Tech Disputes, Arbitration & Platform Fights
Software and SaaS liability claims. AI-related disputes. Co-founder and investor conflicts. Payment-platform fund holds and account terminations. Cybercrime losses.
Before the AAA, JAMS and NAM, where most technology contracts send disputes. In New York courts when emergency relief is needed. And in the negotiations that avoid both.
Technology disputes are decided by the contract and the forum it chose.
Most SaaS agreements, platform terms and vendor contracts send disputes to private arbitration. The forum, the rules and the clauses around them decide how fast the case moves, what it costs and what you can recover.
We have handled more than 130 arbitrations before the AAA, JAMS and NAM since 2019, for claimants and respondents, in software, platform, payment, cybercrime and AI-related disputes.
That experience runs both ways. It tells us how to win the case in front of us, and it tells us how to draft the next contract so the case is smaller.
The rules that frame a technology dispute.
Statutory clocks and the firm’s own record.
The 130+ figure is the firm’s own count. Under the Federal Arbitration Act, a written arbitration agreement in a contract involving commerce is valid and enforceable like any other contract. CPLR 7502(c) lets a New York court grant an attachment or preliminary injunction in aid of an arbitration when the award would otherwise be ineffectual. Sources: New York CPLR 7511; New York CPLR 213; New York CPLR 7502(c), provisional remedies in aid of arbitration; Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 2; American Arbitration Association; JAMS; NAM.
The disputes we handle.
Software and SaaS liability
Claims that software failed, data was lost or a service did not perform, on both sides: defending within the contract’s limits, or pursuing a vendor whose product caused the loss.
AI-related disputes
Claims arising from AI output, automated decisions, chatbot interactions and model-provider terms, where the law is being written case by case.
Payment and platform disputes
Account terminations, reserves and fund holds, app store removals and marketplace suspensions, under terms that almost always require arbitration.
Co-founder, investor and shareholder disputes
Equity, control, departures and breaches of operating and shareholder agreements, resolved by negotiation, arbitration or court.
Cybercrime and account takeover losses
Claims against the parties whose systems or controls failed: banks, carriers, exchanges, vendors and platforms. Drawn from our cybercrime practice.
Emergency and injunctive relief
Temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions in New York courts, including in aid of arbitration, when waiting would make the award meaningless.
How a dispute runs.
Preparation in the first weeks decides most of what follows.
Read the contract
Forum, rules, governing law, caps, carve-outs, notice requirements and deadlines, before any letter goes out.
Preserve and build
Documents, logs, communications and account records collected and organized into the story the arbitrator will read.
Notice and filing
The formal notice the contract requires, then the demand or answer in the right forum, with emergency relief sought where needed.
Resolve
Negotiation when it serves the client, a hearing when it does not, and enforcement of the result.
We draft it. We also defend it.
Fintech and digital assets since 2017.
Max Dilendorf has advised fintech, payments and digital-asset companies since 2017, through the growth of the sector and the regulation that followed. The questions founders ask today about AI, we have worked through before with crypto.
More than 130 arbitrations since 2019.
Software liability, platform and payment disputes, cybercrime losses and AI-related claims before the AAA, JAMS and NAM, and emergency relief in New York courts. What we learn in those rooms shapes how we draft.
Read the contract before you respond.
The first letter often waives something. Make sure it is not yours.
- Pull the version of the terms in force when the relationship began
- Preserve every log, message and account record now
- Calendar the contract’s notice and cure periods and any statutory deadlines
- Give formal notice exactly as the contract requires
- Ask whether emergency court relief is needed to keep the award meaningful
- Respond to a demand letter before counsel has read the dispute clause
- Post publicly about the dispute or the counterparty
- Let a platform’s internal appeal process run out the contract’s deadlines
- Assume a liability cap protects you without reading the carve-outs
- Settle a frozen-funds dispute for a release of part of the balance without advice
From the firm’s writing.
NYC Business Arbitration Attorney: File or Defend a Claim
How business arbitration works under AAA, JAMS and NAM rules.
Read the articleStripe Won’t Release Your Funds? Attorney Insights
What happens when a processor closes an account and holds the balance.
Read the articleTemporary Restraining Order (TRO) Attorney in New York
When and how emergency relief is available in New York courts.
Read the articleFrequently asked.
Not necessarily. Arbitration is usually faster and more private than court, and the arbitrator is often experienced in commercial matters. It limits appeals, so preparation matters more. We have handled more than 130 arbitrations before the AAA, JAMS and NAM since 2019, on both sides.
We read the terms the customer accepted, including the liability cap, warranty disclaimers and dispute clause, and we respond in a way that preserves those protections. Many of these claims resolve within the cap once the contract is read carefully.
Read the services agreement first; most require notice and then arbitration, and set a reserve period. We document the account history, give the required notice, press for release and file in arbitration where the terms allow. Documentation and timing matter more than the volume of complaints.
Often, yes, for emergency relief. New York courts can grant an attachment or a preliminary injunction in aid of an arbitration when the award would otherwise be ineffectual. The arbitration then proceeds on the merits.
It depends on the forum, the rules and the claim. Smaller claims under expedited procedures can conclude in months. Larger commercial matters take longer. Either way, it is usually faster than court, and the schedule is set early and largely kept.
Other areas of the practice.
Six services for technology companies, from ongoing counsel to the dispute. Back to the overview.
Facing a claim, a freeze or a co-founder conflict?
A confidential consultation with technology dispute lawyers in Lower Manhattan. Bring the contract. We will tell you what it says and what to do first.