Any party may ask an arbitrator to recuse himself or herself from the panel for good cause. Requests for arbitrator recusal are decided by the arbitrator who is the subject of the request.

(a) Before appointing arbitrators to a panel, the Director will notify the arbitrators of the nature of the dispute and the identity of the parties.

(a) If a party is added to an arbitration after the Director sends the lists generated by the list selection algorithm to the parties, but before the ranked lists are due to the Director, the Director will send the lists to the newly added party, with employment history for the past 10 years and other background information for each arbitrator listed.

The arbitrator will be a public arbitrator selected from the public chairperson roster, unless the parties agree in writing otherwise.

(a) Claims of $50,000 or Less

If the amount of a claim is $50,000 or less, exclusive of interest and expenses, the panel will consist of one arbitrator and the claim is subject to the simplified arbitration procedures under Rule 12800.

(b) Claims of More Than $50,000 Up To $100,000

FINRA uses a list selection algorithm that generates, on a random basis, lists of arbitrators from FINRA's rosters of arbitrators for the selected hearing location for each proceeding.

Before ranked arbitrator lists are due to the Director under Rule 12402(d) or Rule 12403(c), the Director may combine separate but related claims into one arbitration. Once a panel has been appointed, the panel may reconsider the Director's decision upon motion of a party.

(a) One or more parties may name one or more respondents in the same arbitration if the claims contain any questions of law or fact common to all respondents and:

(b) After all responsive pleadings have been served, claims joined together unde