It is generally accepted that courts may only engage in the very front and very back end of an arbitration. At the outset, courts may determine whether the parties agreed to arbitrate the dispute, and at the end, courts may determine if the arbitration met the basic fairness requirements of the Federal Arbitration Act. However,
Arbitration Award Vacated Because Arbitrators Were Impartial
Although we usually expect arbitrators to be impartial, the Supreme Court of Texas vacated an arbitration award because the chosen arbitrators were too impartial. Americo Life, Inc. v. Myer, __S.W.3d__, 2014 WL 2789429 (Tex. June 20, 2014). Because the court found the parties’ agreement allowed each side to choose an arbitrator who was partial
Federal Judge Disqualifies Lawyers Based On Misconduct In Arbitration
The lawyers who sought to disqualify their opposing counsel during a pending arbitration must have been giddy when they drew Judge Shira Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York as their judge. Judge Scheindlin, who is famously tough on unscrupulous lawyers, did not disappoint. She went out of her way to exercise jurisdiction over