Opinion ID: 2455129
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Arbitrators and Their Disclosures

Text: To resolve these disputes, in September 2007, St. Paul demanded arbitration. In accordance with the terms of the Agreement, the parties proceeded to select the three members of the arbitral panel. Scandinavian appointed Jonathan Rosen, and St. Paul appointed Peter Gentile. Paul Dassenko was selected to serve as umpire. [5] The parties accepted Dassenko's appointment on November 29, 2007, following their receipt of his responses to a disclosure questionnaire. Although the Agreement did not require the arbitrators to be affiliated with any particular arbitral association, all three arbitrators were certified by the AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society (ARIAS). ARIAS has promulgated ethical guidelines for certified arbitrators, including Canon IV, which instructs arbitrators to disclose any interest or relationship likely to affect their judgment and to resolve any doubt about whether to disclose in favor of disclosure. ARIAS U.S., Code of ConductCanon IV, http:// www.arias-us.org/index.cfm?a=30 (last visited Dec. 20, 2011). In accordance with those guidelines, each of the arbitrators made initial disclosures to the parties. The form of those disclosures differed. Dassenko, the umpire, responded in writing to a nine-page questionnaire jointly submitted by the parties. [6] See [J.A. 112-30] Umpire Questionnaire (Nov. 21, 2007). In addition to disclosing his past employment at several firms affiliated with either St. Paul or Scandinavian, [7] Dassenko noted that it was likely that he had transacted or sought to transact business with most of the entities listed by the parties on the questionnaire, including St. Paul and Scandinavian themselves. Id. ¶ 6(c). Dassenko represented, however, that he had never had any involvement with the subject matter of the dispute, nor did he have any significant professional or personal relationship with any officers, directors, or employees of the parties. [8] Dassenko also indicated that he had previously served as an arbitrator in more than 150 insurance or reinsurance arbitrations, including two arbitrations in which Rosen had also been an arbitrator. At the prompting of St. Paul's counsel, Dassenko made additional disclosures by email on November 27, 2007, with respect to certain matters that he had forgotten to include in responding to the questionnaire. The two party-appointed arbitrators made their initial disclosures orally at an organizational meeting held on February 25, 2008. Both Rosen, the Scandinavian-appointed arbitrator, and Gentile, the St. Paul-appointed arbitrator, made a variety of disclosures about past and present employment, their relationships to the parties or their law firms, and their participation as witnesses or arbitrators in other proceedings involving the same parties, their affiliates, their law firms, or the same arbitrators. [9] After Rosen and Gentile made their respective disclosures, Dassenkospeaking on behalf of the panelurge[d] [the parties] to ... determine whether there's anything else that deserves more attention in terms of disclosures on behalf of this [p]anel. Tr. at 15 (Feb. 25, 2008). Dassenko also acknowledged, on behalf of the panel, the arbitrators' ongoing responsibility to make disclosure if and when they become aware of relationships or situations that require additional disclosure. Id. The parties agreed to accept the panel as constituted. They did not ask any other questions relating to the arbitrators' disclosures at that time. As the St. Paul Arbitration progressed, the arbitrators made various additional disclosures. On July 18, 2008, Gentile informed the parties that during the time he worked at a specified firm, other staff members at that firm might have reviewed the same contract that was at issue in the St. Paul Arbitration. During a motion hearing held on May 2, 2009, he and Rosen disclosed that they had known Scandinavian's expert witness professionally and personally for many years. And on June 23, 2009, Gentile told the parties that he had met one of Scandinavian's witnesses, Bart Hedges, a few times in the past, mainly in Bermuda. Tr. at 1832 (June 23, 2009). The umpire, Dassenko, made further disclosures on March 28, 2009; June 24, 2009; and July 1, 2009. For example, Dassenko explained that his private equity firm had been retained to assist with the run-off of an insurer that had a potential dispute with St. Paul's parent company, and that he had prior business contacts with a St. Paul underwriter whose name had been mentioned during the evidentiary hearing.