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Disclosure of ADR Affiliation

By Scott Graham
February 27, 2013

Los Angeles litigator William Ginsburg apparently thought it wouldn't be a problem to join an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provider while it was conducting an arbitration for one of his medical malpractice clients. But California's Second District Court of Appeal saw it differently, establishing a bright-line rule on Jan. 22 when it held that a lawyer's membership in the ADR provider deciding his case must be disclosed to the other side. The decision appears to be the first to construe Standard 8 of the 2002 California Ethics Standards of Neutral Arbitrators in Contractual Arbitrations.

Because arbitrator Alan Haber failed to disclose Ginsburg's membership in his provider, ADR Services, a nine-day arbitration resulting in a favorable award for Ginsburg's client had to be vacated. “While that rule seems harsh, it is necessary to preserve the integrity of the arbitration process,” Justice Steven Perren wrote for a unanimous Second District panel in Gray v. Chiu, 2013 Cal. App. LEXIS 40 (2013).

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