What is the test for reviewing an arbitrator's decision to deny attorney fees to defendants?

I agree with the majority that the arbitrator's decision in this case to deny attorney fees to defendants should be upheld. But I reach that conclusion by applying the test for reviewing arbitration decisions set forth in my dissent in Moncharsh v. Heily & Blase (1992) 3 Cal.4th 1, 40, 10 Cal.Rptr.2d 183, 832 P.2d 899. The majority, by contrast, rejects any judicial review whatsoever of the arbitrator's decision.

When an arbitrator decides a dispute, the arbitrator's decision is not just a private suggestion that the parties to the dispute can choose to obey or ignore. Rather, it becomes a judicially enforceable command in which all the awesome power of the state compels one party to turn over money or property to the other, or to behave in conformity with the arbitrator's injunction. In Moncharsh v. Heily & Blase, supra, 3 Cal.4th 1, 10 Cal.Rptr.2d 183, 832 P.2d 899, this court held that a court may not review the decision of an arbitrator, even when the decision is erroneous on its face and causes substantial injustice. Joined by Justice Mosk, I dissented, explaining that California law had always recognized a limited power of judicial review of an arbitrator's decision, and that judicial review is necessary to ensure that a derelict arbitrator does not turn our courts into active agents of injustice. (Moncharsh v. Heily & Blase, supra, 3 Cal.4th at pp. 33-40, 10 Cal.Rptr.2d 183, 832 P.2d 899.)(Conc. & dis. opn. of Kennard, J.)