Oh, The Pain.
The appellant in Brian Alper et al. v. Pasquale Rotella, et al., G058088 (4/3 5/5/21) (Moore, Bedsworth, Aronson), sought to vacate an adverse arbitration award on the grounds that the arbitrator, who was in great pain and took Percocet to ease the pain during the arbitration proceeding, was so impaired that the arbitrator could not properly perceive the evidence and was unable to properly conduct the proceeding. The reason this argument was rejected was that the appellant sat on his rights. Such objections should be made within ten days of when the arbitrator is assigned or expeditiously upon learning of the problem, not after an award is rendered.
The trial court denied the petition to vacate on the grounds of forfeiture. In the words of Justice Moore, who penned the Court of Appeal opinion, "Absent the legal jargon, the term 'forfeiture' essentially means: 'You snooze, you lose.' We agree with the trial court."
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