Lawrence W. Newman and David Zaslowskynewman
Under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U.S.C. 10(a), there are several bases on which a court may vacate an arbitration award, whether domestic or international. These grounds generally concern misconduct on the part of arbitrators and include, in §10(a) (4), “where the arbitrators exceeded their powers.”
In 1953, in Wilko v. Swan, 346 U.S. 427, 436 (1953), the Supreme Court of the United States stated:
In unrestricted submissions, such as the present margin agreements envisage, the interpretation of the law by the arbitrators in contrast to manifest disregard are not subject, in the federal courts, to judicial review for error in interpretation.
