Which ground is described as very rare for vacating an arbitration award?

• A. Bias of an arbitrator chosen to be neutral
• B. Corruption, fraud or misconduct in arbitration
• C. Exceeded his powers
• D. Public policy concerns

Answer: (C)

The key idea is that challenges to an arbitration award are few and tightly bounded, because courts defer to the arbitrator’s authority within the scope agreed by the parties. Among the recognized grounds to vacate an award, the one that is described as very rare is proving that the arbitrator exceeded his powers. This means showing the arbitrator went beyond what the arbitration clause authorized—for example, deciding on issues not submitted to arbitration or imposing remedies outside the scope of the agreement.

Why this is so rare: courts typically respect the arbitrator’s interpretation of the contract and only intervene if the award clearly lies outside the authority the parties gave. In practice, the more common challenges are based on evident partiality, misconduct, or corruption, or on public policy concerns; these are more straightforward to argue and more often lead to vacatur. But simply disagreeing with the result or thinking the arbitrator misapplied the law usually isn’t enough to vacate, unless the award clearly exceeded the powers granted.