Appellant's lawyer tells Other Court arbitrator exceeded authority by imposing forfeiture deadline

Alexis Hartwell Gobeski, counsel for the appellants (Organic Pharmacy Research Institute and Andrew Sanders), urged the Other Court to reverse the lower court’s refusal to vacate an arbitration award and to remand with directions. Gobeski told the panel the dispute centers on a May 23 CR 59 order that granted Sanders a rehearing without conditions and that, after a June 24 status conference, the arbitrator issued an order “that required Sanders to reimburse Kaplan 0.5 of the arbitration fees he had advanced within 2 days or forfeit the rehearing and also to pay 0.5 of the ongoing arbitration fees by July 28.”

Gobeski argued the arbitrator exceeded her authority under state law and the civil-rule analogy by attaching those forfeiture conditions to an unconditional CR 59-style rehearing. “The issue is could an award of costs be utilized to forfeit the grant of a hearing and prevent a full and fair hearing?” Gobeski asked, saying the problem was not the award of costs per se but the use of costs as a mechanism to strip a litigant of an already-granted rehearing when the written order memorializing those conditions was released after the relevant deadlines had passed.

Why this matters: Gobeski said the late release of the written order meant the appellant lacked a meaningful opportunity to comply with the payment condition before the rehearing was stricken, which, she argued, constitutes arbitrator misconduct and an excess of authority that justifies vacatur or remand. She emphasized the distinction between agreeing to repay fees in principle and agreeing to an abrupt two-day payment deadline tied to a forfeiture of rights.

Bench exchanges focused on timing and notice. The court pressed Gobeski on whether Sanders had in fact paid and whether the appellant effectively accepted the repayment obligation; Gobeski said a repayment had been made but maintained that the abbreviated deadline and the forfeiture condition were unauthorized. The argument concluded without a ruling from the bench; no decision was announced in the transcript.