In a long-running dispute over litigation fees and an employment agreement, the Pennsylvania Superior Court refused to consider an appeal over an arbitrator's ties to defendant Kline & Specter and its co-founder, Tom Kline, through the law school where the arbitrator teaches.

Donald Haviland, who worked at Kline & Specter over a decade ago, had sought to disqualify retired Judge Mark Bernstein from arbitrating his lawsuit against the firm. Haviland's 2008 suit, which was stayed until 2016, alleged that Kline & Specter breached its employment agreement with regard to the fee disputes that followed his departure.

Haviland sought to disqualify Bernstein because he teaches at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Drexel University, which, as its name suggests, has received a large amount of money from Kline, of Kline & Specter.

But in an order March 22, the Superior Court quashed Haviland's appeal over Bernstein's role in the case.

In considering the appeal, the court compared the issue of arbitrator recusals to recusals of a judge.

“Indeed, this court has routinely held that a pretrial motion seeking to recuse a judge from further proceedings is not a final order,” the opinion, written by Judge Mary Murray, said. “Additionally, this court has stated that an appeal from the denial of a pretrial motion to recuse does not fall within any of the categories listed in Rules 311 (Interlocutory Appeals as of Right) or 313 (collateral orders) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure and that consequently, appeals from such orders are premature.”

Bernstein is the fourth person appointed to serve as the neutral arbitrator in Haviland's case. Three before him recused, and two of those three did so after Haviland sought their recusal.

Haviland joined Kline & Specter in 2001 to manage the firm's class action practice, which was new at the time, the opinion said. He then left the firm in 2006.

Kline & Specter initiated arbitration with Haviland in 2007 over the fees Haviland won in two large settlements after leaving to start his own firm, Haviland Hughes. The firm contended that under a provision of his employment agreement, Haviland owed Kline & Specter one-third of the total fees he received from the settlements.

In that case, Haviland was ordered to pay his former firm $5.7 million—a third of his fees from the two settlements. But that was just the beginning of litigation and arbitration between Haviland and Kline & Specter.

In the case Bernstein is arbitrating, Haviland alleges that Kline & Specter breached another part of its own employment agreement—the next paragraph to be exact—which governed allocation of court costs and fees in the class action lawsuits he took with him to his new firm.

After three other neutral arbitrators recused, the court appointed Bernstein, who in February 2017 informed Haviland that he is an adjunct professor at the Kline School of Law. But, the opinion said, Bernstein did not think that job would create a conflict prohibiting him from being the arbitrator.

Still, Haviland moved for his recusal, which Bernstein denied.

“Bernstein maintained that he has taught at the law school since long before it was renamed the Thomas R. Kline School of Law and that Kline has no involvement with his teaching at the school,” Murray's opinion said.

Haviland filed a petition with the trial court seeking to enjoin Bernstein from arbitrating the case. That too was denied, and Haviland appealed to the Superior Court.

Haviland did not respond to a call seeking comment Friday. Neither did John Elliott of Elliott Greenleaf, who is representing him.

Kline also did not respond to a call seeking comment.