Recent Posts

One of the least discussed powers of the Arbitral Tribunal is the power of suggestion. Professor Piero Bernardini, a well-reputed continental arbitrator and scholar, has described the arbitrator’s task in achieving an efficient process as “a balance between ‘proactive and judicious efforts’ to move proceedings forward in an efficient manner while at the same time ensuring respect for party autonomy and equality.” Volumes have been written about arbitral efficiency and party autonomy but rather little about how these themes are harmonized in the day-by-day practice of the craft of arbitrating. One of the presumed character differences between the judge and…
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You may not recall the last time a hearsay objection was sustained by an arbitral tribunal. And understandably so. Arbitrators “take [the hearsay evidence] for what it’s worth,” and steer clear of challenges to their awards on grounds (FAA Section 10 (a)(3)) that they committed “misconduct” by “refusing to hear evidence.” But just suppose: In a real estate arbitration to determine fair value for purposes of a partner buy-out, all of Respondent’s written evidence of fair value is excluded as hearsay by the arbitrator. For example, a written offer to purchase the property was excluded as hearsay, on the theory…
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Last week’s decision by the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that incorporation of the UNCITRAL Rules in an arbitration clause is considered as a matter of federal arbitration law to be a clear and unmistakable delegation to the arbitrators of exclusive power to decide the scope of arbitrable issues — [Oracle America, Inc. v. Myriad Group A.G., 2013 WL 3839668 (9th Cir. July 26, 2013)] — may at first blush appear to be uneventful news, at least for practitioners who do not practice in the 9th Circuit or often frequent its federal district courts to pursue or resist arbitration….
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Tonight Arbitration Commentaries brings its readers the annual Midsummer Night’s Dream post. In tonight’s dream, an arbitration clause drifts in and out of view through an undulant layer of fog. In a fleeting moment of legibility, we see that the clause provides for arbitration under the UNCITRAL Rules in New York. Before we can read further to see if any appointing authority is designated, the dense misty curtain envelops the page anew. But a voice, resounding and echoing, instructs us: ” NOOOOOOO……” The scene shifts. Two pinstripe-clad figures, one in gray, one in blue, appear on the steps of a…
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In the Concepcion case in 2011 [AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S.Ct. 1740], five Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States agreed that the FAA pre-empts a rule of state law that makes an arbitration agreement unconscionable if the agreement prohibits class arbitration.  The actual implications of Concepcion for class arbitration remain murky, as the Supreme Court’s other recent decisions relating to class arbitration have been context-specific. Thus in Stolt-Nielsen the Court’s decision (5-3) was “anti-” class arbitration [Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. Animalfeeds International Corp., 559 U.S. 662 (2010)], because the tribunal had no basis in the contract…
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June was a fertile month for arbitration jurisprudence at the Supreme Court of the United States, and most of you know already that: 1) the Court held, 8-0, that class action arbitration is OK if the arbitrator is even arguably construing the arbitration clause when ruling that the case may proceed as a class action (Oxford Health Plans, LLC v. Sutter, No. 12-135 (Jun. 10, 2013)), (2) the Court held, 5-3, that class arbitration is not OK when the agreement expressly forbids it, even if the consequence is to make pursuit of a federal statutory treble damages claim hopelessly uneconomical…
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