Originially from: World Arbitration and Mediation Review (WAMR)

[Editor’s Note: This is the second and final part of a Critique of the Uniform Arbitration Act written by the Editor. Part One was published in WAMR, Volume 11, Number 12, at pages 326-334. The Editor apologizes for the delay in completing the piece, but it took a great deal of tie to assemble and write. Part Two is followed by a reader’s response to Part One. WAMR encourages reader in-put and contrbtibutions.]

Section 15 of the new uniform deals with the “[a]rbitration [p]rocess.” This heading is not altogether accurate because the section, in the main, addresses the arbitrator’s authority to conduct the arbitral proceeding. The phrase “arbitration process” seems to connote something larger than the proceedings themselves. A more transparent title, therefore, could have been used which mirrored the actual content of the provision. Section 15 reads:

(a) The arbitrator may conduct the arbitration in such manner as the arbitrator considers appropriate so as to aid in the fair and expeditious disposition of the proceeding. The authority conferred upon the arbitrator includes the power to hold conferences with the parties to the arbitration proceeding before the hearing and to determine the admissibility, relevance, materiality and weight of any evidence. 

(b) The arbitrator may decide a request for summary disposition of a claim or particular issue by agreement of all interested parties or upon request of one party to the arbitration proceeding if that party gives notice to all other parties to the arbitration proceeding and the other parties have a reasonable opportunity to respond.