Opinion ID: 604167
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Alleged Factual and Legal Errors of the Arbitrator

Text: 13 Next, National contends that the arbitration award must be vacated because it is contradicted by the finding of fact upon which it is based. National also claims that the award, if enforced, forces National to violate federal law and public policy. We will address these two related arguments together. 14 Generally, we will not vacate an arbitration award because the arbitrator made errors of fact or law. Burchell v. Marsh, 58 U.S. (17 How.) 344, 348, 15 L.Ed. 96 (1855); Moseley, Hallgarten, Estabrook & Weeden, Inc. v. Ellis, 849 F.2d 264, 272 (7th Cir.1988); Ethyl Corp., 768 F.2d at 183. Federal courts will not vacate an arbitration award merely because the arbitrator misinterpreted applicable law. National R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Chesapeake and Ohio Ry. Co., 551 F.2d 136, 143 (7th Cir.1977). See also Northrop Corp. v. Triad Int'l Marketing S.A., 811 F.2d 1265, 1268-69 (9th Cir.) (courts are bound to enforce an award based upon arbitrator's resolution of disputed issues even in the face of erroneous findings of fact or misinterpretations of law), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 914, 108 S.Ct. 261, 98 L.Ed.2d 219 (1987). This does not mean, however, that every arbitration award will be upheld. When arbitrators demonstrate a manifest disregard for the applicable law, courts will not enforce the award. Health Servs. Management Corp. v. Hughes, 975 F.2d 1253, 1267 (7th Cir.1992). In order for a federal court to vacate an arbitration award for manifest disregard of the law, the party challenging the award must demonstrate that the arbitrator deliberately disregarded what the arbitrator knew to be the law in order to reach a particular result. Id. 3 15 These standards doom National's claim that the arbitration award should be vacated. The evidence of Barnett's eyesight was conflicting. While Levine's report could have been clearer, it did conclude that Barnett's vision satisfied DOT requirements. Given Levine's conclusion, we can only assume that Levine's medical opinion was that Barnett's vision in his left eye was correctable to 20/40. The arbitrator had conflicting evidence, weighed that evidence, then sought further findings from Levine, and finally decided that Barnett's eyesight satisfied the DOT regulations. 16 It is clear that the arbitrator's award does not reflect a manifest disregard for the law. After carefully weighing the evidence, particularly Levine's analysis, the arbitrator concluded that Barnett satisfied the DOT's 20/40 vision requirement. The arbitrator's award may be erroneous, but, even if it is, it does not evidence a manifest disregard for the DOT regulations. National has failed to show that the arbitrator deliberately disregarded what he knew to be the law. 17 National cites Electronics Corp. of America v. International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, 492 F.2d 1255 (1st Cir.1974), to support its position that the district court erred when it refused to vacate the arbitrator's award. In Electronics Corp., the First Circuit was confronted with a labor dispute where the employer had discharged an employee. There, over the course of several years, the employer had grown increasingly frustrated with the employee. In accordance with the company's disciplinary policies, the employer gave the employee several warnings, both oral and written, and, finally, suspended the employee from work before it fired the employee. The union then filed for arbitration. The arbitrator ordered the employee reinstated because the arbitrator believed--mistakenly--that the employee had not been suspended prior to being discharged. This, the arbitrator concluded, violated industrial due process. Electronics Corp., 492 F.2d at 1256. The employer sued challenging the award, and the district court granted summary judgment for the union. The issue was whether the arbitrator's award should stand if the central factual determination underlying it--the suspension of the employee--was erroneous. Id. at 1256. The First Circuit reversed and remanded the case, directing the parties to re-submit the issues to arbitration. Id. at 1258. The court found that the arbitrator based his decision on his misunderstanding that the employer had fired the employee without first suspending the employee. Despite the remand, the court cautioned against the possibility that we may be interpreted as encouraging efforts to subvert the arbitral process and emphasized that our holding today is only that where the 'fact' underlying the arbitrator's decision is concededly a non-fact and where the parties cannot fairly be charged with the misapprehension, the award cannot stand. Id. at 1257. 18 Electronics Corp. is distinguishable from this case. Here, all of the facts, though conflicting, were available to the arbitrator. The arbitrator, faced with inconclusive evidence, sought Dr. Levine's aid. When Levine's initial report did not settle the issue, the arbitrator sought further clarification from him. After receiving Dr. Levine's final analysis that Barnett did in fact satisfy the DOT vision requirement, the arbitrator ordered Barnett reinstated. 19 In Electronics Corp., however, the arbitrator reasoned from an incomplete, even erroneous set of facts. The arbitrator's award in that case rested on the arbitrator's mistaken understanding that the employer had not suspended the employee before discharging him. No such mistakes or omissions were made in this case. The arbitrator here had ample evidence upon which to decide the dispute even before seeking Dr. Levine's assistance. Prior to Dr. Levine's examination of Barnett, some evidence supported the conclusion that Barnett's eyesight did not meet DOT regulations, while other evidence suggested that it did. We are not prepared to say that by seeking additional evidence, or by evaluating conflicting evidence, the arbitrator erred so severely that the award should be vacated. We therefore affirm the district court's decision to enforce the arbitrator's award.