CAL. CT. APP. OVERTURNS CONFIRMATION OF AWARD DUE TO NONDISCLOSURE OF PERTINENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARBITRATOR AND PARTY
Nancy Hurwitz Kors appealed to the California Court of Appeals an order confirming an arbitration award in favor of the law firm Benjamin, Weill & Mazer in a dispute over attorneys’ fees. Kors argued that the confirmation must be reversed because the chief arbitrator failed to disclose business relationships casting doubt on his ability to be impartial, as required by the California Arbitration Act. Shortly after the issuance of the arbitration award, Kors’ counsel discovered that the chief arbitrator was counsel for the defendant law firm in a recent case in which the law firm had sought to arbitrate a fee dispute with another client, had filed a brief on behalf of the law firm with the California Supreme Court shortly before his appointment as chief arbitrator in the present dispute and argued the case to the Supreme Court on behalf of the law firm while serving as chief arbitrator in this matter. The California Court of Appeals reversed the order confirming the award finding that the circumstances of the chief arbitrator’s business relationship with the law firm could cause a person to “entertain a doubt that the proposed neutral arbitration would be able to be impartial.” Benjamin, Weill & Mazer v. Kors, No. 07-00939 (Cal. Ct. App. Oct. 12, 2010).
This post written by John Black.
