A. Talesh
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study demonstrates how the structure of dispute resolution shapes the extent to which managerial and business values influence the meaning and implementation of consumer protection law, and consequently, the extent to which repeat players are advantaged. My analysis draws from, links, and contributes to two literatures that examine the relationship between organizational governance structures and law: neo-institutional studies of law and organizations and socio-legal studies of repeat players' advantages in disputing. Specifically, I compare an instance where powerful state consumer protection laws are resolved in private dispute resolution forums funded by automobile manufacturers but operated by independent third-party organizations (California) with one where consumer disputes are resolved in public alternative dispute resolution processes run and administered by the state (Vermont). Through in-depth interviews and participant observation in the training programs that dispute resolution arbitrators undergo in each state, I show how different dispute resolution structures operating in California and Vermont give different meanings to substantially similar lemon laws. Although my data do not allow me to establish a causal relationship, they strongly suggest that the form of the dispute resolution structure, and how business and state actors construct the meaning of lemon laws through these structures, have critical implications for the effectiveness of consumer protection laws for consumers.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , September 2012 , pp. 463 - 496
Copyright
© 2012 Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

Thanks to Catherine Albiston, Tom Baker, Lauren Edelman, Malcolm Feeley, Martha Feldman, Stephan Landsman, Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Calvin Morrill, Brent Nakamura, Evan Schofer, Carroll Seron, Martin Shapiro, Jonathan Simon, Doug Spencer, LSR General Editors Jon Goldberg-Hiller and David Johnson, and the anonymous LSR reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts. I also want to thank the National Science Foundation (SES-0919874) for providing funds for data collection and analysis. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2012 Consumer Law Conference, the 2012 UC Irvine Center for Organizational Research Faculty Development Workshop, the 2011 annual meetings of the American Sociological Association and Law & Society Association and the 2011 Southern California Junior Law Faculty Forum. An earlier version of this article won Best Graduate Student Paper, Law & Society Association (2011), Best Graduate Student Paper, American Sociological Association, Sociology of Law (2011), and Best Graduate Student Paper, American Political Science Association, Law & Courts (2010).

References

References

Albiston, Catherine (1999) “The Rule of Law and the Litigation Process: The Paradox of Losing by Winning,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 869–910.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Ian, & Braithwaite, John (1992) Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Baron, James N., Dobbin, Frank R., & Jennings, P. Deveraux (1986) “War and Peace: The Evolution of Modern Personnel Administration in US Industry,” 92 American J. of Sociology 350–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bingham, Lisa (1997) “Employment Arbitration: The Repeat Player Effect,” 1 Employee & Employment Policy J. 189–199.Google Scholar
Bingham, Lisa (1998) “On Repeat Players, Adhesive Contracts, and the Use of Statistics in Judicial Review of Employment Arbitration Awards,” 29 McGeorge L. Rev. 223–259.Google Scholar
Bingham, Lisa B., & Sarraf, Simon (2000) “Employment Arbitration Before and After the Due Process Protocol for Mediation and Arbitration of Statutory Disputes Arising Out of Employment: Preliminary Evidence that Self-Regulation Makes a Difference,” presented at the Proceedings of the N.Y.U. 50th Annual Conference on Labor. New York.Google Scholar
Bisom-Rapp, Susan (1996) “Scripting Reality in the Legal Workplace: Women, Lawyers, Litigation Prevention Measures, and the Limits of Anti-Discrimination Law,” 6 Columbia J. of Gender & Law 323–385.Google Scholar
Bisom-Rapp, Susan (1999) “Bulletproofing the Workplace: Symbol & Substance in Employment Discrimination Law Practice,” 29 Florida State Univ. Law Rev. 959–1047.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, John (1982) “Enforced Self Regulation: A New Strategy for Corporate Crime Control,” 80 Michigan Law Rev. 1466–1587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braithwaite, John (2002) Restorative Justice & Responsive Regulation. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Burstein, Paul (1989) “Attacking Sex Discrimination in the Labor Market: A Study in Law & Politics,” 67 Social Forces 641–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, Robert A. Baruch (1989) “Mediation and Adjudication, Dispute Resolution and Ideology: An Imaginary Conversation,” 3 J. of Contemporary Issues 1–33.Google Scholar
Bush, Robert A. Baruch, & Folger, Joseph P. (1994) The Promise of Mediation: Responding to Conflict through Empowerment and Recognition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Colvin, Alexander J. S. (2011) “An Empirical Study of Employment Arbitration: Case Outcomes and Processes,” 8 J. of Empirical Legal Studies 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiMaggio, Paul J., & Powell, Walter W. (1983) “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields,” 48 American Sociological Rev. 147–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dotan, Yoav (1999) “Do the ‘Haves’ Still Come out Ahead? Resource Inequalities in Ideological Courts: The Case of the Israeli High Court of Justice,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 1059–1080.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B. (1990) “Legal Environments and Organizational Governance: The Expansion of Due Process in the American Workplace,” 95 American J. of Sociology 1401–1440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B. (1992) “Legal Ambiguity and Symbolic Structures: Organizational Mediation of Civil Rights Law,” 97 American J. of Sociology 1531–1576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B. (2005) “The Endogeneity of Law: Civil Rights at Work,” in Nelson, R., & Nielson, L., eds., Handbook on Employment Discrimination Research: Rights and Realities. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Press.Google Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B. (2007) “Overlapping Fields and Constructed Legalities: The Endogeneity of Law,” in O'Brien, Justin, ed., Private Equity, Corporate Governance and the Dynamics of Capital Market Regulation. London: Imperial College Press.Google Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., et al. (1992) “Professional Construction of the Legal Environment: The Inflated Threat of Wrongful Discharge Doctrine,” 26 Law & Society Rev. 47–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., et al. (1993) “Employers' Handling of Discrimination Complaints: The Transformation of Rights in the Workplace,” 27 Law & Society Rev. 497–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., & Talesh, Shauhin (1999) “The Endogeneity of Legal Regulation: Grievance Procedures as Rational Myth,” 105 American J. of Sociology 406–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., et al. (2001) “Diversity Rhetoric and the Managerialization of Law,” 106 American J. of Sociology 1589–1641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., & Talesh, Shauhin (2011) “When Organizations Rule: Judicial Deference to Institutionalized Employment Structures,” 117 American J. of Sociology 888–954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., & Suchman, Mark C. (1999) “When the ‘Haves’ Hold Court: Speculations on the Organizational Internalization of Law,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 941–992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, Lauren B., & Talesh, Shauhin (2011) “To Comply or Not to Comply—That Isn't the Question: How Organizations Construct the Meaning of Compliance,” in Parker, C., & Nielsen, V., eds., Explaining Compliance. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, Theodore, & Hill, Elizabeth (2003) “Arbitration and Litigation of Employment Claims: An Empirical Comparison,” 58 Dispute Resolution J. 44–55Google Scholar
Emerson, Robert, Fretz, Rachel I., & Shaw, Linda L., eds. (1995) Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felstiner, William, Abel, Richard, & Sarat, Austin (1980–81) “The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming …,” 15 Law & Society Rev. 631–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, Jody (1997) “Collaborative Governance in the Administrative State,” 45 UCLA Law Rev. 1–98.Google Scholar
Freeman, Jody (2000) “The Private Role in Public Governance,” 75 New York Univ. Law Rev 543–675.Google Scholar
Freeman, Jody, & Minow, Martha, eds. (2009) Government by Contract: Outsourcing and American Democracy. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedland, Roger, & Alford, Robert R. (1991) “Bringing Society Back in: Symbols, Practices, and Institutional Contradictions,” in Powell, W., & DiMaggio, P., eds., The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Galanter, Marc (1974) “Why the ‘Haves’ Come Out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change,” 9 Law & Society Rev. 95–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galanter, Marc, & Lande, John (1992) “Private Courts and Public Authority,” 12 Studies in Law, Politics, & Society 393–415.Google Scholar
Gilad, Sharon (2010) “Why the ‘Haves’ Do Not Necessarily Come out Ahead in Informal Dispute Resolution,” 32 Law & Policy 283–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanningan, John A. (1977) “The Newspapers Ombudsman and Consumer Complaints: An Empirical Assessment,” 11 Law & Society Rev. 679–699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, Christine (1985) Shadow Justice: The Ideology and Institutionalization of Alternatives to Court. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Heimer, Carol (1999) “Competing Institutions: Law, Medicine, and Family in Neonatal Intensive Care,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 17–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsh, Elizabeth (2008) “Settling for Less? Organizational Determinants of Discrimination-Charge Outcomes,” 42 Law & Society Rev. 239–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacoby, Sanford M. (1985) Employing Bureaucracy: Managers, Unions, and the Transformation of Work in American Industry 1900–1945. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Kinsey, Karyl A., & Stalans, Loretts J. (1999) “Which ‘Haves’ Come out Ahead and Why? Cultural Capital and Legal Mobilization in Frontline Law Enforcement,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 993–1023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krawiec, Kimberly (2003) “Cosmetic Compliance and the Failure of Negotiated Governance,” 81 Washington Univ. Law Rev. 487–523.Google Scholar
Kritzer, Herbert, & Silbey, Susan S., eds. (2003) In Litigation. Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Lempert, Richard (1999) “A Classic at 25: Reflections on Galanter's ‘Haves’ Article and Work It Has Inspired,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 1099–1112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lobel, Orly (2004) “The Renew Deal: The Fall of Regulation and the Rise of Governance in Contemporary Legal Thought,” 89 Minnesota Law Rev. 342–470.Google Scholar
Lofland, John D. (1995) “Analytic Ethnography,” 24 J. of Contemporary Ethnography 30–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lounsbury, Mark, Ventresca, Marc, & Hirsch, Paul (2003) “Social Movements, Field Frames, and Industry Emergence: A Cultural-Political Perspective on US Recycling,” 1 Socio-Economic Rev. 71–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macaulay, Stewart (1963) “Non-contractual relations in business,” 28 Am. Soc. Rev. 55–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macaulay, Stewart (1986) “Private Government,” in Lipson, L., & Wheeler, S., eds., Law & the Social Sciences. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Marshall, Anna-Maria (2005) “Idle Rights: Employees' Rights Consciousness and the Construction of Sexual Harassment Policies,” 39 Law & Society Rev. 83–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuire, Kevin T. (1995) “Repeat Players in the Supreme Court: The Role of Experienced Lawyers in Litigation Success,” 57 J. of Politics 187–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menkel-Meadow, Carrie (1999) “Do the ‘Haves’ Come out Ahead in Alternative Judicial Systems?: Repeat Players in ADR,” 15 Ohio States J. on Dispute Resolution 19. 22, 43, 46–48, 19–61.Google Scholar
Mertz, Elizabeth (2007) The Language of Law School. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, John W., & Rowan, Brian (1977) “Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony,” 83 American J. of Sociology 340–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nowicki, Philip (1999) “State Lemon Law Coverage Terms: Dissecting the Differences,” 11 Loyola Consumer Law Rev. 39–60.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Justin (2007) “The Dynamics of Capital Markets Governance,” in O'Brien, J., ed., Private Equity, Corporate Governance & the Dynamics of Capital Market Regulation. London: Imperial College Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orloff, Ann Shola, & Skocpol, Theda (1984) “Why Not Equal Protection? Explaining the Politics of Public Spending in Britain, 1900-1911, and the United States, 1880s-1920,” 49 American Sociological Rev. 726–750.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandefur, Rebecca L. (2005) Effects of representation on Trial and Hearing Outcomes in Two Common Law Countries,” http://www.reds.msh-paris.fr/communication/docs/sandefur.pdf (accessed June 1, 2010).Google Scholar
Sandefur, Rebecca L. (2008) “Access to Civil Justice and Race, Class, and Gender Inequality,” 34 Annual Rev. of Sociology 339–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneiberg, Marc (2002) “Organizational Heterogeneity and the Production of New Forms: Politics, Social Movements and Mutual Companies in American Fire Insurance, 1899–1930,” Lounsbury, M., & Ventresca, M., Research in the Sociology of Organizations. Volume 19; pages 39–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneiberg, Marc, & Soule, Sarah (2004) “Institutionalization as a Contested, Multi-Level Process: The Case of Rate Regulation in American Fire Insurance,” in Davis, J., et al., eds., Social Movements and Organization Theory: Building Bridges. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Scott, Richard (2002) Institutions & Organizations, 2d ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Scott, Richard W., & Meyer, John W. (1991) “The Organization of Societal Sectors: Propositions and Early Evidence,” in Powell, Walter W., & DiMaggio, Paul J., eds., The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Scott, Richard W., et al. (2000) Institutional Change and Health Care Organizations: From Professional Dominance to Managed Care. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Selznick, Philip (1969) Law, Society, & Industrial Justice. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Seron, Carroll, et al. (2001) “The Impact of Legal Counsel on Outcomes for Poor Tenants in New York City's Housing Court: Results of Randomized Experiment,” 35 Law & Society Rev. 419–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Songer, Donald R., & Sheehan, Reginald S. (1992) “Who wins on Appeal? Upperdogs and Under-dogs in the United States Courts of Appeals,” 36 American J. of Political Science 235–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Songer, Donald R., Sheehad, Reginald S., & Hair, Susan B. (1999) “Do the ‘Haves’ Come out Ahead over Time? Applying Galanter's Framework to Decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, 1925-1988,” 33 Law & Society Rev. 811–832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spradley, James (1979) The Ethnographic Interview. US: Wadsworth Group/Thomas Learning.Google Scholar
Steele, Eric H. (1974) “Fraud, Dispute, and the Consumer: Responding to Consumer Complaints,” 123 Univ. of Pennsylvania Law Rev. 1107–1186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stryker, Robin (2000) “Legitimacy Processes as Institutional Politics: Implications for Theory and Research in the Sociology of Organizations,” 17 Research in the Sociology of Organizations 179–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, John, et al. (1994) “The Legalization of the Workplace,” 99 American J. of Sociology 944–971.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szmer, John, Johnson, Susan W., & Sarver, Tammy A. (2007) “Does the Lawyer Matter? Influencing Outcomes on the Supreme Court of Canada,” 41 Law & Society Rev. 279–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talesh, Shauhin (2009) “The Privatization of Public Legal Rights: How Manufacturers Construct the Meaning of Consumer Law,” 43 Law & Society Rev. 527–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talesh, Shauhin (2011) Manufacturing Consumer Protection Law: The Private Construction of Public Legal Rights . PhD Dissertation. UC Berkeley, Jurisprudence & Social Policy Program, ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Publishing.Google Scholar
Tolbert, Pamela S., & Zucker, Lynne G. (1983) “Institutional Sources of Change in the Formal Structure Organizations: The Diffusion of Civil Service Reform, 1880–1935,” 28 Administrative Science Q. 22–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, Stanton, et al. (1987) “Do the ‘Haves’ Come out Ahead? Winning and Losing in State Supreme Courts, 1870-1970,” 21 Law & Society Rev. 403–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Cases Cited

Shearson/American Express, Inc. v. McMahon, 482 U.S. 220, 232 (1987).Google Scholar
AT & T v. Concepcion LLC, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Statutes Cited

California Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act § 1790 et seq. (1970).Google Scholar

Miscellaneous

California Department of Consumer Affairs Consumer Satisfaction Surveys (2002–2009).Google Scholar