§ 7554.Selection of arbitrators

Every arbitration under Article 75-A goes before a panel of three. CPLR 7554 gives the chairperson seat to an attorney appointed on a full-time basis for a fixed term, and that person controls prehearing procedure and must meet qualifications the arbitration administrator sets, subject to the superintendent of financial services' approval. That structure gives each case a consistent, legally trained hand overseeing the run-up to hearing.

The two remaining seats, the associate arbitrators, come from a candidate pool, but attorneys who mostly represent personal injury plaintiffs, along with physicians, dentists, hospital staff, HMO personnel, and other health care providers, are barred from serving. The administrator sends each party an identical list of candidates with brief biographies. Each side can strike unacceptable names and rank the rest by preference; when the lists come back, the administrator compares them and invites the first two candidates both sides find agreeable.

If that first round doesn't produce two mutually agreeable candidates, a second list goes out under the same process. If agreement still isn't reached, the administrator appoints the remaining associate arbitrators directly, though any such appointment can be challenged for cause, meaning facts suggesting that community, professional, or other pressures might compromise the arbitrator's objectivity. The administrator decides any such challenge. Subdivision (e) keeps the door open for parties to bypass the candidate list entirely and agree on their own choice of associate arbitrators.