Can A Merits Award In Arbitration That Affects Rights Of Third Party Who Did Not Participate In Arbitration Be Corrected? The majority opinion in E-Commerce Lighting, Inc. v. E-Commerce Trade LLC, E074525 (4/1 12/9/22) (Raphael, Ramirez; dsst. Mentrez), answered the above question with a "no", reversing the trial judge. Judge Menetrez, dissenting, answered "yes," […]
Once The Arbitrator Determines All Issues Necessary To Resolve The Essential Dispute, The Arbitrator's Ruling Constitute A Final Award Under § 1283.4. The arbitrator issued an award, labeled neither final nor interim, on April 3, 2020, denying employee a finding of liability in her favor, and denying employee and respondent employer attorney's fees, on […]
Arbitrator Acted Within Nonstatutory Power To Amend Award and Also Exercised Equitable Powers. Starr v. Mayhew, G060277 (4/2 9/1/22, cert for pub. 9/28/22) (Moore, Goethals, Moteike) involved a dispute among members of an LLC as to their respective ownership interests and as to whether Mayhew, who managed the LLC, had a right to be […]
This Case Is Must Reading For Determining Whether An Arbitrator's Ruling Is An Award. "As this case highlights, whether an arbitrator's ruling constitutes an 'award' is a significant event." Lonky v. Patel, B295314 consolidated with B297632 (2/2 7/2/20) (Hoffstadt, Lui, Chavez). Indeed. The arbitrator can continue to issue interim rulings before there […]
Also, JAMS Rules Did Not Enlarge Arbitrator’s Powers To Correct Final Award. Cooper v. Lavely & Singer, Case No. B251508 (2/4 Sept. 26, 2014) (Manella, Epstein, Willhite) (published) offers a very instructive discussion about correction of an arbitration award. Perhaps the best lesson here is for arbitrators – be careful about issuing dicey final […]