Three decisions came out recently that offer guidance on appealing from arbitration awards. Here are three pearls of arbitration appeal wisdom, one from each case:
1. If you want to appeal from an arbitration, you must have a record. Sounds basic, right? But many parties, either due to confidence they will win in arbitration or
Arbitration is in the news. Not just a buried paragraph in the business section, but the front page. (A three-arbitrator panel issued a 34-page arbitration award finding Major League Baseball was justified in suspending baseball player Alex Rodriguez for 162 games, which A-Rod is now trying to vacate.) My own hope is that this high-profile
Say it’s twenty degrees below zero outside, and you’d already seen boiling water turn into “snow” immediately upon making contact with the air, what would you do next? Assuming you were all caught up on your Words With Friends games, you would read the 168-page initial report of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau about arbitration!
Just four months ago, SCOTUS suggested (but did not hold) that the decision to allow class arbitrations might be a “gateway” issue of arbitrability that defaults to courts. This week, the Sixth Circuit was the first to take the bait and declare the availability of class actions a gateway question that a court decides unless
No haunted house can scare general counsel as much as an opinion invalidating their company’s arbitration clause and thereby allowing a class action to proceed. So, here is a Halloween tale for all to keep in mind.
Ralphs Grocery Company hired Zenia Chavarria to work in the deli of one of its grocery stores. Ms.
The Third Circuit ruled last week that Delaware’s Chancery Court could not offer its judges’ services as neutral arbitrators in its courtrooms, unless those arbitrations were open to the public.
In 2009, the Delaware courts decided to provide arbitration. The state amended its laws to create an arbitration process that was only open to disputes
On October 1, new Commercial Arbitration Rules became effective at the American Arbitration Association (AAA). These rules are likely to apply to all commercial arbitrations filed on and after October 1 (unless an arbitration agreement specifically provides for old rules). The AAA posted its own summary of the changes. Four of the most notable
In two decisions this week, courts consider whether arbitration awards can be vacated based on arbitrators’ decisions to exclude evidence. In both cases, the courts affirm an arbitrator’s authority to make reasonable evidentiary decisions — excluding hearsay and denying tardy subpoena requests — as long as those decisions do not deny a party a fair
In a new case that reminds federal judges everywhere to sing “I’ve got the power!” like C&C Music Factory, the Fifth Circuit reiterates that federal courts can stay related state court actions if necessary to “protect or effectuate” an order compelling arbitration. American Family Life Assurance Co. of Columbus v. Biles, __ F.3d __,
This post is dedicated to a perennial favorite topic: subpoenas for documents in arbitration. Why this topic and not something hot off the presses? Because SCOTUS has not yet accepted or denied the cert petition in Sutter, and no cases have come out recently that meet my high standards for discussion on this blog