My Car Is a Lemon! Use of the Better Business Bureau's Auto Line® Program as a Pedagogical Model of ADR

• Date: 01 February 2010
• Author: Donna M. Steslow
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1722.2010.01070.x
• Published date: 01 February 2010

My Car Is a Lemon! Use of the Better

Business Bureau’s Auto Line

s

Program as a Pedagogical Model

of ADR

Donna M. Steslow

n

I. INTRODUCTION

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is normally included as part of an

introductory business law/legal environment course. While some business

schools offer stand-alone ADR courses, the majority do not.

1

As a result, a

business student’s only exposure to ADR processes may be through a Le-

gal Studies in Business course. There appears to be a disconnect between

the escalating use of ADR in a business setting and the teaching of ADR in

business schools.

2

As ADR becomes increasingly utilized in the business

setting,

3

it is important for a business major to place ADR into a relevant,

r2010 The Author

Journal compilation r2010 Academy of Legal Studies in Business

105

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 27, Issue 1, 105–128, Winter/Spring 2010

n

Assistant Professor, Kutztown University, Kutztown, Pennsylvania. I am an Auto Line

s

arbitrator.

1

David B. Stephens et al., Schools Lag in the Teaching of ADR: A Call for Reform,DISP.RESOL. J.,

Feb.-Apr. 2005, at 38, 42. The authors conducted a survey revealing that only seventeen out of

fifty surveyed business schools offered an ADR course, many of which were elective courses.

2

‘‘Business curriculum planners need to become sensitized to the importance of ADR for

contemporary business firms and develop requirements for all students to take one or more

ADR courses.’’ Id. at 42.

3

See Stephen J. Ware, Teaching Arbitration L aw,14AM.REV.INT’L.ARB. 231 (2003), for a dis-

cussion of teaching arbitration law in law schools, which is analogous to the reasoning for

teaching ADR to business majors: ‘‘Over the last generation, arbitration has expanded beyond

the traditional domains of disputes among businesses and labor disputes in a unionized

workplace.’’ Id. at 233.

real-world context.

4

However, theoretical descriptions alone of the differ-

ences between arbitration, mediation, and negotiation (and all of the vari-

ants within those categories) may be difficult for students in an

introductory business law course to grasp. A demonstration of the pro-

cesses involved in ADR would strengthen a lesson in the topic.

As the use of active learning techniques in business law topics inten-

sifies, there is a place for exercises that demonstrate a basic knowledge of

ADR. Active, or ‘‘experiential learning,’’ provides students with the op-

portunity to directly participate in the learning process by bridging ‘‘the

gap between theory and practice.’’

5

Several scholars have created and

published simulation exercises specifically for ADR instruction in the class-

room such as an online dispute resolution,

6

an international ADR simu-

lation,

7

and negotiation of a real estate contract.

8

This article contributes to

the instruction of ADR in a legal studies course by explaining and creating

a simulation based upon a national, informal ADR programFthe Auto

Line

s9

dispute resolution program of the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

The BBB’s Auto Line dispute resolution program is an informal ar-

bitration proceeding between customers with vehicle warranty complaints

and the vehicle manufacturers. A simulated Auto Line arbitration con-

ducted in class can serve as a clear, effective pedagogical model of several

types of ADR encountered in the business world. The Auto Line process

begins with mediation and negotiation and may progress to an informal

4

See Nancy Neslund, Why TeachConflict Resolution in Business Schools?,26AMER.BUS. L.J. 557

(1988) for additional argumentsin favor of teaching conflict resolution, especially through the

use of simulation exercises.

5

Larry DiMatteo & T.Leigh Anenson, Teaching Law Through Theory and Context: Contract Clauses

in Legal Studies Education,24J.L

EGAL STUD.EDUC. 19, 20 (2007) (summarizes the use of active

learning techniques in a legal studies course and proposes contract negotiation exercises in

which students are actively engaged).

6

Lucille M. Ponte, The Case of the Unhappy Sports Fan: Embracing Student-Centered Learning and

Promoting Upper-Level Cognitive Skills Through an Online Dispute Resolution Simulation,23J.LEGAL

STUD.EDUC 169 (2006).

7

Jack J. Coe, Jr., Some Thoughts on Teaching International ADR and the Case for Reality -Based

Simulations,22A

RB.INT’L. 249 (2006).

8

Sheryl B. Ball, ParetoOptimality in Negotiation: A Classroom Exercise for Achieving Active Learning,

74 J. EDUC.FOR BUS. 341 (1999).

9

BBB Auto Line Home Page, http://www.bbb.org/us/auto-line-lemon-law/ (last visited June 1,

2009). BBB Auto Line

s

is a registered service mark of the Council of Better Business Bu-

reaus, Inc.

106 Vol. 27 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education