The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently confirmed an arbitration award in a dispute concerning the ownership of certain music rights, rejecting the argument that alleged legal errors constituted sufficient grounds to vacate the award. The underlying arbitration involved a dispute between The Pullman Group, LLC and its owner, David Pullman (collectively, “Pullman”), and the estates of John Whitehead and Gene McFadden, who were “an integral part of the Philadelphia music scene in the 1970s.” Pullman entered into a contract with Whitehead and McFadden to purchase their song catalogue, but the sale was never finalized. After the musicians passed away, Pullman and the estates agreed to arbitrate their dispute over ownership of the catalogue. An arbitration panel ruled in favor of the estates, and Pullman brought an action in federal court to vacate the award on the grounds that the panel had committed various legal errors.
The district court denied Pullman’s motion to vacate the award, which the Third Circuit affirmed. The court held that mere errors of law are insufficient to warrant vacatur of arbitration award, and that such outcome is only justified where an arbitrator’s legal error is so substantial that a party was deprived of a fair hearing. In this case, that the arbitration panel’s application of New York law and decision to exclude certain testimony was well-founded, and did not arise to the level of misconduct required to vacate the award. The Third Circuit rejected Pullman’s alternative argument that the panel’s ruling amounted to “manifest disregard of the law,” finding that even if this doctrine is still a viable ground to vacate an arbitration award (which the court declined to address), it would not apply because the panel’s decision did not ignore binding legal precedent. Whitehead v. The Pullman Group, LLC, Nos. 15-1627 & 15-1628 (3d Cir. Dec. 10, 2015).
This post written by Rob DiUbaldo.
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