A recent decision from the 10th Circuit shows there is a whole new way to invalidate an arbitration agreement. In Citizen Potawatomi Nation v. Oklahoma, 2018 WL 718606 (10th Cir. Feb. 6, 2018), the court found the arbitration agreement unenforceable because the parties provided for de novo review of any arbitration award in federal court,
Circuit Split Persists Regarding Whether Arbitrator's "Manifest Disregard" Of Law Can Vacate Arbitration Award
Three years ago, this blog catalogued where all the federal circuits stood on the issue of whether an arbitration award that “manifestly disregarded the law” could be vacated under the Federal Arbitration Act, as that is not one of the four bases for vacatur listed in Section 10. There was a circuit split then, and
Five Tips for State Courts Considering Whether to Vacate Arbitration Awards (ahem, South Dakota, Ohio)
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
Un-Vacated: Appellate Courts Save Arbitration Awards
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
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
What A-Rod Can Teach About A-rbitration
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
Ninth Circuit Says Arbitration Agreements Cannot Restrict Grounds for Vacating Award
In the Hall Street decision in 2008, SCOTUS held that parties could not contractually enlarge Section 10 of the Federal Arbitration Act by agreeing that a court could vacate the arbitration award for reasons not found in that section. This week, the Ninth Circuit held that parties also cannot contractually restrict Section 10 by providing
Two Circuit Courts Demonstrate How Difficult It Is To Vacate Arbitration Awards
In recent weeks, both the Second and Sixth Circuits showed how difficult it is to vacate arbitration awards.
The Second Circuit decision has more drama, so I’ll start there. In Kolel Beth Yechiel Mechil of Tartik-Ov, Inc. v. YLL Irrevocable Trust, __ F.3d __, 2013 WL 4609100 (2d Cir. Aug. 30, 2013), the losing party
If "Grave Error" Is Not Enough to Vacate An Arbitrator's Decision, What Is?
The recent Sutter decision drives home repeatedly that a court may not vacate an arbitrator’s decision under the FAA just because a judge thinks the arbitrator reached the wrong result. Justice Kagan said that under Section 10(a)(4) the court cannot second-guess the award, not even in the face of “grave error.” Instead, the award must
Sixth Circuit Paints Vivid Picture of "Evident Partiality" Sufficient to Vacate Arbitration Award
One of the very few ways to show evident partiality by an arbitrator is to show the arbitrator had financial ties to a party or witness in the proceeding, another is to show the arbitrator prejudiced a party by reversing a procedural or evidentiary ruling during the hearing. The Sixth Circuit found a Michigan arbitrator