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John Adair, David Ionis, and Rachel Allen successfully obtained the rare relief of an order removing an arbitrator from an ongoing arbitral proceeding pursuant to s. 13(1) of the Arbitration Act, 1991 on account of conduct by the Arbitrator that gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias.

As is required by s. 13(5), the issue first went before the Arbitrator himself. The Arbitrator dismissed the challenge. AGB’s client then brought the issue to court for resolution via an application to remove the Arbitrator pursuant to s. 13(6).

Importantly, Justice Myers was clear in his decision that no one had raised any concern or issue with the Arbitrator's bona fide intention to perform his role to the best of his ability. No allegation was made that the arbitrator was in fact biased or predisposed against the Applicant. Rather, the Arbitrator engaging in cross-examination of one side’s witnesses crossed the line and thereby created a reasonable apprehension of bias. The Court held that this was a clear case of the adjudicator “descending into the arena”.