§ 172.115.Award After Party Fails to Appear or Produce Evidence

Non-appearance at the hearing, handled the same way as a missing defense.

Two failures are covered — failing to appear at an oral hearing, and failing to produce documentary evidence.

Sufficient cause excuses both. The rule applies where a party fails without showing sufficient cause.

The tribunal may continue and decide. It may make the arbitration award based on the evidence before it.

The award rests on evidence, not on absence. A party who does not appear has not admitted anything; the tribunal decides on what it has.

The power is permissive. The tribunal may continue, which leaves room to adjourn where a short delay would produce a fuller record.

Without this section an arbitration could be stopped by absence. A respondent facing a strong claim would have every reason to stay away.

Notice is the precondition in practice. Section 172.111(c) requires sufficient advance notice of a hearing, and Section 172.005 fixes when a communication is received.

Chapter 171 takes the same approach in Section 171.046, permitting the arbitrators to determine the controversy on the evidence produced where a notified party does not appear.

Sufficient cause is decided by the tribunal. A party prevented from attending by illness, visa refusal or a genuine emergency is not treated as having failed.

An award made in a party’s absence faces scrutiny later. Courts asked to enforce it look at whether the absent party had notice and an opportunity to be heard, which is why the notice provisions matter here.