Leonard Bosack v. David Soward ( 2009 )


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  •                   FOR PUBLICATION
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
    IN THE MATTER OF THE                   
    ARBITRATION BETWEEN,
    LEONARD BOSACK; SANDY LERNER;
    CARTESIAN PARTNERS LP; THE
    LEONARD BOSACK TRUST; THE
    SANDY LERNER TRUST; RICHARD
    TROIANO; THE & TRUST; & CAPITAL
    No. 08-35248
    
    PARTNERS; THE LEONARD X.
    BOSACK AND BETTE M. KRUGER                      D.C. No.
    CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC.;               2:07-cv-00574-TSZ
    CAPITAL INC,
    Petitioners-Appellants,
    v.
    DAVID C. SOWARD; & MANAGEMENT
    COMPANY,
    Respondents-Appellees.
    
    9501
    9502                  BOSACK v. SOWARD
    IN THE MATTER OF THE ARBITRATION       
    BETWEEN,
    LEONARD BOSACK; SANDY LERNER;
    CARTESIAN PARTNERS LP; THE
    LEONARD BOSACK TRUST; THE
    SANDY LERNER TRUST; RICHARD
    TROIANO; THE & TRUST; & CAPITAL               No. 08-35458
    
    PARTNERS; THE LEONARD X.                        D.C. No.
    BOSACK AND BETTE M. KRUGER                 2:07-cv-00574-TSZ
    CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC.;
    OPINION
    CAPITAL INC,
    Petitioners-Appellants,
    v.
    DAVID C. SOWARD; & MANAGEMENT
    COMPANY,
    Respondents-Appellees.
    
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Western District of Washington
    Thomas S. Zilly, Senior District Judge, Presiding
    Argued and Submitted
    June 4, 2009—Seattle, Washington
    Filed July 23, 2009
    Before: William C. Canby, Jr., David R. Thompson and
    N. Randy Smith, Circuit Judges.
    Opinion by Judge Thompson
    9506                  BOSACK v. SOWARD
    COUNSEL
    Kathleen M. Sullivan, Redwood Shores, California, for the
    appellant, Bosack.
    Steven Smith, San Francisco, California, for the appellant,
    Lerner.
    J. Daniel Sharp, San Francisco, California, for the appellees.
    OPINION
    THOMPSON, Senior Circuit Judge:
    Leonard Bosack (“Bosack”) and Sandy Lerner (“Lerner”)
    entered into arbitration with their former financial manager,
    David C. Soward (“Soward”) to resolve multiple disputes
    arising out of the parties’ soured relationship.
    The panel of arbitrators (“panel”) made several interim
    awards, one of which was final, and one Final Award. Soward
    prevailed on his conversion and tort claims, and was awarded
    substantial compensatory and punitive damages as well as
    attorney fees and costs. The district court confirmed the
    award. Bosack and Lerner appeal. We have jurisdiction under
    
    28 U.S.C. § 1291
     and we affirm.
    BACKGROUND
    Bosack and his wife Lerner were the founders of Cisco
    Systems. They employed Soward as their investment man-
    ager. The three formed & Capital Partners, L.P., (“& Capi-
    tal”). Soward served as the general partner, and Bosack and
    Lerner were limited partners.
    Several years later, Bosack and Soward formed Cartesian,
    a second partnership, for the purpose of managing Bosack’s
    BOSACK v. SOWARD                    9507
    “high touch” investments. Soward was the general partner of
    Cartesian; Bosack was a limited partner. A written partnership
    agreement for Cartesian (the “Wood Agreement”) was
    drafted, but never signed.
    A decade or so later, Bosack and Lerner began to suspect
    Soward had breached his fiduciary duties in managing their
    assets. They discovered that Soward had made undocumented
    loans to himself and his friends. Soward was removed as the
    general partner of & Capital, and of Cartesian. Bosack and
    Lerner then formed SLLB, L.L.C., and it replaced Soward as
    the general partner of Cartesian.
    Soward demanded arbitration, seeking (among other
    things) a dissolution of Cartesian and an accounting of his
    partnership interest. Bosack and Lerner participated with
    Soward in the arbitration proceeding. It lasted two years, dur-
    ing which more than sixty days of hearings were held, more
    than twenty witnesses testified, and over five hundred exhibits
    were entered into evidence. Due to the complicated nature of
    the proceedings, the parties agreed to proceed in stages. The
    panel entered a series of five interim awards, and then one
    Final Award.
    The results of the awards were mixed. In Interim Award 1,
    the panel determined that the terms of the Wood Agreement
    governed the Cartesian partnership, though that agreement
    had never been signed. The panel determined that Soward
    breached his fiduciary duties, but that Bosack had no right to
    remove him as a general partner of Cartesian. Under the terms
    of the Wood Agreement, the panel held that Soward remained
    a limited partner in Cartesian after he was removed as the
    general partner. The panel concluded that the value of Sow-
    ard’s partnership should be calculated as of September 30,
    2006. Interim Award 1 was not made final.
    Interim Award 2 is not involved in this appeal.
    9508                  BOSACK v. SOWARD
    In Interim Award 3, the panel determined the value of Sow-
    ard’s partnership interest was $1,496,391. Award 3 was the
    only interim award the arbitration panel made final and imme-
    diately enforceable.
    In Interim Award 4, the panel ruled in favor of Soward on
    two tort claims. After Bosack removed Soward as the general
    partner of Cartesian, the panel determined that, under Dela-
    ware law, Soward was entitled to an accounting and a prompt
    distribution of his partnership interest. The panel found that
    Bosack had breached his fiduciary duties to Soward by failing
    to provide him with an accounting and distribution, and by
    improperly taking control of all the Cartesian assets. The
    panel also found Bosack and Lerner liable for conversion by
    their improper appropriation of Soward’s interest in Cartesian.
    Damages awarded under Interim Award 4 were subject to a
    credit for payments made to satisfy Interim Award 3.
    In Interim Award 5, the panel ruled that Bosack and Lerner
    had “acted with malice and oppression,” and that Soward was
    entitled to punitive damages of $10,999,494 against Bosack,
    and $8,555,162 against Lerner.
    Bosack and Lerner moved the district court to vacate
    Interim Awards 4 and 5, as well as the panel’s Hearing Order
    No. 49 (finding that punitive damages applied). They also
    asked the district court to vacate the Final Award as to Sow-
    ard’s tort claims and punitive damages, and the award of
    related costs and attorney fees. The district court denied that
    motion and confirmed the panel’s Final Award, which incor-
    porated its earlier interim awards.
    STANDARD OF REVIEW
    We review de novo the district court’s confirmation of the
    Final Award entered by the arbitration panel. Comedy Club,
    Inc. v. Improv West Assocs., 
    553 F.3d 1277
    , 1284 (9th Cir.
    2009) (hereinafter “Comedy Club II“). Our review is limited
    BOSACK v. SOWARD                         9509
    by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), which “enumerates
    limited grounds on which a federal court may vacate, modify,
    or correct an arbitral award.” Kyocera Corp. v. Prudential-
    Bache Trade Servs., Inc., 
    341 F.3d 987
    , 994 (9th Cir. 2003).
    “Neither erroneous legal conclusions nor unsubstantiated fac-
    tual findings justify federal court review of an arbitral award
    under the statute, which is unambiguous in this regard.” 
    Id.
    Under § 9 of the FAA1, “a court ‘must’ confirm an arbitration
    award ‘unless’ it is vacated, modified, or corrected ‘as pre-
    scribed’ in §§ 10 and 11.” Hall St. Assocs., L.L.C., v. Mattel,
    Inc., 
    128 S. Ct. 1396
    , 1402 (2008) (citing 
    9 U.S.C. § 10
    (a)).
    DISCUSSION
    Bosack and Lerner argue Awards 4 and 5, and the portion
    of the Final Award confirming those awards, should be
    vacated because: (1) the panel allegedly violated Rule 46 of
    the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitra-
    tion Association (“Rule 46”) and the functus officio doctrine,
    (2) the panel manifestly disregarded the law, and (3) the
    appealed awards are completely irrational. They also appeal
    the award of attorney fees and costs.
    I
    [1] Rule 46 provides that “[t]he arbitrator is not empowered
    to redetermine the merits of any claim already decided.” This
    rule essentially codifies the common law doctrine of functus
    officio, which “forbids an arbitrator to redetermine an issue
    which he has already decided.” McClatchy Newspapers v.
    Central Valley Typographical Union No. 46, 
    686 F.2d 731
    ,
    734 n.1 (9th Cir. 1982) (quoting La Vale Plaza, Inc. v. R.S.
    Norman, Inc., 
    378 F.2d 569
    , 573 (3d Cir. 1967)). We include
    both Rule 46 and functus officio in our references to functus
    officio.
    1
    Unless otherwise noted, all subsequent statutory citations refer to the
    FAA.
    9510                   BOSACK v. SOWARD
    A
    [2] Before determining whether the arbitrators violated the
    functus officio doctrine, we must first address a threshold
    question: whether or not the functus officio doctrine may be
    applied to an interim award. This is a question of first impres-
    sion in our circuit.
    [3] The Eighth Circuit has held that an interim award may
    be deemed final for functus officio purposes if the award
    states it is final, and if the arbitrator intended the award to be
    final. See, e.g., Legion Ins. Co. v. VCW, Inc., 
    198 F.3d 718
    ,
    720 (8th Cir. 1999). We adopt the criteria used by the Eighth
    Circuit, and apply them to the instant case.
    Only Interim Award 3 satisfies the criteria for finality. The
    panel explicitly stated that Interim Awards 1, 2, 4, and 5 were
    not final. Furthermore, as the district court correctly found,
    the panel expressly reserved jurisdiction over all issues (with
    the exception of the accounting performed in Award 3) until
    issuance of the final award. Of the five interim awards, only
    Award 3 was expressly made final. Thus, only Award 3 may
    be deemed final for purposes of the functus officio doctrine.
    B
    Under either Rule 46 or the functus officio doctrine, Bosack
    and Lerner’s argument boils down to the same core conten-
    tion: they contend the panel exceeded its authority by redeter-
    mining the merits of Award 3 in Award 4. They claim that in
    Award 3, the panel ruled that Soward remained a partner in
    Cartesian through September 2006. They argue that the panel
    “ignored and contradicted” this ruling in Award 4 by finding
    that Soward ceased being a Cartesian partner in November
    2003.
    [4] Bosack and Lerner mischaracterize the scope of Award
    3. The finding that Soward remained a partner was made in
    BOSACK v. SOWARD                           9511
    Award 1, not in Award 3.2 In Awards 1 and 2, the panel deter-
    mined that the Wood Agreement controlled the Cartesian
    partnership, and determined that an accounting was required
    to determine the value of Soward’s partnership interest.
    Award 3 was limited in scope: its only purpose was to deter-
    mine the value of Soward’s interest in Cartesian, according to
    the terms of the Wood Agreement.
    [5] In Award 4, the panel ruled on Soward’s claims for
    breach of fiduciary duty and for conversion.3 The panel did
    not revisit its decision in Award 3 or modify the accounting
    or its determination of the value of Soward’s partnership
    interest. The panel did not redetermine the merits of Award
    3. Accordingly, neither the functus officio doctrine nor Rule
    46 applies.
    II
    Bosack and Lerner also contend that Awards 4 and 5 were
    issued in manifest disregard of the law.
    Section 10(a)(4) of the FAA provides that a court may
    vacate an award “where the arbitrators exceeded their pow-
    ers.” 
    9 U.S.C. § 10
    (a)(4). Arbitrators exceed their powers
    when they express a “manifest disregard of law,” or when
    they issue an award that is “completely irrational.” Comedy
    Club II, 
    553 F.3d at
    1290 (citing Kyocera, 
    341 F.3d at 997
    ).
    “[F]or an arbitrator’s award to be in manifest disregard of the
    law, ‘[i]t must be clear from the record that the arbitrator [ ]
    recognized the applicable law and then ignored it.’ ” Comedy
    2
    Award 1 was not final. Thus, even if Awards 4 and 5 did modify the
    panel’s determination in Award 1 that Soward remained a Cartesian part-
    ner, such modification was permissible.
    3
    Under California law, a plaintiff “may plead cumulative or inconsistent
    causes of action” in connection with the wrongful repudiation of a partner-
    ship agreement. Gherman v. Colburn, 
    72 Cal. App. 3d 544
    , 564-565 (Cal.
    Ct. App. 1977).
    9512                       BOSACK v. SOWARD
    Club II, 
    553 F.3d at 1290
     (quoting Mich. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Uni-
    gard Sec. Ins. Co., 
    44 F.3d 826
    , 832 (9th Cir. 1995)) (alter-
    ations in Comedy Club II).
    A
    Lerner contends that Award 4 violates California law,
    because the panel failed to find that she personally exercised
    control over Soward’s interest in Cartesian.4
    [6] Lerner’s argument, in essence, amounts to an invitation
    to review the panel’s factual findings and legal conclusions.
    We are prohibited from doing so. “Neither erroneous legal
    conclusions nor unsubstantiated factual findings justify fed-
    eral court review of an arbitral award under the statute, which
    is unambiguous in this regard.” Kyocera, 
    341 F.3d at 994
    .
    [7] Arbitrators are not required to set forth their reasoning
    supporting an award. Wilko v. Swan, 
    346 U.S. 427
    , 436
    (1953), overruled in part on other grounds by Rodriguez de
    Quijas v. Shearson/Am. Express, Inc., 
    490 U.S. 477
     (1989).
    An arbitrators’ “award may be made without explanation of
    their reasons and without a complete record of their proceed-
    ings[.]” Id. at 436. “If they choose not to do so, it is all but
    impossible to determine whether they acted with manifest dis-
    regard for the law.” Dawahare v. Spencer, 
    210 F.3d 666
    , 669
    (6th Cir. 2000). Even if, as Lerner argues, the arbitrators
    failed to make an explicit finding that she exercised personal
    control over Soward’s assets, this does not warrant vacatur.
    4
    Lerner also contends that the panel exceeded its authority in finding
    her liable for conversion in Award 4. She argues that in order to find her
    liable for conversion, the panel had to pierce SLLB’s corporate veil. In her
    brief on appeal, Lerner argues that because Soward never specifically
    raised a veil-piercing argument, the panel could not find her liable for con-
    version. This argument is meritless. The issue of whether Lerner was lia-
    ble for the conversion of Soward’s interest in Cartesian was clearly before
    the panel.
    BOSACK v. SOWARD                     9513
    [8] Furthermore, “manifest disregard . . . requires ‘some-
    thing beyond and different from a mere error in the law or
    failure on the part of the arbitrators to understand and apply
    the law.’ ” Collins v. D.R. Horton, Inc., 
    505 F.3d 874
    , 879
    (9th Cir. 2007) (quoting San Martine Compania De Navega-
    cion, S.A. v. Saguenay Terminals Ltd., 
    293 F.2d 796
    , 801 (9th
    Cir. 1961)). “[T]o demonstrate manifest disregard, the moving
    party must show that the arbitrator ‘underst[oo]d and correctly
    state[d] the law, but proceed[ed] to disregard the same.” Col-
    lins, 
    505 F.3d at 879
     (quoting San Martine Compania De
    Navegacion, 
    293 F.2d at 801
    ) (alterations in Collins).
    “[T]here must be some evidence in the record, other than the
    result, that the arbitrators were aware of the law and intention-
    ally disregarded it.” Lincoln Nat’l Life Ins. Co. v. Payne, 
    374 F.3d 672
    , 675 (8th Cir. 2004). Lerner has failed to point to
    any evidence of this in the record.
    B
    Lerner also contends the panel violated § 3294(a) of the
    California Civil Code by awarding punitive damages against
    her, in the absence of “clear and convincing evidence” that
    she acted with “oppression, fraud, or malice.”
    [9] Lerner’s argument is not supported by the record. The
    panel specifically found that “Lerner . . . acted with the inten-
    tion of hurting Soward,” and that there was “clear and con-
    vincing evidence that . . . Lerner . . . acted with malice and
    oppression toward Soward.” Under California law, these find-
    ings could properly form the basis for an award of punitive
    damages. See 
    Cal. Civ. Code § 3294
    (a).
    [10] Whether or not the panel’s findings are supported by
    the evidence in the record is beyond the scope of our review.
    See, e.g., Kyocera, 
    341 F.3d at 994
    ; Coutee v. Barrington
    Capital Group, L.P., 
    336 F.3d 1128
    , 1134 (9th Cir. 2003).
    The panel is not required to provide support for its findings
    in its awards, or to explain its conclusions. Wilko, 
    346 U.S. at
    9514                  BOSACK v. SOWARD
    436. We “have no authority to re-weigh the evidence” pres-
    ented to the arbitration panel. Coutee, 
    336 F.3d at 1134
    .
    C
    [11] Lerner and Bosack also challenge the constitutionality
    of the punitive damage awards. They argue that because the
    compensatory damages assessed against them were “substan-
    tial,” under State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, 
    538 U.S. 408
    , 425 (2003), due process dictates that the punitive
    damages should not exceed a 1:1 ratio. They contend that the
    panel’s award is presumptively unconstitutional, and that
    none of the guideposts identified by the Supreme Court in
    BMW of N. Am., Inc. v. Gore, 
    517 U.S. 559
    , 575 (1996), jus-
    tify such an excessive award. The district court rejected this
    argument, and held that it could not vacate the arbitration
    award for excessiveness. We agree.
    [12] Bosack and Lerner argue that they are not seeking
    review of the award simply because it is excessive, but
    because it was issued in manifest disregard of controlling
    Supreme Court precedent, and therefore the arbitrators
    exceeded their powers. Once again, however, Bosack and
    Lerner have failed to show that the panel demonstrated a man-
    ifest disregard of the law in issuing the award. The panel
    extensively discussed and then applied both State Farm and
    BMW. Contrary to Bosack and Lerner’s argument, the panel
    did not disregard or ignore these cases. Whether the panel
    misinterpreted or misapplied them is beyond the scope of our
    review. See, e.g., Kyocera, 
    341 F.3d 1003
    .
    The proper focus of our review for manifest disregard of
    the law is the panel’s conduct, not the panel’s interpretation
    of the law. See, e.g., Hall, 
    128 S. Ct. at 1404
     (explaining that
    § 10 focuses on “extreme arbitral conduct” such as corruption,
    fraud, evident partiality, misconduct, misbehavior, and
    exceeding powers); Kyocera, 
    341 F.3d at 1003
     (“[L]egal and
    BOSACK v. SOWARD                     9515
    factual errors lie far outside the category of conduct embraced
    by § 10(a)(4).”) (emphasis added).
    The Eighth Circuit has clearly illustrated this distinction
    between conduct and interpretation: “Manifest disregard
    requires something more than a mere error of law. If an arbi-
    trator, for example, stated the law, acknowledged that he was
    rendering a decision contrary to law, and said that he was
    doing so because he thought the law unfair, that would be an
    instance of ‘manifest disregard.’ ” Lincoln Nat’l Life Ins. Co.,
    
    374 F.3d at 675
    . Bosack and Lerner have failed to point to
    any conduct on the part of the panel, such as the intentional
    rejection of controlling precedent, that would amount to mani-
    fest disregard of the law.
    D
    Finally, Bosack and Lerner argue that the panel violated
    California law by awarding punitive damages against them for
    their conduct during the arbitration proceedings.
    [13] Absent an abuse of process or malicious prosecution,
    “a defendant’s trial tactics and litigation conduct may not be
    used to impose punitive damages in a tort action.” De Anza
    Santa Cruz Mobile Estates Homeowners Ass’n v. De Anza
    Santa Cruz Mobile Estates, 
    114 Cal. Rptr. 2d 708
    , 730 (Cal.
    Ct. App. 2001).
    [14] Given the language of Award 5, we cannot say that the
    arbitrators based the decision regarding punitive damages on
    the parties’ conduct in court or during the arbitration proceed-
    ings. In Award 5, the panel explicitly stated that it was basing
    its awards of punitive damages on Bosack and Lerner’s
    actions, which, “repeated over time,” constituted a “planned,
    malicious, [and] purposeful attempt” to convert Soward’s
    interest in Cartesian. The panel punished Bosack and Lerner
    for their conduct by which they accomplished their conver-
    sion, not for their conduct during arbitration.
    9516                   BOSACK v. SOWARD
    III
    Finally, Bosack and Lerner argue that Awards 4 and 5
    should be vacated because they are irrational.
    A
    [15] An award may be vacated if it is “completely irratio-
    nal.” Comedy Club II, 
    553 F.3d at 1288
    . This “standard is
    extremely narrow and is satisfied only ‘where [the arbitration
    decision] fails to draw its essence from the agreement.’ ” 
    Id.
    (citing Hoffman v. Cargill Inc., 
    236 F.3d 458
    , 461-62 (8th Cir.
    2001)) (alterations in Comedy Club II).
    An award “draws its essence from the agreement if the
    award is derived from the agreement, viewed in light of the
    agreement’s language and context, as well as other indications
    of the parties’ intentions.” McGrann v. First Albany Corp.,
    
    424 F.3d 743
    , 749 (8th Cir. 2005); see also Coast Trading
    Co., Inc., v. Pac. Molasses Co., 
    681 F.2d 1195
    , 1197 (9th Cir.
    1982) (holding that an “arbitrator is confined to the interpreta-
    tion and application of the parties’ agreement” and that an
    “award is legitimate only so long as it draws its essence from
    the . . . agreement”) (quoting United Steelworkers of Am. v.
    Enter. Wheel and Car Corp., 
    363 U.S. 593
    , 597 (1960) (inter-
    nal quotation marks omitted)). Under this standard of review,
    we do not “decide the rightness or wrongness of the arbitra-
    tors’ contract interpretation, only whether the panel’s decision
    ‘draws its essence’ from the contract.” Pacific Reinsurance
    Mgmt. Corp. v. Ohio Reinsurance Corp., 
    935 F.2d 1019
    , 1024
    (9th Cir. 1991) (quoting New Meiji Market v. United Food &
    Comm’l Workers Local Union 905, 
    789 F.2d 1334
    , 1335 (9th
    Cir. 1986)). We will not vacate an award simply because we
    might have interpreted the contract differently. 
    Id.
    B
    [16] Bosack and Lerner contend that Awards 4 and 5 are
    completely irrational because they are “irreconcilable” with
    BOSACK v. SOWARD                     9517
    Awards 1 and 3, and Award 4 is “internally incoherent.” Even
    assuming Lerner and Bosack are correct that the awards are
    based on contradictory findings of fact, this argument is
    beyond our scope of review. Under the “completely irratio-
    nal” doctrine, the question is whether the award is “irrational”
    with respect to the contract, not whether the panel’s findings
    of fact are correct or internally consistent. See, e.g., Comedy
    Club II, 
    553 F.3d at 1288
    ; Hoffman, 
    236 F.3d at 462
    .
    [17] Bosack and Lerner have failed to cite a single case in
    which we or any other court of appeal vacated an award
    because the factual findings were contradictory. We have
    repeatedly held that an award may not be vacated even where
    there is a clearly erroneous finding of fact. See, e.g., Kyocera,
    
    341 F.3d at 1003
     (“The risk that arbitrators may . . . make
    errors with respect to the evidence on which they base their
    rulings[ ] is a risk that every party to arbitration assumes, and
    such . . . factual errors lie far outside the category of conduct
    embraced by § 10(a)(4).“) (emphasis added). Thus, even if the
    panel erred by making contradictory findings of fact, this does
    not render the decision completely irrational.
    C
    Bosack and Lerner also contend that Award 4 is completely
    irrational because the Panel ignored controlling terms of the
    Wood Agreement. Specifically, Bosack and Lerner argue that
    Award 4 was issued in violation of §§ 2.3 and 8.4 of the
    Wood Agreement, which govern the winding up of the part-
    nership. In contrast to the argument raised above, this argu-
    ment comes squarely within the scope of the completely
    irrational doctrine. See, e.g., Comedy Club II, 
    553 F.3d at 1288
    ; Hoffman, 
    236 F. 3d at 462
    .
    Section 8.4 of the Wood Agreement provides that any
    change in the General Partner’s status (other than a transfer of
    his partnership interest) will convert the General Partner’s
    interest into a limited partnership interest. Pursuant to this
    9518                  BOSACK v. SOWARD
    section, the panel held in Award 1 that Soward’s status
    reverted from general partner to limited partner when Bosack
    removed him in November 2003.
    In Award 4, the panel found that Bosack’s actions effected
    a dissolution of the partnership under Delaware law. Bosack
    and Lerner contend that this finding conflicts with § 2.3 of the
    Wood Agreement, which provides that no general or limited
    partner has the right to terminate or dissolve the partnership.
    Bosack and Lerner also contend that the panel disregarded
    the terms of the Wood Agreement by finding that Soward was
    entitled to an accounting. Section 2.3 of the Wood Agreement
    states that no partner is entitled to demand or receive the
    return of his capital contribution.
    [18] Had the panel found that Soward was entitled to an
    accounting and a distribution under the terms of the Wood
    Agreement, or that the Agreement mandated the dissolution
    of the partnership, Bosack and Lerner might be correct. But
    the panel did not find that Soward was entitled to the relief
    accorded him in Awards 4 and 5 under the terms of the Wood
    Agreement. Instead, the panel found that Soward was entitled
    to an accounting and distribution under Delaware law. Simi-
    larly, the panel found that under Delaware law Bosack’s
    actions terminated the partnership. The Wood Agreement
    itself provides that Delaware law controls. Accordingly, the
    panel’s findings and conclusions in Award 4 are not inconsis-
    tent with the terms of the Wood Agreement, and are not
    “completely irrational.”
    IV
    [19] Bosack and Lerner offer no argument challenging the
    award of attorney fees and costs, outside of their joint conten-
    tion that the award should be reversed on the merits. Because
    we affirm the district court’s confirmation of the arbitration
    awards, we also affirm the award of attorney fees and costs.
    BOSACK v. SOWARD                      9519
    CONCLUSION
    In sum, Bosack and Lerner have failed to demonstrate that
    the panel exceeded its authority. “The risk that arbitrators may
    construe the governing law imperfectly in the course of deliv-
    ering a decision that attempts in good faith to interpret the rel-
    evant law, or may make errors with respect to the evidence on
    which they base their rulings, is a risk that every party to arbi-
    tration assumes, and such legal and factual errors lie far out-
    side the category of conduct embraced by § 10(a)(4).”
    Kyocera, 
    341 F.3d at 1003
    . Lerner and Bosack accepted this
    risk when they consented to arbitration; they cannot now
    claim the benefits of expanded judicial review simply because
    the awards were unfavorable to them.
    The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.