Tretina Printing, Inc. v. Fitzpatrick & Assoc., Inc

In Tretina Printing, Inc. v. Fitzpatrick & Assoc., Inc. 135 N.J. 349, 640 A.2d 788 (1994), the Court discussed the previously existing standard under which a court could vacate an arbitration award. That standard included the power to take such action whenever an arbitrator's award "embraced egregious mistakes of law." Tretina, supra, 135 N.J. at 356, 640 A.2d 788. The Court noted that the "egregious mistake of law" standard had been approved in its most recent previous treatment of the issue, in Perini v. Greate Bay Hotel & Casino, Inc., 129 N.J. 479, 610 A.2d 364 (1992). However, said the Court, a plurality of its members had now become convinced that the proper standard was that which had been set out in the concurring opinion of Chief Justice Wilentz in Perini, which rejected the concept of setting aside an arbitration award because of a mistake in law. With approval, the Court quoted and adopted the standard and reasoning articulated by the Chief Justice in Perini: Basically, arbitration awards may be vacated only for fraud, corruption, or similar wrongdoing on the part of the arbitrators. They can be corrected or modified only for very specifically defined mistakes as set forth in N.J.S.A. 2A:24-9. If the arbitrators decide a matter not even submitted to them, that matter can be excluded from the award. For those who think the parties are entitled to a greater share of justice, and that such justice exists only in the care of the court, I would hold that the parties are free to expand the scope of judicial review by providing for such expansion in their contract; that they may, for example, specifically provide that the arbitrators shall render their decision only in conformance with New Jersey law, and that such awards may be reversed either for mere errors of New Jersey law, substantial errors, or gross errors of New Jersey law and define therein what they meant by that. I doubt if many will. And if they do, they should abandon arbitration and go directly to the law courts. Tretina, supra, 135 N.J. at 358, 640 A.2d 788.