Judgment of the Supreme Court of Sweden, 9 June 2010, Case No. T 156-09/NJA 2010 s. 317

Summary: The appellant challenged a Swedish arbitration award under Section 34(5) of the Swedish Arbitration Act, alleging that a party-appointed arbitrator’s prior appointments by the same law firm raised doubts as to the arbitrator’s impartiality. The Supreme Court of Sweden explained that impartiality is judged by an objective standard under Swedish law and that repeat appointments could, in some cases, undermine the appearance of an arbitrator’s impartiality. The court rejected the challenge, however, finding that the number of repeat appointments was too minimal to undermine the arbitrator’s appearance of impartiality.