Steve Badger and I might be debating and discussing insurance coverage appraisal points on the sold-out IAUA occasion in Dallas tomorrow. So, it appears applicable that I observe up on the reply to a weblog put up I wrote, Guess What the Court docket Will Do with the Appointment of an Umpire. This was a case the place the events requested the courtroom to nominate the appraisal umpire after the events reached an deadlock. That put up highlighted a rising judicial willingness to make sure the appraisal course of doesn’t stall due to gamesmanship or impasse.
In Bosak v. West Bend Mutual Insurance coverage Firm, the courtroom granted a movement for the appointment of an neutral umpire. What is exclusive is that it directed the events to hunt that appointment by way of the American Arbitration Affiliation (AAA). 1
Most individuals within the property insurance coverage world perceive the normal appraisal course of. All sides selects a reliable and neutral appraiser, and people two appraisers try and agree on an umpire. If they can’t, a courtroom steps in and appoints one. That’s the textbook model. However when a courtroom orders the events to go to the American Arbitration Affiliation, the method shifts from casual negotiation to a structured, quasi-administrative choice system.
The events, armed with the courtroom’s order, provoke a request with the AAA for what is basically an administrative appointment. This isn’t a full arbitration continuing. The AAA will not be there to determine the dispute. Its function is narrower. It acts as a impartial clearinghouse to establish and appoint a professional umpire.
As soon as the request is opened, the AAA assigns a case administrator and compiles a listing of potential candidates. These should not random names. They’re people inside the AAA’s panel system, sometimes vetted for expertise, neutrality, and subject-matter experience. The AAA sends the listing to each events, who’re given the chance to strike unacceptable candidates and rank the remaining ones so as of choice. That is the place technique issues. It’s not merely about eliminating the worst choice. It’s about anticipating what the opposite aspect will do and shaping the pool of viable candidates that survive mutual evaluation.
After each side submit their rankings, the AAA applies its choice methodology and appoints the umpire. In most cases, it selects the highest-ranked mutually acceptable candidate. If the events handle to strike everybody, the AAA can problem a brand new listing or make a direct appointment.
What’s placing about this course of is that many contributors assume “AAA guidelines” govern the appraisal. That’s not true. Except the insurance coverage coverage explicitly incorporates AAA arbitration guidelines, the AAA is often performing solely as an appointing authority. Nonetheless, the affect of the AAA’s construction shouldn’t be underestimated. The group requires disclosures from candidates, screens for conflicts, and brings a stage of procedural self-discipline that’s usually absent when appraisers attempt to choose an umpire on their very own. In contentious circumstances, that neutrality could be precisely what the courtroom is searching for.
The underside line is that when a courtroom sends you to the AAA for an umpire, you might be not in an off-the-cuff negotiation. You’re in a structured choice course of by which preparation, judgment, and technique will decide who in the end serves because the umpire.
Thought For The Day
“In issues of reality and justice, there isn’t a distinction between giant and small issues, for points regarding the remedy of individuals are all the identical.”
— Albert Einstein
1 Bosak v. West Bend Mutual Ins. Co., No. 25-cv-2030 (E.D. Wis. Mar. 17, 2026).