(a) A center shall not be considered a department, agency, or public instrumentality of this State, and shall not be subject to the laws of this State applying to departments, agencies, and public instrumentalities of this State, except that a center shall be subject to all of the laws of this State pertaining to nonprofit corporations.
lawyer at desk

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 658D-7

  • Center: means any center organized as an independent nonprofit educational corporation duly established under the laws of this State, whose principal purpose is to facilitate the resolution of international business, trade, commercial, and other disputes between persons by means of arbitration, mediation, conciliation, and other means as an alternative to the resort to litigation. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 658D-5
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
(b) A center shall permit the participants to an arbitration to select any body of rules and procedures for the conduct, administration, and facilitation of that proceeding, whether such rules and procedures have been prepared by private arbitral organizations or created by the participants themselves or by the center.
(c) A center shall have the authority pursuant to this chapter to establish from time to time such rules and procedures for the conduct, administration, and facilitation of the resolution, whether by arbitration, mediation, conciliation, or otherwise, of all disputes subject to this chapter.
(d) In furtherance of the foregoing, a center shall have the authority pursuant to this chapter to adopt rules providing, without limitation and by way of illustration only, that any arbitral tribunal or other panel established pursuant to such rules shall:

(1) Determine the relevance and materiality of the evidence without the need to follow formal rules of evidence;
(2) Be able to utilize any lawful methods that it deems appropriate to obtain evidence additional to that produced by the parties;
(3) Issue subpoenas or other demands for the attendance of witnesses or for the production of books, records, documents, and other evidence;
(4) Be empowered to administer oaths, order depositions to be taken or other discovery obtained, without regard to the place where the witness or other evidence is located, and appoint one or more experts to report to it;
(5) Fix such fees for the attendance of witnesses as it deems appropriate; and
(6) Make awards of interest, reasonable attorney’s fees, and costs of the arbitration, mediation, or conciliation as agreed to in writing by the parties or, in the absence of such agreement, as it deems appropriate.
(e) In exercising the powers conferred upon it by this chapter, such arbitral tribunal or other panel may apply for assistance from any court, tribunal, or governmental authority in any jurisdiction. Any application to a court hereunder shall be made and heard in a summary way in the manner provided for the making and hearing of motions, except as otherwise herein expressly provided.

  Previous
Next  
 Chapter 658D Contents