§ 171.043.Hearing Conducted by Arbitrators

Who has to be in the room, and what happens when someone leaves it.

All the arbitrators conduct the hearing. Every member of the panel hears the evidence, which is what makes a majority decision legitimate.

A majority may determine a question and render a final award. Hearing together and deciding together are different requirements.

The default yields to the agreement, so parties can provide for a single arbitrator to take evidence on discrete issues if they choose.

Mid-hearing failure is addressed directly. If an arbitrator ceases to act during the hearing, one or more remaining arbitrators appointed as neutral arbitrators may hear and determine the controversy.

That saves the proceeding from starting over. An arbitrator’s illness, resignation or death would otherwise waste everything the parties had spent.

The remaining members must be neutral arbitrators. The subsection is written for the panel members appointed to be impartial, not for a party-appointed advocate.

A vacated award can be reheard by the same arbitrators. Section 171.089(b) allows it where the award was vacated for the grounds in Section 171.088(a)(3).

Conducting the hearing contrary to this section is itself a vacatur ground. Section 171.088(a)(3)(D) names it, along with Sections 171.044 through 171.047, where a party’s rights were substantially prejudiced.