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A California appellate court upheld an arbitration award conducted by a JAMS arbitrator and applying JAMS rules, despite the fact that the parties' agreement required certain disputes to be arbitrated in accordance with State Bar of California Guidelines or the American Arbitration Association (AAA) rules.
In Webb & Carey, A.P.C. v. Keenan, No. D045968, 2006 WL 3826693 (Cal. App. Dec. 29, 2006), Webb & Carey brought claims against Keenan to collect fees due under an attorney-client fee agreement. The arbitration hearing was conducted by JAMS, and the JAMS arbitrator issued an award in Webb & Carey's favor.
Keenan argued that the award should be vacated because the arbitrator did not have jurisdiction to resolve the dispute. The arbitration agreement in the parties' arbitration clause stated that "[f]ee disputes shall be arbitrated according to the guidelines . . adopted by the State Bar of California . . . [and] [a]ny other dispute . . . shall be arbitrated in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association."
However, the Court held that the fact that the arbitration was conducted by JAMS and according to JAMS arbitration rules did not require vacatur of the award. First, Keenan had waived the right to make this argument by failing to raise it within 100 days of being served with the award. Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1286.
Second, even if Keenan had not waived her right to challenge the validity of the award, she failed to show that the rules applied by the JAMS arbitrator were sufficiently different from the State Bar guidelines. Keenan did not include copies of any of the rules in her complaint or provide any analysis as to how the rules differed.
Finally, the Court noted that nothing in the parties' agreement necessarily precluded a JAMS arbitrator from administering the arbitration. The agreement only expressly called for State Bar or AAA rules to apply; it did not require that the arbitration be a State Bar or AAA arbitrator.
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