Civil Procedure — arbitration

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United States Court of Appeals

Civil

Civil Procedure — arbitration

A party cannot appeal a court’s order that a third neutral arbitrator be appointed.

“We observed earlier this year that judges must not intervene in pending arbitration to direct arbitrators to resolve an issue one way rather than another. Trustmark Insurance Co. v. John Hancock Life Insurance Co., 631 F.3d 869 (7th Cir. 2011). Review comes at the beginning or the end, but not in the middle. If BCS wanted a judge to decide whether the plans’ demands should be arbitrated jointly or separately, it should have refused to appoint an arbitrator. The plans then would have filed suit seeking an order compelling BCS to arbitrate, and BCS could have asked the district judge to address the question whether Stolt-Nielsen supersedes Wausau. But that’s not what happened. Both sides appointed their arbitrators, and the proceeding got under way. BCS apparently has thought better of its decision, but it cannot obtain mid-arbitration review by putting a misleading caption on its motion.”

Dismissed and Affirmed.

11-2343 & 11-2757 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Inc., v. BCS Ins. Co.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Holderman, Lefkow, JJ., Easterbrook, J.