Law and Arbitration Offices of Donald T Ryce

            The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has recently ruled that witnesses in an arbitration proceeding are absolutely immune from liability for their testimony, even if a party claims that testimony was intentionally false and defamatory.  Rolon v. Henneman, 2008 WL 482468 (2nd Cir. 2008).  The court observed that an arbitral forum is akin to a court forum, and that absolute immunity prevents witnesses from distorting their testimony to avoid getting sued and facilitates fact-finding by encouraging witnesses to provide candid and undistorted information. 

            This ruling is a logical extension of  the Second Circuit’s earlier decision in Austern v. Chicago Board of Options Exchange, Inc., 898 F.2d 882 (2nd Cir. 1990), holding that arbitrators are entitled to the same immunity accorded to judges because "the nature of the function of arbitrators necessitates protection analogous to that traditionally accorded to judges.”  Indeed, arbitral immunity has been found to exist in every federal circuit court that has considered the issue.  See Pfannenstiel v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, 477 F.3d 1155 (10th Cir. 2007).        

            Florida has adopted the same approach, that arbitration proceedings are judicial  or quasi-judicial in nature and therefore the same immunities that exist in judicial forums also apply to arbitrations, so long as the act in question has some relation to the proceeding.  Kidwell v. General Motors Corp.,  --- So.2d ----, 2007 WL 2213324 (2d DCA) 32 Fla. L. Weekly D1854.