Consultation Paper on Alternative Dispute Resolution - Law Reform ...

industrial relations disputes directly affecting a collective group of employees
and, sometimes indirectly, the general public.
(8) Collective disputes and regulatory bodies, including
Ombudsmen
12. Quite often, the distinction between individual and collective disputes
is blurred and the solutions found are not ordinarily described as alternative
dispute resolution. For example, the Commission has recently completed an
analysis of multi-unit apartment complexes and made proposals for reform. 11 In
apartment complexes, the individual disputes between unit owners, developers
and property managing agents over, for example, the level of property
management fees could, at one level, be dealt with through litigation or
mediation. Because of the scale and diversity of the problems, other solutions
may also be required. In this, respect, the National Consumer Agency, which is
primarily a regulatory body, played a type of dispute resolution role by
facilitating discussion between relevant representative bodies through a
Consumers Forum on Apartment Complexes. This Forum produced template
forms of contracts to be used by unit owners and property managing agents that
have the potential to prevent future disputes in this area. 12
13. The intervention of the National Consumer Agency in this way is
comparable to how an Ombudsman can exercise his or her powers to ensure
appropriate resolution of disputes. It has often happened that an Ombudsman
may receive a series of individual complaints about a particular problem and
that these complaints are investigated collectively in order to prevent future
recurrences. 13
14. The Commission notes that, similarly, a professional body with
regulatory or disciplinary functions, such as the Medical Council, 14 may be
required to oversee the individual conduct of its profession against certain
criteria in order to prevent poor practices that could, in turn, lead to disputes
with clients. The regulatory body may also be required, in some instances, to
engage in ADR processes concerning poor professional conduct. 15
11 See the Commission‘s Report on Multi-Unit Developments (LRC 90 - 2008).
12 See the discussion in Chapter 8, below.
13 See also Chapter 8, below.
14 See Chapter 6, below.
15 See the discussion of the relevant provisions of the Medical Practitioners Act
2007 in Chapter 6, below.
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