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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http://www.scribd.com/legaldocspro
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.
