Labor & Employment Law

"Manifest Diregard" May Disappear From Motions to Vacate Securities Arbitration Awards

By Dobin & Jenks

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Florida, is a "manifest disregard" circuit. In Montes v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, the court found that a closing argument in an NASD arbitration that acknowledged the law, but encouraged the arbitrators to ignore it, was evidence of manifest disregard of the law. The arbitrators agreed and Shearson won the case.

On a motion to vacate, ultimately decided by the 11th Circuit, Shearson lost. The court found that the test is that the arbitrators were aware of the law and chose to ignore it. Montes may be the only case decided on this basis for the movant. In other words, in establishing "manifest disregard" as a basis for vacating an arbitration award, Shearson lost.

Over time, and mergers, Shearson became part of Citigroup Global Markets. That entity, Citigroup, recently lost a FINRA securities arbitration award to a woman from Texas. Citigroup thought it had a good argument, that the arbitrators manifestly disregarded the law. The trial court agreed. The Fifth Circuit did not.

In Citigroup v. Bacon the Fifth Circuit said that "manifest disregard of the law" is no longer available as grounds to vacate an award. The court based its decision on a recent US Supreme Court decision in Hall Street Associates v. Mattel. The US Supreme Court in Hall Street found that "manifest disregard" is not part of the statute allowing vacatur of arbitration awards. The Court pronounced for the entire nation that "manifest disregard" does not exist any longer. (Other circuits, by the way, have found their way around this ruling.)

Florida currently is a "manifest disregard" state, but the 11th Circuit said that Montes is the only case it has found worthy of that moniker. In fact, in Harbert v. Hercules Steel,, the 11th Circuit warned that sanctions may be appropriate for weak motions to vacate arbitration awards based on "manifest disregard."

There you have it. Citigroup has managed to establish that "minfest disregard" is and is not a basis for vacating an arbitration award. For those of you non-lawyers who read this, I can't explain it other than to say, that's the way the law is sometimes.

That's the view from The Law Planet - Jupiter, Florida.

Full post as published by The Law Planet Blog on March 17, 2009 (boomark / email).