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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Confirming an arbitration award in California

The topic of this blog post is a discussion of confirming an arbitration award in the State of California. Many agreements and contracts now include an arbitration provision providing that all disputes, or in some cases certain specified disputes, shall be sent to arbitration.

Arbitration is growing in popularity as its primary purpose is to provide a speedy and relatively inexpensive means of dispute resolution.

However, unless an arbitration award has been confirmed by a California Court, collecting or otherwise enforcing the arbitration award against the other party is difficult, although some but not all escrow companies in California will accept a valid arbitration award and disburse funds according to the award of the arbitrator. A party to an arbitration in which an award has been made may petition the court to confirm the award. See Code of Civil Procedure §1285.

Any award confirmed by a California Court is considered the same as, and may be enforced in the same manner as, any other judgment entered by a California Court. See Code of Civil Procedure §1287.4.

A party seeking to confirm an award must file a petition not later than four years after the date of service of a signed copy of the award on petitioner. See Code of Civil Procedure §1288; see also Weinberg v. SafeCo Ins. Co. of America (2004) 114 Cal. App. 4th 1075, 1083-1084.

If a petition or response under Code of Civil Procedure §§1285 through 1287.6 is duly served and filed after an award has been rendered, the court shall confirm the award as made, unless, in accordance with those statues, it corrects the award and confirms it as corrected, vacates the award, or dismisses the proceeding. Code of Civil Procedure §1286; see Weinberg v. SafeCo Ins. Co. Of America (2004) 114 Cal. App. 4th 1075, 1083; Pacific Law Group: USA v. Gibson (1992) 6 Cal. App. 4th 557, 581-582.

Every presumption is in favor of the validity of arbitration award. The party claiming invalidity has the burden of supporting that claim with evidence. See United Brotherhood of Carpenters Etc., v. De Mello (1973) 22 Cal. App. 3d 838, 840; Walter v. National Indem. Co. (1970) 3 Cal. App. 3d 630, 633.

And the party against whom the arbitration award was entered is barred from filing any petition to vacate the arbitration award unless a petition is filed within 100 calendar days after service of a signed copy of the award on the petitioner. See Code of Civil Procedure § 1288, see also Weinberg v. SafeCo Ins. Co. of America (2004) 114 Cal. App. 4th 1075, 1083-1084.

Thus any party seeking to confirm an arbitration award should wait until at least 101 calendar days after service of a signed copy of the award on the petitioner before filing any petition to confirm an arbitration award to to prevent the other party for attempting to vacate the arbitration award.

Attorneys or parties in the State of California who wish to view a sample petition to confirm arbitration award sold by the author can click below. http://www.scribd.com/doc/117474723/Sample-Petition-to-Confirm-Arbitration-Award

The author of this blog post, Stan Burman, is a freelance paralegal who has worked in California litigation since 1995.

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Copyright 2012 Stan Burman. All rights reserved.

DISCLAIMER:

Please note that the author of this blog post, Stan Burman is NOT an attorney and as such is unable to provide any specific legal advice. The author is NOT engaged in providing any legal, financial, or other professional services, and any information contained in this blog post is NOT intended to constitute legal advice.

These materials and information contained in this blog post have been prepared by Stan Burman for informational purposes only and are not legal advice. Transmission of the information contained in this blog post is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, any business relationship between the author and any readers. Readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel.