Opinion ID: 2310164
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Denial of Motion to Vacate

Text: An arbitrator's award will be confirmed unless a motion to vacate, modify, or correct is made. 14 M.R.S.A. § 5937 (1980). Concord has the burden of proving one of the specific grounds requiring the Superior Court to vacate. See R.C. Audette & Sons, Inc. v. LaRochelle, 373 A.2d 1226, 1228 (Me.1977). We must uphold the Superior Court unless it was compelled to vacate the award. Luce Co. v. Hoefler, 464 A.2d 213, 215 (Me.1983). The grounds to vacate the award alleged by Concord here are evident partiality of one of the arbitrators (14 M.R.S.A. § 5938(1)(B)), and substantial prejudice of its rights resulting from the denial of its request for a postponement and the introduction of the McTague deposition (14 M.R.S.A. § 5938(1)(D)). Without providing the arbitration panel with the opportunity to address the claim of partiality, Concord contends that arbitrator DeLong was not impartial because her employer, Hanover, retained Northern's attorney to do insurance company defense work on a matter wholly unrelated to this. [4] Without more of a showing, the Superior Court was not compelled to find evident partiality. Furthermore, given the record before it, the Superior Court was not compelled to conclude that the refusal of the arbitrator to postpone the hearing and the allowance by the panel of the McTague deposition were not within the very broad discretion afforded arbitrators. See generally Westbrook School Comm. v. Westbrook Teachers Ass'n, 404 A.2d 204, 206-09 (Me.1979). The entry is: Judgment affirmed. All concurring.