I thought this was going to be a non-binding arbitration.  Not one of legal nature.  I think there will be problems having it any other way.  I would think the mere statement of facts by both parties on a public forum would induce either party to eventually settle their disagreements.  This case at hand is different than other posts where multiple people have trouble collecting from a company - it seems there are issues here to be resolved also.  The other companies came up to bat and apologized for the delay of payment which I truly respect them for.  I would have no problem with arbitration - I actually believe it would be the companies that would have more problems with this method on this forum than abstractors would.  I'm real curious as to what the responses will be.