Mich. Federal Judge Stays Arbitration Pending Investigation of Relationship Between Arbitrator and Counsel

DETROIT — A Michigan federal judge has stayed a reinsurance arbitration pending the cedents’ investigation into whether ex parte communications between an arbitrator and the reinsurer’s counsel breached the parties’ arbitration agreement and affected the integrity of the proceedings.

On Sept. 12, Judge Victoria A. Roberts of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan found the cedents have raised credible issues concerning the fundamental fairness of the proceedings to date and the integrity of the arbitration proceeding going forward.

“Just the fact of the ex parte communications looms large, even if the evidence ultimately shows that …