TD Ameritrade Inc. v. McLaughlin, Piven, Vogel Securities Inc., 2008 WL 2855116 (Del. Ch., July 24, 2008), read opinion here.
This case involved the review of an arbitration decision that was handled through the National Association of Securities Dealers (“NASD”). The court reviewed the very high standard under both the Delaware Uniform Arbitration Act and the Federal Arbitration Act that must be met before a court will overturn the decision of an arbitrator in binding arbitration.
Although the court cited two recent decisions by the United States Supreme Court that held that the statutorily enumerated circumstances are those to which a court is limited in granting a modification under the FAA of an arbitration award; still, the Chancery Court also emphasized that “neither the FAA nor the Delaware Uniform Arbitration Act derogates this Court’s inherent equity jurisdiction to enforce, modify or vacate arbitration awards. See footnotes 11 and 12.