Business Law Journal

Arbitration is a creature born of contract, and is favored as an expeditious and economical alternative to a civil lawsuit — in part due to the limited discovery available to parties in arbitration. Increasingly, however, arbitrations have increased in complexity, with discovery growing to proportions more typically seen in civil lawsuits (and likewise growing in cost). However, a California Court of Appeal has now explicitly enforced one of the limitations on discovery in arbitration, foreclosing discovery efforts from spilling over to nonparties to an arbitration unless the parties have otherwise agreed.