Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Ass'n of the United States, Inc. v. State

This appeal challenging the compulsory arbitration provisions of the State’s Lemon Law (General Business Law § 198-a [k]) raises disturbing questions about when and under what circumstances the Legislature may assign the task of adjudicating civil claims, which is ordinarily reserved to the sovereign, to a private dispute-resolution specialist. Because I cannot agree with the manner in which the majority has resolved this weighty question, I dissent.

At the outset, it is important to identify precisely what the Legislature has done by enacting the compulsory arbitration provisions that are the…