Also known as: vacatur action · vacatur · motion to vacate
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A proceeding or motion by which a party seeks to have a court set aside or nullify a prior judgment, order, or arbitral award. The request succeeds when the underlying decision rests on a disqualifying conflict, procedural defect, or other ground that undermines its validity.
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Violet Vang sued Valor Capital in federal court. After judgment for Valor Capital, Vang discovered that the presiding judge had served as trustee of a university negotiating a major contract with Valor Capital at the time of trial. Vang filed a vacatur action alleging the judge should have known of the conflict. The court vacated the judgment because the objective appearance of partiality required it even without proof of actual bias.
Valerie Voss contracted with Volta Electric for construction services. An arbitrator whose father served as a high-ranking officer of Volta Electric ruled for the company. Voss brought a vacatur action claiming evident partiality. The court set aside the award because a reasonable person would conclude the family tie created an impression of bias that disqualified the arbitrator.
An objective standard applies. A federal judge must recuse when a reasonable person would question impartiality. Discovery after judgment that the judge should have known of a disqualifying interest can support vacatur if the violation is not harmless or trivial.
Evident partiality exists when the relationship is so intimate that a reasonable person must conclude the arbitrator is predisposed to favor one side. A high-ranking family tie to a party meets this test and supports vacatur.
…for decision." Pet. for Cert. i. Second, the Court of Appeals stated that it would review a district court's denial of a motion to vacate a commercial arbitration award (and the correlative grant of a motion to confirm it) "de novo." 19 F. 3d, at 1509 . First Options argues that the Court of Appeals instead should have…