Arbitration in a fishbowl: The ethics of disclosure 2. Careful Where You Step

Arbitrator Goldberg accepted appointment as an arbitrator of two police discharge cases, each of which had a voluminous history of acrimony and litigiousness by the grievants against their employer, and also against their union (the latter including DFR claims). Arbitrator Goldberg ruled against each grievant, and each grievant filed a motion to overturn the ruling on various grounds, including Arbitrator Goldberg’s “nondisclosure” of his prior appointment to police union arbitration panels. The grievants claimed that this omission demonstrated “evident partiality,” one of the statutory grounds for vacating an arbitration ruling and also a violation of Rule 2B(2) of the NAA Code of Professional Responsibility.