Notification and Scheduling of Arbitration Hearings

(1) When schedulinghearings, the arbitrationfirmshall attempt to accommodate the geographic and time-of-day needs of the parties. (2) The arbitrator shall mail a notice to the consumer and to the respondent-dealer or respondent- manufacturer (or its designee), as the case may be, within seven days of acceptance of a request for arbitration. The notice shall indicate that the consumer's request for arbitration has been accepted and shall also include general information about the arbitration process, a copy of the consumer's request for arbitration and accompanying narrative. (3) The foregoing notice shall constitute sufficient notice to the manufacturer that it must cure the nonconformity(s) within sevenbusinessdays,ifthe consumer had not previously given such opportunity to the manufacturer as required by M.G.L. c. 90, § 7N½. (4) The hearing shall be held within 44 days of the date that the request for arbitration was accepted. The hearing shall be held no earlier than 21 days after the date of the notice of acceptance unless agreed to by both parties. Notice ofthe date, time, locationofthe hearing, and name of the arbitrator shall be mailed by the arbitrator to both parties no later than ten days prior to the hearing. (5) No later than seven days prior to the hearing, the arbitrator may call both parties to confirm the hearing date. This call shall constitute sufficient notice should either party claim non-receipt of the notice provided for in 201 CMR 11.04(4). (6) Withintendays of the date of the notice of acceptance of the consumer’s request for arbitration, the respondent-manufacturer or respondent-dealer, as the case may be, shall mail to the consumer, the arbitrator and the arbitration firm a specific response to the facts and issues raised in the consumer’s request for arbitration form. General denials will not satisfy the requirements of 201 CMR 11.04(6). (7) The arbitrator shall notify all parties and the arbitration firm of all procedural rulings and shall seek from OCABR if necessary.