Since joining JAMS as a full-time neutral in 1989, Mr. Young has conducted over 1,750 complex or multi-party mediations and arbitrations in over thirty states and abroad, and has been appointed as a mediator or special master (for discovery management or settlement implementation purposes) by various federal, state, and bankruptcy courts. Mr. Young is a member of the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution Panel of Distinguished Neutrals (including on its subject matter specific panel for construction disputes), an elected fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and an elected “neutral” member of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers.
Mr. Young has successfully mediated over 150 construction-related cases in many different states. These matters have involved all types of structures (residential, commercial, transportation, sports, educational, museums, and industrial); all types of parties (developers, general contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers, sureties and other insurers, and both public and private owners); and all types of issues, such as defective work or design issues and claims for extras and delay damages. Many of these cases have involved multiple defendants, thus raising allocation issues, and many have involved ancillary disputes such as alleged misrepresentations by developers, insurance coverage questions and zoning or code issues. He has also mediated multiple property damage or subrogation claims arising out of construction activities.
Mr. Young has also served as an "umpire" in various binding property-damage insurance appraisals, including two matters arising out of the World Trade Center collapse, all of which have involved construction-related issues; and has served as the sole arbitrator in three construction-related matters, one involving allegations of defective work by a contractor in a large residential project, one involving a dispute between joint venture partners regarding signals work on a subway system and the other involving claims relating to the termination of a sub-contractor on a large industrial project.
Mr. Young has also consulted with various owners and others regarding dispute resolution systems and contract clauses for construction-related claims. For example, he designed a “dispute resolution advisor” system (combining partnering and project neutral concepts) that has been implemented by the Hong Kong Architectural Services Department for use in the renovation of three public hospitals and other public structures. In addition, he was designated as one of three project mediators in the contract between the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the contractor building the automatic fare collection system for the New York City subways, and mediated one dispute pursuant to that clause. Finally, he has spoken on the topic of mediation of construction disputes at CLE programs sponsored by Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Virginia State Bar Association, and the Connecticut State Bar Association.
Mr. Young has been recognized by various publications and members of the legal community in New York, and more broadly, as a skilled and widely respected mediator and arbitrator. For example, in 2016 through 2021, Chambers and Partners identified Mr. Young as one of the seven mediators in the United States recognized in Band One and in 2016 noted “his deft, subtle handling of mediations…”
Representative Mediations
- A high stakes (in terms of dollars and threat to the working relationship), pre-litigation dispute between the developer of a state-of-the-art nursing home in Buffalo and its architect regarding delay, additional services, and defective work claims, and a similarly high stakes, pre-litigation dispute between a well-known architect and a large art museum regarding fees for the design of a new wing to the museum
- Defective work claims involving educational institutions, such as the HVAC system on a New Jersey college campus, the roof of the student union building at another New Jersey college, the foundation of a New Jersey high school, the roof of another New Jersey high school, and the boiler in a New York City elementary school
- Delay and impact claims by the owner of a prominent sports arena against the well-known architect who designed it, defective design and work claims against the design and construction professionals involved in the construction of a race car stadium, and defective work claims against the contractor who built a high-speed yacht
- Design defect claims involving a Florida water treatment plant and a New Jersey sewage treatment facility, as well as a fee dispute involving the construction of a waste water treatment plant in Russia
- Extra-work claims involving electrical and signal work on New York City subway tracks and similar claims relating to the implementation of a toll collection system on a bridge
- Multiple multi-million dollar defective work claims, separately pending in Louisiana, Texas, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, against a national home developer including claims relating to drainage, foundations, roofs, and HVAC systems, as well as similar claims involving other residential developments in other states
- Various design defect and defective work claims relating to water penetration through the exterior walls of residential and office buildings in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland
