Las responsabilidades de los árbitros

Abstract

The objective of this article, mainly based on a jurispru¬dential study focused on the most relevant sentences interpretating the Spanish Arbitrations Law of 1953, 1988 and 2003, with its amend¬ments dating from 2011; and supported by the most reputated scien¬tific doctrine, is to create a systematic framework in which the liabili¬ties of the arbitrators are clearly defined, identifying and understanding what are the facts where liabilities steam from, the required class and the rest of the elements that must concur so the liability can move from the abstract level to the real one. On the other hand, the article studies the practice of the arbitra¬tors, pointing out risky acts which have to be performed by the arbi¬trators with the utmost diligence, and proposing solutions to avoid trespassing the thin red line. Thus, first of all, the author has identified and defined conceptual and operatively five types of liability (criminal, civil, disciplinarian, administrative, negotial and extracontractual) in which the arbitrators can incurre in the development of their work. Later, he has focused on the civil liability, analyzing the obligations assumed by the arbitrators along the arbitration procedure, which is split in the three phases: obligations prior acceptance; obligations after acceptance; and obligations after issuing the arbitral award. The author has interpreted each of these obligations from the 60/2003 Law perspective, with an enriching jurisprudential vision, established by sentence n.º 429/2009, Spanish Supreme Court, to show the limits of each of them and how liability to the arbitrators can derive from them, focusing on those more problematic due to their complexity or lack of concretion.