One of arbitration’s supposed virtues is that it’s fast and simple – streamlined, as many courts are fond of saying. As a consequence, arbitral awards generally do not need to be supported by any reasoning or rationale. Unless the parties have requested a specific form of award, an arbitrator may issue an award that does
First, SCOTUSblog referenced “arbitration nation” last fall, which was flattering. Then last week the Ninth Circuit declared: “we have become an arbitration nation.” That was basically the title of my first post on this blog seven years ago! (“We are becoming an arbitration nation.”) I am going to turn up the Janet Jackson
While I was busy blogging out listicles and “think pieces” last month, my stack of unread arbitration cases grew exponentially. August was apparently a very busy month for publishing arbitration opinions. Maybe most surprisingly, the federal appellate courts vacated three arbitration awards in recent weeks. So I will start there, and end with
The Supreme Court of Hawaii ruled recently that if a neutral arbitrator fails to meet disclosure requirements, it constitutes “evident partiality” as a matter of law, and requires the vacatur of the arbitrator’s award. Furthermore, Hawaii interpreted its disclosure requirements broadly, and in this case found an arbitrator’s failure to disclose the “concrete possibility” of
The Third Circuit recently found that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts a Pennsylvania statute that restricts corporate plaintiffs in state and federal court in Pennsylvania to those companies that are registered to do business in Pennsylvania. Generational Equity, LLC v. Schomaker, 2015 WL 708481 (3d Cir. Feb. 19, 2015). In other words, a company
“When an arbitration goes an opponent’s way on the basis of questionable contract interpretation, parties often seek refuge in [Section] 10(a)(4). But the Supreme Court has made clear that district courts’ review of arbitrators’ awards under [that Section] is limited to the ‘sole question… of whether the arbitrator (even arguably) interpreted the parties contract.'”
Those
In an example of “What Not to Vacate,” the South Dakota Supreme Court just vacated an arbitration award because the arbitrator dared to apply a South Dakota statute allowing attorneys’ fees to the claimant. A week earlier, the Ohio Supreme Court also vacated an arbitration award for granting a remedy that the court found exceeded
Two posts ago, I reviewed four recent cases in which appellate courts enforced arbitration awards that district courts had refused to enforce. Today I review two more appellate courts coming to the rescue of arbitration, this time by confirming arbitration awards that had been vacated by lower courts.
In SPX Corp. v. Garda USA
Today we take a close look at that rare creature: an opinion finding sufficient basis under the FAA to vacate an arbitration award. In Tenaska Energy Inc. v. Ponderosa Pine Energy, LLC, __S.W.3d __, 2014 WL 2139215 (Tex. May 23, 2014), the Supreme Court of Texas found an arbitrator had shown “evident partiality” due
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