Christopher D. Kratovil Co-Authors Scholarly Article on “Evident Partiality” for The Advocate

Christopher D. Kratovil, a Dallas-based member of Dykema’s Litigation practice who specializes in appellate matters—particularly in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and in Texas courts—co-authored a treatise, “Evident Partiality,” that appears in the latest issue of The Advocate, a quarterly journal published by the Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas.

Evident partiality is—as Kratovil and his co-author, Anne Johnson explain—one of the bases for vacating arbitration awards.

In the article, Kratovil—with co-author Anne Johnson—discusses the U.S. Supreme Court’s leading decision on evident partiality, Commonwealth Coatings Corp. v. Continental Casualty Co., but points out that the federal courts have arrived at “different understandings of the concept.”

The article points out, in a scholarly manner, the varying standards applied by different Federal Circuits, then addresses a very different approach—based on a “reasonable impression of partiality” standard adopted by the Texas Supreme Court in 1997—currently at work in various Texas state courts.

Kratovil and Johnson note that while there is “little consensus among courts regarding when an arbitrator’s nondisclosure rises to the level of ‘evident partiality’ requiring vacatur of an arbitration award, the venue in which an evident partiality challenge is brought remains an important consideration.”

To read this article in its entirety, click here.