Honeycutt v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

236 Cal. Rptr. 3d 255, 25 Cal. App. 5th 909
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedAugust 2, 2018
DocketB281982
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 236 Cal. Rptr. 3d 255 (Honeycutt v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 5th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Honeycutt v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 236 Cal. Rptr. 3d 255, 25 Cal. App. 5th 909 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

SEGAL, J.

*915INTRODUCTION

The Code of Civil Procedure and the Ethics Standards for Neutral Arbitrators in Contractual Arbitration (Ethics Standards) require arbitrators in contractual arbitrations to make various disclosures about themselves, their experience, and their activity as private judges or, as they are sometimes called, "dispute resolution neutrals." Failure to make required disclosures may be a ground for disqualifying the arbitrator and, if the arbitrator was actually aware of the ground for disqualification, for vacating an award.

In this case, the arbitrator did not comply with several applicable disclosure requirements, which gave rise to multiple grounds for disqualification. Because the arbitrator was actually aware of at least one of the grounds for disqualification, the resulting arbitration award was subject to vacatur. Therefore, we reverse the trial court's order denying the petition to vacate the award and granting the petition to confirm it.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Appointment and Disclosure

On November 6, 2013 Patrice Honeycutt filed this action against her former employer, JP Morgan Chase Bank, alleging causes of action for discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, and related *258claims. On March 7, 2014 the trial court granted Chase's petition to compel arbitration of Honeycutt's complaint. *916On July 17, 2014 the American Arbitration Association (AAA), a dispute resolution provider organization,1 notified the parties the AAA had appointed a retired judge to serve as the arbitrator. The notice of appointment included a copy of the AAA's disclosure worksheet, completed by the arbitrator, which instructed the arbitrator: "It is most important that the parties have complete confidence in the arbitrator's impartiality. Therefore, please disclose any past or present relationship with the parties, their counsel, or potential witnesses, direct or indirect, whether financial, professional, and social or of any other kind. This is a continuing obligation throughout your service on the case and should any additional direct or indirect contact arise during the course of the arbitration ... it must also be disclosed. Any doubts should be resolved in favor of disclosure. If you are aware of direct or indirect contact with such individuals, please describe it below. Failure to make timely disclosures may forfeit your ability to collect compensation. The AAA will call the disclosure to the attention of the parties."

The worksheet further advised the arbitrator: " California Code of Civil Procedure § 1281.9 (which incorporates CCP § 170.1 and the [Ethics Standards] ) ... and CCP § 1281.95 require certain disclosures by a person nominated or appointed as an arbitrator. While the AAA makes this worksheet available to neutrals appointed to cases administered by the AAA, the ultimate obligation for compliance with any statutory requirements, Rules and/or Ethics Standards lies with the neutral. Accordingly, please review the relevant statutory provisions and the enclosed materials before completing this worksheet." The notice of appointment included a link to the Ethics Standards on the website of the California Judicial Branch.

The 11-page worksheet asked the arbitrator to answer a series of questions "yes" or "no." For example, the worksheet asked whether the arbitrator had a significant personal or attorney-client relationship with a party or lawyer for a party, a financial interest in a party to or the subject matter of the arbitration, or a professional or occupational license that had ever been revoked. The arbitrator had answered most of the questions "no," and signed and dated the worksheet. At the end of the worksheet was a summary of the general provisions of the Ethics Standards governing an arbitrator's disclosure obligations.

Unfortunately, the parties received only 10 of the 11 pages of the arbitrator's disclosure worksheet. The missing page, page five, included Question No. 27, which asked whether the arbitrator had any time constraints that *917would interfere with the arbitrator's ability to commence or complete the arbitration in a timely manner, and Question No. 28, which asked whether the arbitrator, during the pendency of the arbitration, would "entertain offers of employment or new professional relationships in any capacity other than as a lawyer, expert witness, or consultant from a party or a lawyer for a party, including offers to serve as a dispute resolution neutral in another case." The arbitrator answered "no" to Question No. 27 and "yes" to answer No. 28. On page six, which the parties *259did receive, under the heading "Please explain any 'yes' answer to any question above and/or make any additional disclosures you believe are appropriate," the arbitrator wrote: "#28. I will entertain offers to serve as a dispute resolution in other cases. I will evaluate any potential conflict at that time prior to accepting [the] offer."

The disclosure documents from the AAA also included a document signed by the arbitrator and titled "The Arbitrator's Oath." In the oath, the arbitrator attested that the arbitrator had "conducted a conflicts check, including a thorough review of the information" provided by the AAA about the case, and had performed all "obligations and duties to disclose in accordance with the Rules of the [AAA], Code of Ethics for Commercial Arbitrators and/or all applicable statutes pertaining to arbitrator disclosures." The oath concluded, immediately above the signature line, "The Arbitrator being duly sworn, hereby accepts this appointment, and will faithfully and fairly hear and decide the matters in controversy between the parties in accordance with their arbitration agreement, the Code of Ethics, and the rules of the [AAA] ...."2 A note at the bottom of the arbitrator's oath repeated the AAA's warning that the arbitrator, not the AAA, was responsible for complying with the disclosure requirements.

B. Arbitration and Challenge

The arbitrator conducted a six-day arbitration in April 2016. On August 30, 2016 the arbitrator issued an interim award in favor of Chase and against Honeycutt on all of her claims.

Counsel for Honeycutt was surprised she lost. On September 12, 2016 she wrote a letter to the AAA's manager of alternative dispute resolution services, stating: "It is rather stunning that [the arbitrator] found that [Honeycutt] did not meet her burden on every single cause of action given how strong the evidence was in [her] favor and the presentation of [her] case at the arbitration hearing." Counsel for Honeycutt asked the manager to identify every other case the arbitrator had accepted involving Chase and its counsel *918of record.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Aqua Blue Construction v. Goshorn CA2/3
California Court of Appeal, 2026
Silva v. The Signature Motors CA6
California Court of Appeal, 2025
Perez v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
California Court of Appeal, 2023
Sitrick Group v. Vivera Pharmaceuticals
California Court of Appeal, 2023
Williams v. West Coast Hospitals, Inc.
California Court of Appeal, 2022
Laserson v. ADR Services CA2/4
California Court of Appeal, 2022
Fahim v. Laz Parking Cal. CA2/5
California Court of Appeal, 2022
Goodwin v. Comerica Bank, N.A.
California Court of Appeal, 2021
Jolie v. Superior Court
California Court of Appeal, 2021
Grabowski v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
California Court of Appeal, 2021
Grabowski v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan CA4/1
California Court of Appeal, 2021
Roussos v. Roussos
California Court of Appeal, 2021

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
236 Cal. Rptr. 3d 255, 25 Cal. App. 5th 909, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/honeycutt-v-jpmorgan-chase-bank-na-calctapp5d-2018.