Employment arbitration upheld, including determintion of "prevailing party."
Steven Schroeder sued his employer MullerWeingarten Corporation, alleging unlawful termination. The parties' contract was governed by an arbitration agreement, and the arbitrator ultimately ruled that Schroeder was owed $28,000.00. Nevertheless the arbitrator didn't award his attorneys fees as the "prevailing party" because the arbitrator concluded that the amount awarded was much less than Schroeder had sought. The Court of Appeals upheld the arbitrator's power to interpret the contract in order to determine the standard to be applied in identifying the "prevailing party."