Blanchard v. Petmecky

JiDUFRESNE, Judge.

WRIT GRANTED. JUDMENT VACATED.

The issue in this medical malpractice dispute is whether a district judge has jurisdiction to remove an arbitrator selected by a party as per the arbitration agreement. We hold that he does not.

The agreement provides that the patient and the doctor shall each select one arbitrator, and the arbitrators so selected shall then select a neutral arbitrator. After the three arbitrators were selected, the doctor urged a motion in district court to have the patient’s arbitrator removed because of an alleged conflict of interest, and the motion was…