Opinion ID: 2261551
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Division 540 v. Mercer County Improvement Auth

Text: In Division 540 v. Mercer County Improvement Auth., 76 N.J. 245 (1978), we held that judicial review is available from an arbitration under New Jersey's labor arbitration statute, N.J.S.A. 40:37A-96, even though the statute itself does not provide for such review. The Court, per Justice Sullivan, held: Although N.J.S.A. 40:37A-96 has no express requirement for judicial review of the arbitrator's award, we conclude that such review must be available if the statutory provision is to be sustained. The statute subjects the development Authority to compulsory and binding arbitration. Because it is compulsory, principles of fairness, perhaps even due process, require that judicial review be available to ensure that the award is not arbitrary or capricious and that the arbitrator has not abused the power and authority delegated to him. [ Id. at 253]. The Association argues that the same principles of fairness' require judicial review of compulsory arbitrations by the Committees. We disagree. The holding of Division 540 is inapplicable to arbitrations conducted pursuant to our constitutional authority to regulate the Bar. [23] The same rationale  that attorneys are subject to extensive regulation by this court [24]  which justifies compulsory arbitration of their fee disputes also justifies eliminating appeals from such arbitration despite the general principles of fairness enunciated in Division 540. We restate that if appeals as of right from the Committees were taken to the Superior Court, as petitioner and the Association urge, such appeals would greatly undermine this Court's exclusive jurisdiction over the regulation of the Bar.