Lagstein v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s
Lagstein v....(U.S. 9th Cir., Contracts, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration, Ethics & Professional Responsibility, Health Law, Insurance Law, Labor & Employment Law) In plaintiff’s appeal from the district court’s court vacating an arbitral award on the ground of its excessive size and vacating a punitive damages award on the additional ground that the arbitration panel lacked jurisdiction to enter it after the panel had entered its compensatory award, the order is reversed where: 1) the district court erred in concluding that the size of the arbitration awards demonstrated manifest disregard of the law; 2) the fact that the majority of the arbitrators may have made a mistake in citing a benefit that plaintiff had not purchased did not establish irrationality of its ultimate conclusion that defendant breached its contract; 3) nothing in plaintiff’s policy expressly withdrew determination of procedural issues from the panel; and 4) defendant failed to demonstrate either evident partiality or evident corruption in the arbitrators.
