78R838 SGA-D
By: West S.B. No. 328
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the filing of certain information by arbitrators after
each arbitration.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 7, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 177 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 177. ARBITRATOR REQUIREMENTS
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 177.001. POLICY; FINDINGS. (a) State and federal
policy favors submitting disputes to arbitration. The benefits of
arbitration include quicker and less expensive resolution of
disputes than is generally available by litigation.
(b) It is this state's policy to ensure that a person's right
to the fair and impartial hearing and resolution of a civil
complaint is not infringed. To protect that right, it is in the
public interest and is the purpose of this chapter to require the
provision of information needed to evaluate whether the public
policy supporting arbitration is being served and to establish a
basic system for evaluating and ensuring the accountability of
arbitrators and arbitration services providers.
Sec. 177.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Arbitration panel" means a group or panel of
arbitrators.
(2) "Arbitration services provider" means a person
that holds itself out as:
(A) managing, coordinating, or administering
arbitrations;
(B) providing the services of arbitrators;
(C) making referrals or appointments to
arbitrators; or
(D) providing lists of arbitrators.
(3) "Arbitrator" means a neutral individual,
including a member of a panel of neutral individuals, who hears the
claims of the parties to a dispute and renders a decision and who
is:
(A) chosen by the parties to the dispute;
(B) appointed by a court; or
(C) selected by an arbitration services provider
under an agreement of the parties or applicable rules.
(4) "Office of court administration" means the Office
of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System.
Sec. 177.003. APPLICABILITY. The requirements of this
chapter supplement, in any arbitration held in this state, the
arbitration law of this state and any other state and the Federal
Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. Sections 1-16) and apply to any
arbitration subject to those laws.
[Sections 177.004-177.050 reserved for expansion]
SUBCHAPTER B. DISCLOSURE PROCEDURES
Sec. 177.051. DISCLOSURE FILING. For each arbitration,
the arbitrator or arbitration panel that conducts the arbitration
or, if an arbitration services provider administers the
arbitration, the arbitration services provider shall file an
arbitration disclosure before the 31st day after the arbitration
award is signed with the office of court administration.
Sec. 177.052. DISCLOSURE INFORMATION. The disclosure must
contain the following information:
(1) the names of the parties to the dispute;
(2) the name of each party's attorney, if any;
(3) the name of the arbitrator or of each member of the
arbitration panel conducting the arbitration;
(4) the name of the arbitration services provider
administering the arbitration, if any;
(5) a general statement of the nature of the dispute
and the relief requested by each party;
(6) the arbitrator's or the arbitration panel's
decision and award;
(7) the date the award was signed;
(8) the date the arbitrator or arbitration panel was
selected or appointed to conduct the arbitration;
(9) the fees and expenses charged by each arbitrator;
and
(10) the fees and expenses charged by the arbitration
services provider administering the arbitration, if any.
[Sections 177.053-177.100 reserved for expansion]
SUBCHAPTER C. ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS
Sec. 177.101. LATE FILING FEE. (a) The director of the
office of court administration, under the supervision of the chief
justice, shall implement procedures for the collection of a fee not
to exceed $100 for the late filing of an arbitration disclosure in
accordance with rules adopted by the supreme court for the
efficient administration of justice.
(b) A party to an arbitration, or an attorney for the party,
may report an overdue filing of the arbitration disclosure to the
office of court administration.
(c) An arbitration disclosure that is filed within the
period specified by Section 177.051 is not subject to a filing fee.
Sec. 177.102. LATE DISCLOSURE FILERS; INELIGIBILITY FOR
ARBITRATION ADMINISTRATION. (a) An arbitrator, including a
member of an arbitration panel, or arbitration services provider is
ineligible to conduct or administer a court-ordered arbitration
during the period in which the arbitrator or panel of which the
arbitrator is a member or arbitration services provider:
(1) fails to file an overdue arbitration disclosure;
or
(2) owes a fee for late filing.
(b) An arbitrator who personally or as a member of an
arbitration panel has failed, or an arbitration services provider
that has failed, three times in the preceding 12-month period to
timely file arbitration disclosures is ineligible to conduct or
administer a court-ordered arbitration until the first anniversary
of the date the office of court administration receives the third
report of an overdue filing with respect to that arbitrator or
arbitration services provider.
(c) The office of court administration shall compile,
maintain, and publish on the Internet an updated list of
arbitrators and arbitration services providers that are ineligible
to conduct or administer a court-ordered arbitration under
Subsection (a) or (b).
(d) The director of the office of court administration,
under the supervision of the chief justice, shall implement a
procedure by which an arbitrator or arbitration services provider
can be removed from the published list, in accordance with rules
adopted by the supreme court for the efficient administration of
justice.
(e) The office of court administration and the Texas
Judicial Council shall include in the annual report under Section
71.034, Government Code, a list of all the names of arbitrators or
arbitration services providers who have been on the ineligible list
during the period included in that report.
[Sections 177.103-177.150 reserved for expansion]
SUBCHAPTER D. IMMUNITY
Sec. 177.151. IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL LIABILITY. An
arbitrator or arbitration services provider is immune from civil
liability for providing information required for compliance with
this chapter unless the complaining party proves that the
arbitrator or arbitration services provider recklessly or
knowingly provided false information.
SECTION 2. (a) For the purpose of this section, the date an
arbitration is commenced is the date an arbitrator, as defined by
Section 177.002, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added by this
Act, is selected or appointed.
(b) This Act takes effect January 1, 2004, and Chapter 177,
Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added by this Act, applies only
to an arbitration commenced on or after that date. An arbitration
commenced before January 1, 2004, is governed by the law applicable
to arbitrations immediately before January 1, 2004, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.