An attorney hired by a law firm signed a non-solicitation agreement and later left to work elsewhere. When clients followed him, the firm demanded 80% of his fees from those clients under the contract. The California Supreme Court ruled that arbitrators' decisions on contract disputes are final and cannot be overturned just because they made mistakes on the facts or law. The only exceptions are fraud, corruption, abuse of power, or serious procedural unfairness. This means subcontractors should expect arbitration awards to stick, even if they believe the arbitrator got it wrong.
Arbitration decisions are nearly final—you cannot appeal just because you think the arbitrator made a legal or factual error, so choose arbitration carefully
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