Wedbush Securities v. Kelleher CA1/4

I.

INTRODUCTION

Appellant Wedbush Securities, Inc. (Wedbush) appeals from contemporaneous trial court orders denying its motion to vacate an arbitration award and granting respondent Stephen Kelleher‟s (Kelleher) motion to confirm the award. Wedbush contends the trial court erred in its rulings because: (1) the arbitrators erred in denying Wedbush‟s motion to postpone the arbitration hearing; (2) the arbitrators improperly refused to hear evidence material to the controversy proffered by Wedbush at the arbitration; and (3) one of the three arbitrators failed to make a legally required disclosure subjecting him to disqualification. We disagree, and affirm.

II.

PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUNDS

A. General Background Facts and Claims Asserted by Kelleher Against Wedbush in Arbitration1

Kelleher is an experienced municipal bond trader who started in the securities industry in 1984. He went to work for Wedbush as the head of its tax-exempt sales and trading desk on January 18, 2007. As is material here, Kelleher‟s employment agreement contained five provisions relating to his compensation. He was to receive: 1. An annual base salary of $125,000.00; 2. Incentive pay for the…