In a case involving a dispute between a not-for-profit corporation administering a self-insured group workers’ compensation fund and their investment advisor and broker-dealer, the Supreme Court of Alabama granted the fund’s motion to vacate an arbitration award in the advisors’ favor. The arbitration was conducted pursuant to FINRA’s rules for arbitration proceedings, which call for the selection of a three-arbitrator panel. However, because the court found that one of the arbiters failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest prior to his selection, it reversed the panel’s award. The arbiter was a vice president and partner in a financial-services firm that had served as a co-underwriter with the advisors on 36 equity and debt issuances, had been codefendants with the advisors in a number of lawsuits, was represented by the same counsel as the advisors, and had involvement with the investment product alleged in this lawsuit. This was enough to constitute a “reasonable impression of partiality” even though the arbiter claimed that he did not know about this relationship on behalf of his firm. Applying the constructive knowledge doctrine, the court found that there was “evident partiality” on the part of the arbiter and reversed the arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act. The lower court had refused to disturb the award, necessitating the lower court’s reversal as well. Municipal Workers Compensation Fund, Inc. v. Morgan Keegan & Co., No. 1120532 (Ala. Apr. 3, 2015).
This post written by Zach Ludens.
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