But Arbitration Panel Did Not Exceed Power In Panoche Energy Center v. PG&E. RIPENESS Advertisement. c1869. Library of Congress. Under California law, parties to an arbitration can contractually limit an arbitrator’s powers, creating opportunities for vacating arbitration awards when the arbitrator exceeds the arbitrator’s powers – something not to attempt under federal law. […]
Court Shows No Sympathy For Circumstance Of Defendant/Appellant Whose Party Arbitrator Died. Here, the arbitration panel proceeded with arbitration after the death of defendant/appellant Mitchell’s party arbitrator, refusing to continue the hearing to permit Mitchell to select another party arbitrator. That sounds pretty harsh, but read on: “As troublesome as this circumstance may appear […]
Contention That There Was Error In Confirming The Award Was Not Before The Court. To quote the late Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, “Crikey!”. On appeal, defendant Porter argued that the arbitrator exceeded his authority, as a result of which confirmation of the arbitration award was error, citing Cal. Code Civ. Proc., section […]
Arbitrators Can Make Mistakes And Here The Record Didn’t Even Show A Mistake Had Been Made. A major attorney’s fees dispute between a law firm and its client hinged on when mediation ended, for the parties agreed that the law firm would receive a five percent contingency fee for a successful mediation, and a […]
Failure To Postpone Arbitration Hearing Upon Sufficient Cause May Be Grounds For Vacating Award – But Not When Request For Continuance Is Waived ! Plaintiff sought to postpone an arbitration hearing in a wrongful death/medical malpractice action, because she was studying abroad, and counsel’s medical condition adversely affected his cognitive status and performance. However, […]
Lanois v. Employers Fire Insurance Company, Case No. B251403 (2/1 Jan. 9, 2015) (Chaney, Rothschild, Johnson) (unpublished) involved an underinsured motorist insurance carrier’s challenge to an arbitration award, on the grounds that the award was rendered untimely, and that the arbitrator exceeded her powers by adding interest to a 950K award, after the […]
Arbitrator Did Not Exceed Powers Or Commit Misconduct. We see many cases in which a party seeks to vacate an award on the grounds the arbitrator exceeded his or her powers. This is usually an uphill battle, as it was in our next case. The plaintiff received an arbitrator’s award in the amount […]
Arbitrator Did Not Exceed Jurisdiction Because Awards Ruling On Access To Records Did Not Violate Public Policy. Sometimes the Court’s weariness with a dispute drips onto the page as in this description of an appeal from judgments entered after the trial court denied petitions “to vacate the most recent arbitration awards in a decade-long […]
Judgment Confirming Arbitration Award Is Reversed, And Appeal From Sanction Order Is Dismissed. Wendy Kronick appealed from the trial court’s judgment confirming an arbitration award in favor of her former family law attorney, Debra A. Opri. Kronick v. Opri, B241510 (2/1 Sept. 30, 2014) (Ashmann-Gerst, Chavez, Ferns) (unpublished). Ms. Kronick argued that the […]
The Party Allowed To Keep A $500,000 Deposit Was The Appellant SSIC, LLC, the seller of a mobile home park with serious financial problems, received an arbitral award allowing seller to keep a $500,000 deposit from buyer Kleege. Not content with retaining the deposit, the seller appealed, arguing that a contractual provision was unambiguous, […]