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The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York held that small talk between an arbitrator and one of the parties to the arbitration did not demonstrate that the arbitrator acted with evident partiality.
In Wizard v. Clipper Cruise Lines, No. 06 Civ.2074(GEL), 2007 WL 29232 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 03, 2007), Travel Wizard, a travel agency, contracted with Clipper, a cruise line, for the lease of cabins.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Travel Wizard was unable to book any of the cabins and defaulted on payment. Clipper subsequently attempted to cancel the contract. The parties arbitrated their dispute, and an award was issued in favor of Clipper.
Travel Wizard subsequently argued that the award should be vacated due to evident partiality of the arbitrator. However, this Court rejected Travel Wizard's argument and confirmed the arbitration award.
The Court held that a conversation where Clipper's lawyer offered baseball tickets to the arbitrators was only "small talk" and not sufficient evidence of bias. Additionally, a phone call between Clipper and an arbitrator was only to confirm the hearing date and was disclosed by letter thereafter.
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