Sunday, August 26, 2007

Resigning arbitrator. The Second Circuit held that the resignation of an arbitrator did not prevent the remaining arbitrators from acting. To have held otherwise would allow one party to keep any action or any futher action from happening. This is so even when the arbitration agreement set out who the arbitrators would be.

The case in Zeiler v. Deitsch involved a "zabla" arbitration panel where each party picks on arbitrator and those arbitrators pick a third arbitrator who will serve as presiding arbitrator of the panel. The Court held that, in the event of a resignation, the party whose arbitrator resigns would have the power to appoint a replacement. In this case, Zeiler never attempted to do so, so the Court held that the remaining arbitrators could act.

The decision in this case can be found here.

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