Raymond James had initiated a FINRA arbitration because Singh, a financial advisor who was a registered representative of Raymond James, had refused to indemnify Raymond James pursuant to the terms of their agreement. Following an arbitration award in favor Raymond James, Singh unsuccessfully attempted to vacate the arbitration award against him by arguing the award was a manifest disregard of the law. On appeal, the higher court also rejected Singh’s arguments, noting that unless it had “serious reservations about the soundness of the arbitrator’s reading of the contract” it could not vacate the award. The court further pointed out that it was prohibited from second guessing the arbitrators construing of the contract. Singh’s argument that the amount of the award was not justified by the evidence did not fare any better; arbitrators are not required to disclose their rationale for an award, the record showed that there was evidence presented to the panel, and the amount awarded was less than the amount sought by Raymond James. Singh v. Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Case No. 14-3970 (2d Cir. Dec. 9, 2015).
