BALANCING THE SCALES: THE FORD-FIRESTONE CASE, THE INTERNET) AND THE FUTURE DISPUTE RESOLUTION LANDSCAPE

The author discusses the Internet's potential equalizing effect on dispute resolution institutions. The emergence of online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanisms and virtual courts are the clearest manifestation of the Internet's influence on dispute resolution, but its influence extends beyond the immediate online environment, as is demonstrated throughout the Article by analyses of various examples and the specific case study of the Ford-Firestone debacle. The Ford-Firestone story provides a rich case study for the positive potential as well as the pitfalls of resolving disputes in the nascent Internet society, and it is especially useful for dispelling the notion that the Internet will only affect technology-related disputes. The author analyzes dispute resolution institutions (courts and ADR mechanisms) as they currently exist and as they are likely to develop in the future. The Article's prediction and main thesis is that as a result of the introduction of new technologies, traditionally disempowered disputants could potentially experience greater equality in the dispute resolution institutions of the Internet society. The Article concludes with a demonstration of how disputes similar to the Ford-Firestone case study will be played out in the landscape of the future. I. INTRODUCTION Dispute resolution institutions are not isolated bodies; "they are in and of society," (1) and therefore are shaped by the technological and social changes that society undergoes. The Internet in particular has affected dispute resolution institutions in manifold ways. Before the proliferation of Internet communication, courts possessed unique qualities in dispute resolution that could not be replicated by other dispute resolution mechanisms: authority, finality and enforcement. But inherent in the court system are structural barriers that adversely affect litigants who lack the skills and funds to master and maneuver the system. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, while offering distinctive advantages and remedying some of the ills of the court system, have perpetuated some of the inequities characteristic of courts. With the emergence of the Internet, however, several important changes have occurred both in the court system and ADR mechanisms, changes that have permanently altered the landscape of dispute resolution by offering greater equality for traditionally disempowered disputants. This article examines the influence the Internet has already had as well as the influence the Internet is likely to have on dispute resolution mechanisms and processes. The emergence of online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanisms and the likely widespread availability of virtual courts in the future are the clearest manifestation of such influence. But the Internet's effects on the dispute resolution landscape extend beyond the online environment, as is demonstrated throughout this article in the analysis of various examples and the specific case study of the Ford-Firestone debacle. The article begins with a description of some of the most salient characteristics of the Internet that are relevant to dispute resolution drawing on the Ford-Firestone story and other relevant examples. Through an analysis of dispute resolution institutions both as they currently exist and as they are likely to develop in the future, the paper then explores and develops its principal thesis, that new technologies have the potential to permit dispute resolution institutions to function in a more equitable manner. Subsequently, the paper relies on the Ford-Firestone case study to show how these issues play out in the real world and how they are likely to play out in the changed landscape of the future. II. THE FORD-FIRESTONE STORY The Ford-Firestone case provides a rich case study for the analysis of changing trends in dispute resolution. In August 2000, Ford announced a recall in the United States of one type of Firestone/Bridgestone tires used mainly on the Ford Explorers, in light of mounting evidence that the tires were faulty and could, under certain conditions, cause vehicles to roll over. …