Let’s say your arbitration agreement calls for arbitration administered by JAMS under JAMS rules, but the arbitrator is independent and applies AAA rules, over one party’s objection. A new decision from the Fifth Circuit says that is enough to vacate the resulting award.
In Poolre Insurance Corp. v. Organizational Strategies, Inc., __ F.3d__, 2015 WL
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
The Supreme Court of Texas issued three decisions last week that all relate to arbitrator selection and offer reminders to drafters and litigators that arbitrator selection is a critical component of arbitration agreements.
Two of the decisions involved tort claims against the same defendant, a cemetery owner. In re Serv. Corp. Int’l, ___ S.W.3d ___,