10-25-07 A-0381-06T2
Under the Arbitration Act of 2003, N.J.S.A. 2A:23B-1 to
-32, when an arbitration agreement was made before January 1,
2003, and the parties did not agree thereafter on the record
that the Act would govern their arbitration, the Act only
applies if the arbitration was commenced after January 1, 2005,
and "commencement" refers, not to the date the hearings began,
but to the date on which the request for arbitration was made.
The arbitrators' rulings on procedural matters, such as the
order and extent of closing arguments, are not reviewable in
court.
Under the Act, the "American Rule" applies to fee shifting
unless fee shifting is authorized by law in a civil action
involving the same claim or by the express agreement of the
parties. An implied agreement is insufficient.
