B.__The claims subject to the agreements to arbitrate arise in substantial part from the same transaction or series of related transactions;

C.__The existence of a common issue of law or fact creates the possibility of conflicting decisions in the separate arbitration proceedings; and

D.__Prejudice resulting from a failure to consolidate is not outweighed by the risk of undue delay or prejudice to the rights of or hardship to parties opposing consolidation.

2.__Consolidation of some claims.__The court may order consolidation of separate arbitration proceedings as to some claims and allow other claims to be resolved in separate arbitration proceedings.

3.__No consolidation if agreement prohibits.__The court may not order consolidation of the claims of a party to an agreement to arbitrate if the agreement prohibits consolidation.

Uniform Comment

1. Multiparty disputes have long been a source of controversy in the enforcement of agreements to arbitrate. When conflict erupts in complex transactions involving multiple contracts, it is rare for all parties to be signatories to a single arbitration agreement. In such cases, some parties may be bound to arbitrate while others are not; in other situations, there may be multiple arbitration agreements. Such realities raise the possibility that common issues of law or fact will be resolved in multiple fora, enhancing the overall expense of conflict resolution and leading to potentially inconsistent results. See III Macneil Treatise § 33.3.2. Such scenarios are particularly common in construction, insurance, maritime and sales transactions, but are not limited to those settings. See Thomas J. Stipanowich, Arbitration and the Multiparty Dispute: The Search for Workable Solutions, 72 Iowa L. Rev. 473, 481-82 (1987).

Most state arbitration statutes, the FAA, and most arbitration agreements do not specifically address consolidated arbitration proceedings. In the common case where the parties have failed to address the issue in their arbitration agreements, some courts have ordered consolidated hearings while others have denied consolidation. In the interest of adjudicative efficiency and the