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ARTICLE · 13 MAY 2025

Reasonable Apprehension Of Bias – A Fatal Finding For Commercial Arbitrations

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Courts have limited authority to exercise their discretion and set aside arbitral awards. However, the Court of Appeal of Ontario in a recent decision – Vento Motorcycles, Inc. v. Mexico, 2025 ONCA 82 (Vento)...

GlobalLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
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Courts have limited authority to exercise their discretion and set aside arbitral awards. However, the Court of Appeal of Ontario in a recent decision – Vento Motorcycles, Inc. v. Mexico, 2025 ONCA 82 (Vento) – explores circumstances, particularly reasonable apprehension of bias, where such a decision is required.

Following its decision in Aroma Franchise Company Inc. v Aroma Espresso Bar Canada Inc., 2024 ONCA 839 in late 2024, in which it clarified that the test for a reasonable apprehension of bias is objective, in Vento the Court confirmed that the partiality of one arbitrator affects the impartiality of an entire panel.

This overturned the lower court's ruling, Vento Motorcycles, Inc. v. Mexico, 2023 ONSC 5964, wherein the application judge determined that a reasonable apprehension of bias regarding one panel member did not necessarily compromise the integrity of the award or the entire tribunal. The Court disagreed, asserting that any bias from a tribunal

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