FINRA’s Office of Dispute Resolution Services (“DRS”) has again administratively postponed all in-person arbitration and mediation hearings.
The April 2 announcement now delays hearings through July 2; the previous date was June 4, and not that long ago, April 30. As was the case before, the DRS Website notice adds: “Please note that postponing a hearing will not affect other case deadlines. All case deadlines will continue to apply and must be timely met unless the parties jointly agree otherwise.” The updated announcement offers fee waivers for stipulated postponement of hearings set through September 30, 2021. Why the latest date pushback? Says DRS: “Currently, none of the 69 hearing locations demonstrate public health conditions that are consistent with CDC guidance for activities such as in-person hearings.” What if participants want to hold an in-person hearing, nonetheless? Says DRS: “Note that if all parties and arbitrators agree to proceed in-person based on their own assessment of public health conditions, the case may proceed provided that the in-person hearing participants comply with all applicable state and local orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
(ed: With the vaccine rollout moving ahead, the President stating that most adults will have the opportunity to be inoculated by the end of May, and some states lifting COVID-19 restrictions, we suspect in-person hearing resumption at least in some locations will come this summer.)
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