West Virginia Code 55-10-2 – Declaration of public policy; legislative findings
The Legislature finds that:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 55-10-2
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
(1) Arbitration, as a form of alternative dispute resolution, offers in many instances a more efficient and cost-effective alternative to court litigation.
(2) The United States has a well-established federal policy in favor of arbitral dispute resolution, as identified both by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1, et seq., and the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.
(3) Arbitration already provides participants with many of the same procedural rights and safeguards as traditional litigation, and ensuring that those rights and safeguards are guaranteed to participants will ensure that arbitration remains a fair and viable alternative to court litigation and guarantee that no party to an arbitration agreement is unfairly prejudiced by agreeing to an arbitration agreement or provision.