COUNTRYWIDE FINANCIAL CORP. v.BUNDY





















Filed 8/6/10













CERTIFIED FOR
PUBLICATION



IN THE COURT OF
APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA



SECOND APPELLATE
DISTRICT



DIVISION FIVE




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COUNTRYWIDE FINANCIAL CORP. et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. THOMAS BUNDY et al., Defendants and Appellants.

B215912 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BS117996)

APPEAL
from an order of the Superior Court
of Los Angeles
County, Elizabeth A. White, Judge. Reversed.

Boies,
Schiller & Flexner, Caryl L. Boies, Sigrid S. McCawley and Lauren E.
Fleischer for Defendants and Appellants.

Seyfarth
Shaw, Andrew M. Paley, Gregg A. Fisch and Jennifer Sloane Abramowitz for
Plaintiffs and Respondents.



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I. INTRODUCTION



Defendants,
Thomas Bundy, Misty Sanchez, Kevin Prevost and David Godina, appeal from an
order vacating partial arbitration awards
against plaintiffs, Countrywide Financial Corporation and Full Spectrum
Lending, Inc. Judge Elizabeth A. White
vacated the partial arbitration awards on the ground the arbitrator committed a
number of legal errors. Because of the
unambiguous choice of law language in the agreements to arbitrate, we conclude
we must apply the vacatur provisions applicable before a United States District
Court in a case subject to the Federal Arbitration Act. (9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.) When we apply the vacatur provisions of the
Federal Arbitration Act, we conclude no grounds permitted the partial awards to
be vacated. Although it is uncertain
whether the manifest disregard of the law vacatur rule remains extant, we apply
it and the federal excess of powers standard of judicial review to the partial
awards. Thus, we reverse the order
vacating the partial arbitration awards.
We do not address the parties' other contentions including their statute
of limitations analysis.



II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY



A. Overview Of The Two Arbitration Demands



On
August 19, 2006, defendants filed two separate arbitration demands on behalf of
themselves and others similarly situated before the American Arbitration
Association--case Nos. 111600185806 (the Bundy-Sanchez-Prevost arbitration) and
111600185706 (the Godina arbitration).
Both arbitration demands were filed against Countrywide Financial
Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary, Full Spectrum Lending, Inc. which
was formed in 1996. Full Spectrum
Lending, Inc. primarily handled the sub-prime loans of Countrywide Financial
Corporation. But Full Spectrum Lending,
Inc. also handled â€