Arbitrator Can’t Be Sued for Lawyer’s Alleged Attack on Party, Court Says
A New Jersey appeals court has ruled an arbitrator cannot be liable for a lawyer’s alleged attack on a party during a recess in the proceeding.
The appeals court ruled that the New Jersey Arbitration Act, adopted from a model law also used in 12 other states, gives arbitrators immunity from such lawsuits, the New Jersey Law Journal reports.
The complaint by lawyer David Rochman claimed the arbitrator should have granted his request to oust opposing lawyer A. Fred Ruttenberg from the proceedings because of Ruttenberg’s “dangerous propensities,” the story reported. Rochman claims that after he made the removal request in a November 2005 proceeding, the arbitrator called a break, and Ruttenberg assaulted Rochman’s client. Ruttenberg was acquitted of assault charges and says he didn’t do it.
The court said the arbitrator’s decision was a judicial function that was protected from liability under the statute. It provides that arbitrators are “immune from civil liability to the same extent as a judge of a court of this state acting in a judicial capacity.”
“We can think of no more judicial function than controlling the proceedings,” Judge Mary Cuff wrote in her opinion (PDF posted by the New Jersey Law Journal) for the court.
