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In regard to punitive damages, it is now well established that | | arbitrators have authority to award punitive damages under the | | FAA. Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., 514 U.S. 52 | | (1995). Federal authority is in accord with the preponderance of | | decisions applying the UAA and state arbitration statutes. See, | | e.g., Baker v. Sadick, 162 Cal. App. 3d 618, 208 Cal. Rptr. 676 | | (1984); Eychner v. Van Vleet, 870 P.2d 486 (Colo. Ct. App. | | 1993); Richardson Greenshields Sec., Inc. v. McFadden, 509 So. | | 2d 1212 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1987); Bishop v. Holy Cross Hosp., | | 44 Md. App. 688, 410 A.2d 630 (1980); Rodgers Builders, Inc. v. | | McQueen, 76 N.C. App. 16, 331 S.E.2d 726 (1985), review denied, | | 315 N.C. 590, 341 N.E.2d 29 (1986); Kline v. O'Quinn, 874 S.W.2d | | 776 (Tex. Ct. App. 1994), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1142 (1995); | | Grissom v. Greener & Sumner Constr., Inc., 676 S.W.2d 709 (Tex. | | Ct. App. 1984); Anderson v. Nichols, 178 W. Va. 284, 359 S.E.2d | | 117 (1987); but see Garrity v. Lyle Stuart, Inc., 40 N.Y.2d 354, | | 353 N.E.2d 793, 386 N.Y.S.2d 831 (1976); Leroy v. Waller, 21 | | Ark. App. 292, 731 S.W.2d 789 (1987); School City of E. Chicago, | | Ind. v. East Chicago Fed. of Teachers, 422 N.E.2d 656 (Ind. Ct. | | App. 1981); Shaw v. Kuhnel & Assocs., 102 N.M. 607, 698 P.2d | | 880, 882 (1985). |
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| | | If an arbitrator decides to award punitive damages under | | Section 21(a), not only must such an award be authorized by | | law as if the claim were made in a civil action, but the | | arbitrator also must apply the same legal standards to the | | claim as required in a civil action and the evidence must be | | sufficient to justify an award of punitive damages. |
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| | | 2. Section 21(b) authorizes arbitrators to award reasonable | | attorney's fees and other reasonable expenses of arbitration | | where such would be allowed by law in a civil action; in | | addition, parties may provide for the remedy of attorney's | | fees and other expenses in their agreement even if not | | otherwise authorized by law. |
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| | | As to arbitrators awarding attorney's fees, statutes in Texas | | and Vermont allow recovery for attorney's fees in arbitration | | when the law or parties' agreement would allow for such a | | recovery in a civil action. Tex Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § | | 171.010; 12 Vt. Stat. Ann. §5665; Monday v. Cox, 881 S.W.2d | | 381 (Tex. App. 1994) (providing that arbitrator shall award | | attorney's fees when parties' agreement so specifies or | | State's law would allow such an award); see also Cal. Civil | | Code § 1717 (allowing award of attorney's fees if contract | | specifically provides such). Also, statutes such as those | | involving civil rights, employment discrimination, antitrust, | | and others, specifically allow courts to order attorney's fees | | in | | appropriate cases. Today many of these types of causes of | | action are subject to arbitration |
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