Insurance Co. of N. Am. v. Pub. Serv. Mut. Ins. Co.
Insurance Co....(U.S. 2d Cir., Civil Procedure, Contracts, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration, Insurance Law) In an appeal from the district court’s order granting respondent’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(2) motion based on newly discovered evidence that an arbitrator who had resigned was, in fact, able to rejoin the arbitration panel prior to the district court’s decision on whether to convene a new panel or order a replacement arbitrator, the order is affirmed where: 1) the rule articulated in Marine Products Export Corp. v. M.T. Globe Galaxy, 977 F.2d 66 (2d Cir. 1992) 150 that, absent “special circumstances,” if a vacancy arises on an arbitral panel due to the death of an arbitrator prior to the rendering of an award, a new panel should be convened 150 does not apply to a vacancy occasioned by a resignation; and 2) in the instant case, the district court’s decision either to reappoint the arbitrator who had resigned, or, in the alternative, to direct petitioner to appoint a replacement was proper pursuant to 9 U.S.C. section 5.
