Court Withdraws Opinion Holding No Jurisdiction to Review Defense Arbitration Award

In this case, the Ninth Circuit had previously held that? ?federal courts lack jurisdiction to review arbitration awards in favor of employers since such awards, by definition, involve less than the $75,000 necessary for diversity jurisdiction. ?In a new opinion, the court holds that federal courts do have federal question jurisdiction?? where the losing ?party? asserts ?that ?the ?arbitration?? ?award was? in? ?manifest? disregard? of? the? law,?? in violation ?of? section ?10 ?of ?the ?FAA.?? ?On ?the merits, the panel found no manifest disregard of the law, which requires the arbitrator to recognize applicable law and then ignore it.?? Vernon Vu Luong v. Circuit City, No. 02-56522 (05/25/05; Rymer, Kozinzki, Fernandez).