Recent
News
2003 Newsletter
For Week Ending Aug. 29, 2003
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THIS WEEK:
1. Arbitration: Private parties have no power to alter or
expand the
grounds for federal court review of an arbitral decision and
any
contractual provision purporting to do so is legally unenforceable.
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CASE SUMMARIES:
1. Arbitration: Private parties have no power to alter or
expand the
grounds for federal court review of an arbitral decision and
any
contractual provision purporting to do so is legally unenforceable.
Kyocera Corp. v. Prudential Bache Trade Services, Inc. 2003
WL
22025130 (9th Cir.(Cal.)).
In 1984, Kyocera Corporation ("Kyocera") Prudential-Bache
Trade
Corporation ("Prudential"), and LaPine Technology
Corporation ("LaPine")
entered into a venture for the manufacture and sale of computer
disk
drives. A dispute soon arose between the parties, which was
resolved by
binding arbitration pursuant to the parties previously executed
agreement.
Kyocera filed a motion in court to vacate, modify, or correct
the
arbitral award on the ground that the arbitration clause located
in the
parties' contractual agreement permitted the court to vacate,
modify, or
correct an award where the arbitrators' findings of fact are
not supported
by substantial evidence, or where the arbitrators' conclusions
of law are
erroneous. Kyocera argued that the district court erred in applying
only
the Federal Arbitration Act (the "Act") standard of
review instead of the
broader contractual provisions for review. In affirming the
district
court's 1995 conclusion and denying Kyocera's motion to vacate
the
arbitral award, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
held that a
federal court may only review an arbitral decision on the grounds
set
forth in the Federal Arbitration Act, private parties have no
power to
alter or expand those grounds, and any contractual provision
purpoorting
to do so is legally unenforceable. (DP)
Full opinion available online at:
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/F9172829D9CE47BF88256D91005B5BEA/$file/0115630.pdf?openelement
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Editor-in-Chief: Demetri Papachristopoulos
Writers:
Faculty Advisor: Richard Birke
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