Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog » arbitration award

Fifth Circuit: Sham Arbitration Cannot Be Used to Perform an Unlawful Transfer

By Victoria VanBuren - May 29, 2009

In a one-paragraph opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that arbitration cannot be used to circumvent procedural requirements of the Texas Structured Settlement Protection Act (“SSPA”) and affirmed the District Court’s refusal to confirm an arbitration award. In Symetra Life Ins. Co. v. Rapid Settlements Ltd., No. 08-20248, Symetra National Life Insurance Company, (“Symetra”) payor of structu

Arbitration Award on Attorney’s Fees

By Victoria VanBuren - February 25, 2009

From our good friend Chuck Herring: Here‘s a somewhat interesting decision reversing in part an arbitration award on an attorney’s fees issue, holding that a contract provision that permitted the lawyer to recover fees and expenses for time spent incident to withdrawing from representation was unconscionable and unenforceable on public policy grounds because the DRs require that fees can be charged only for services performed on behal

Dead? Alive? Matter of Opinion?

By Karl Bayer - December 4, 2008

Hall Street and its progeny may have killed “manifest disregard” but the Second Circuit could have just resuscitated it; well, if you consider zombies as resuscitated beings. In Stolt-Nielsen SA v. Animalfeeds Int’l Corp., the Second Circuit held a court may still review whether an arbitrator manifestly disregarded the law, within Section 10 of the FAA. So is manifest disregard still a standard to be followed by the courts? It appears that if you

Professor Alan Scott Rau Responds to Hall Street v. Mattel

By Rob Hargrove - June 9, 2008

Professor Alan Scott Rau sent the following comments to Karl in response to our thoughts about his recent article on Hall Street v. Mattel. They are helpful, and they raise a question for our readers, that is, for lawyers in the trenches in Texas. The [unedited] comments follow: Two points, one small, one rather larger: I’m not entirely sure that parties do still have the option of using arbitration to generate “an agreed statement of

Fifth Circuit Upholds Punitive Damages Award

By Rob Hargrove - February 9, 2006

In an opinion (link is to .pdf file) filed Wednesday, the Fifth Circuit affirmed a trial court decision to confirm an arbitral award which contained a punitive damages award for the arbitral plaintiff. The case involved a woman’s breach of fiduciary duty claims against the managers of an investment portfolio she received as part of a divorce settlement. The arbitral panel found that the investment company did in fact breach its duty to the

GUEST BLOGGER RICK FREEMAN!

By Rick Freeman - September 12, 2005

[ed. note: we’ve asked a number of our colleagues to offer guest-blogs about Texas dispute resolution, and our old friend Rick Freeman is the first to chime in. We look forward to continuing columns from Rick.] I am honored to have been extended the opportunity to contribute to the KarlBayer.com blog. I know Karl Bayer and Rob Hargrove to be extremely talented and hardworking trial lawyers and dispute resolution specialists. I will attempt