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Posts Tagged ‘Arbitration Law FAQs’

Stay of Litigation | Waiver of Arbitration | The Businessperson’s Federal Arbitration Act FAQ Guide III | Pre-Award Litigation under Chapter 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act | Litigating Gateway Disputes | The Nuts and Bolts of Pre-Award Federal Arbitration Act Practice under Sections 2, 3, and 4 (Part I)

February 16th, 2020 Arbitrability, Arbitrability | Clear and Unmistakable Rule, Arbitration and Mediation FAQs, Arbitration Law, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Businessperson's FAQ Guide to the Federal Arbitration Act, Challenging Arbitration Agreements, FAA Chapter 1, Federal Arbitration Act Enforcement Litigation Procedure, Federal Arbitration Act Section 2, Federal Arbitration Act Section 3, Federal Arbitration Act Section 4, Gateway Disputes, Gateway Questions, Moses Cone Principle, Nuts & Bolts, Nuts & Bolts: Arbitration, Practice and Procedure, Questions of Arbitrability, Section 3 Stay of Litigation, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration, Stay of Litigation, Stay of Litigation Pending Arbitration, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit 2 Comments »
Section 3 Stay of Litigation

Today we’re going to focus on Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act, which authorizes a Court to stay litigation.

In the last segment of this series we answered the following FAQs about how gateway disputes are decided by courts and arbitrators:

  1. What is the Presumption of Arbitrability?
  2. Does the Presumption of Arbitrability Apply to all Questions of Arbitrability?
  3. What Law Applies to Determine Gateway Disputes about Arbitrability to which the Presumption of Arbitrability does not Apply?
  4. How is the Presumption of Arbitrability Applied to Resolve Gateway Questions about the Scope of an Arbitration Agreement?
  5. What Defenses, if any, Can Parties Assert against Enforcement of an Arbitration Agreement, and what Law Governs these Defenses?

The answers to these questions, along with those provided in prior segments, were designed to provide you with a solid foundation for understanding how pre-award Federal Arbitration Act litigation works and what to expect if your business is or becomes embroiled in it.

The segment of which this post is Part I answers FAQs about the nuts and bolts of pre-award Federal Arbitration Act practice and procedure under Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Act, the Sections that address gateway disputes about whether arbitration should proceed.

In this Part I we address the following FAQs, which focus on Section 3 stays of litigation:

  1. What Gateway Disputes do Sections 2, 3, and 4, Address, and How do they Address them?  
  2. How does Section 3 Work in Practice?

Future parts of this segment will address questions concerning Section 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act, which authorizes courts to compel arbitration. And we’ll move forward from there.

What Gateway Disputes do Sections 2, 3, and 4, Address, and How do they Address them?   

Section 2, as we’ve said, is the enforcement command of the Federal Arbitration Act, which deems all arbitration agreements falling within its scope to be “valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.” 9 U.S.C. § 2. (See here and here.) Section 2 requires, as a matter of federal law, that arbitration agreements falling within its scope are to be enforced to the same extent as contracts generally. (See here.)  

But the Federal Arbitration Act does more than require the enforcement of arbitration agreements by putting them on “an equal footing with all other contracts.” Kindred Nursing Centers Ltd. P’ship v. Clark, 137 S. Ct. 1421, 1424 (2017) (quotations and citations omitted). It provides for specific performance of arbitration agreements, both in the form of an order staying litigation of an arbitrable controversy under Section 3 of the FAA, and an order directing a party to proceed with arbitration in accordance with their agreement. 9 U.S.C. §§ 3 & 4.

Continue Reading »

Arbitration Law FAQs: Confirming Arbitration Awards under the Federal Arbitration Act

September 18th, 2018 Arbitration and Mediation FAQs, Arbitration as a Matter of Consent, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Awards, Federal Arbitration Act Enforcement Litigation Procedure, Final Awards, Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards, Nuts & Bolts, Nuts & Bolts: Arbitration, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration Comments Off on Arbitration Law FAQs: Confirming Arbitration Awards under the Federal Arbitration Act

Introduction

Confirming Arbitration Awards 1

Confirming Arbitration Awards 1

Favorable arbitration awards are wonderful things, but they are not self-enforcing. Sometimes the other side voluntarily complies, but if not, there is really not much of anything the arbitrator can do to help.

Arbitrators are not judges and do not have the authority to garnish wages, seize property,  foreclose on encumbered property, freeze bank accounts, impose contempt sanctions, and so forth. Parties can delegate to arbitrators broad adjudicatory and remedial authority, but that is relevant only to the nature and scope of their awards, and does not confer power on the arbitrators to enforce their awards coercively.

Apart from its potential preclusive effect in subsequent litigation or arbitration, an arbitration award stands on the same footing as any other privately prepared legal document, and for all intents and purposes it is a contract made for the parties by their joint agent of sorts—the arbitrator or arbitration panel. It may be intended by the arbitrator or panel, and at least one of the parties, to have legal effect, but it is up to a court to say what legal effect it has, and, if necessary, to implement that legal effect through coercive enforcement.

A judgment, by contrast, is an official decree by a governmental body (the court) that not only can be coercively enforced through subsequent summary proceedings in the same or other courts (including courts in other states and federal judicial districts), but is, to some extent, self-enforcing. A judgment, for example, can ordinarily be filed as a statutory lien on real property, and applicable state or federal law may, for example, authorize attorneys to avail their clients of certain judgment-enforcement-related remedies without prior judicial authorization.

Confirming Arbitration Awards 2

Confirming Arbitration Awards 2

The Federal Arbitration Act, and most or all state arbitration statutes, provide for enforcement of arbitration awards through a procedure by which a party may request a court to enter judgment on the award, that is to “confirm” it. Once an award has been reduced to judgment, it can be enforced to the same extent as any other judgment. See, e.g., 9 U.S.C. § 13 (Under Federal Arbitration Act, judgment on award “shall have the same force and effect, in all respects, as, and be subject to all the provisions of law relating to, a judgment in an action; and it may be enforced as if it had been rendered in an action in the court in which it is entered”); Fla. Stat. § 682.15(1)( “The judgment may be recorded, docketed, and enforced as any other judgment in a civil action.”); N.Y. Civ. Prac. L. & R. § 7514(a) (“A judgment shall be entered upon the confirmation of an award.”).

Chapter One of The Federal Arbitration Act (the “FAA”), and most or all state arbitration statutes, authorize courts to confirm domestic awards in summary proceedings. State arbitration-law rules, procedures, limitation periods, and the like vary from state to state and frequently from the FAA, and state courts may apply them to FAA-governed awards (provided doing so does not frustrate the purposes and objectives of the FAA). And Chapter 2 of the FAA provides some different rules that apply to the confirmation of domestic arbitration awards that fall under the Convention on the Recognition of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “Convention”), and the enforcement of non-domestic arbitration awards falling under the Convention (i.e., awards made in territory of a country that is a signatory to the Convention.

But let’s keep things simple, and take a brief look at the FAA’s requirements for confirming arbitration awards, as applicable in federal court for domestic awards not falling under Chapter Two of the Federal Arbitration Act in situations where there is no prior pending action related to the arbitration, and  there are no issues concerning federal subject-matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, sufficiency or service of process, venue (i.e., whether the suit should have been brought in a different federal judicial district), or the applicability of Chapter One of the FAA (9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16).  We’ll also discuss how applications to confirm are supposed to be summary proceedings, why timing of an application is important, and how courts decide them.

What are the Requirements for Confirming Arbitration Awards under the Federal Arbitration Act?

Confirming Arbitration Awards 3

Confirming Arbitration Awards 3

Like most other issues arising under the FAA, whether a court should confirm an award depends on what the parties agreed. Section 9 of the FAA, which governs confirmation of awards, says—with bracketed lettering added, and in pertinent part: “[A] If the parties in their agreement have [B] agreed that a judgment of the court shall be entered upon [C] the award made pursuant to the arbitration, and [D] shall specify the court, then [E] at any time within one year after the award is made any party to the arbitration may apply to the court so specified for an order confirming the award, and [F] thereupon the court must grant such an order unless [G] the award is vacated, modified, or corrected as prescribed in sections 10 and 11 of this title.” 9 U.S.C. § 9. Items [A] through [D] above each concern party consent as evidenced by the parties’ arbitration agreement.

The key substantive requirements for confirming arbitration awards are thus: Continue Reading »

Arbitration Law FAQ Guide: Challenging Arbitration Awards under the Federal Arbitration Act — Part II

September 12th, 2018 Arbitration and Mediation FAQs, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Awards, Challenging Arbitration Awards, Federal Arbitration Act Enforcement Litigation Procedure, Grounds for Vacatur, Nuts & Bolts, Nuts & Bolts: Arbitration, Outcome Risk, Small and Medium-Sized Business Arbitration Risk, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration 2 Comments »

Awards Under the Federal Arbitration Act 1

Awards Under the Federal Arbitration Act 1

This is Part II of this two-part Arbitration Law FAQ Guide, which is designed to provide individuals and businesses with a brief and broad overview of challenging awards under the Federal Arbitration Act. Part I (here) addressed eight FAQs concerning this topic. This Part II addresses six more.

These FAQs, like the first eight, assume that a party is seeking to challenge a Federal-Arbitration-Act-governed arbitration award in a federal court having subject matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, and proper venue.

This guide is not legal advice or a substitute for legal advice. An individual or business contemplating a challenge of an award under the Federal Arbitration Act  should consult with an attorney or firm that has experience and expertise in arbitration law matters.

  1. What does a person have to prove to convince a Court to grant it vacatur, modification, or correction of an award?

Awards Under the Federal Arbitration Act 2

Awards Under the Federal Arbitration Act 2

An arbitration award is presumed valid and an award challenger has a heavy burden of proof to show otherwise. Some courts require clear and convincing evidence of certain grounds, such as evident partiality or corruption in the arbitrators. And even if a challenger can meet its burden, challenging an award under the Federal Arbitration Act must ordinarily be done in a summary proceeding, which is heard and determined in the same manner as a motion.

Generally, the challenger must establish that the only legitimate inference that can be drawn from the law and undisputed facts is that vacatur, modification, or correction of the award is warranted. Even where there are factual disputes, courts ordinarily will not order discovery or evidentiary hearings absent “clear evidence of impropriety.”  See, generally, Andros Compania Maritima, S.A. v. Marc Rich & Co., 579 F.2d 691, 701, 702 (2d Cir. 1978).

  1. What proceedings does a Court usually hold to determine applications to vacate, modify, or correct awards under the Federal Arbitration Act?

These applications are summary proceedings that are made and decided like motions. See 9 U.S.C. § 6. If there is not already pending an action between the parties in which a motion may be made, then a challenger can start a proceeding by filing and serving, among other things, a petition or application, a notice of petition or application, supporting affidavits, and a memorandum of law in support. The responding party serves and files a memorandum in opposition, along with any affidavits in support.

Since the matter is a summary proceeding, and since the ordinary pleading rules do not apply, courts generally require the challenger to make all of its arguments at the time its response is due, including arguments that might be made by pre-answer motion in an ordinary law suit, such as lack of subject-matter or personal jurisdiction. The responding party will also typically file a cross-motion to confirm the award, that is, a request that the Court enter judgment upon the award. See 9 U.S.C. § 9. Continue Reading »

Arbitration Law FAQ Guide: Challenging Arbitration Awards under the Federal Arbitration Act

September 9th, 2018 Arbitration and Mediation FAQs, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Awards, Challenging Arbitration Awards, Grounds for Vacatur, Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards, Nuts & Bolts, Nuts & Bolts: Arbitration 3 Comments »

Introduction

This two-part Arbitration Law FAQ guide is designed to provide individuals and businesses with a basic overview of what the Federal Arbitration Act has to say about challenging arbitration awards in court. This is Part I and Part II is here.

It assumes that the award is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act; the challenge is made in a federal district court having subject matter and personal jurisdiction; and venue is proper.

This guide is not legal advice or a substitute for legal advice. If you are an individual or business which wants or has to challenge or defend an arbitration award, or make an application to confirm the award, then you should consult with an attorney or firm that has experience and expertise in arbitration law matters.

  1. I just received an arbitration award against me, which I believe is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (the “FAA”). Does the FAA allow me to appeal the award to a court?

Challenging Arbitration Awards 1

Challenging Arbitration Awards 1

You cannot—at least in any meaningful sense of the word—“appeal” an FAA-governed arbitration award to a court. An appeal involves judicial review by an appellate court under which a panel of judges reviews trial-court rulings on questions of law independently—that is, as if the appellate court were deciding the question for itself in the first instance. The appellate court generally reviews the trial court’s findings of fact on a “clearly erroneous” or “clear error” standard of review, that is, paying a certain degree of deference to the finder of fact (the jury or, in a bench trial, the judge). Appellate review of a court decision is thus fairly broad and searching, particularly where outcomes turn solely on questions of law.

When a person agrees to arbitrate it gives up the right to appellate review, which focuses on issues relating to the merits of the case the court decided or on important litigation-procedure rulings.

  1. Does the FAA permit a party to challenge an arbitration award?

Challenging Arbitration Awards 2

Challenging Arbitration Awards 2

The Federal Arbitration Act provides some limited remedies for challenging arbitration awards where a party can show certain kinds of unusual and material violations of an arbitration agreement by an arbitrator or an opposing party, or an obvious mathematical, typographical, or technical error that appears on the face of the award. The remedies are orders: (a) modifying or correcting the award; or (b) vacating the award in whole or in part.

To vacate an award means to annul it, that is, to declare it null and void. When an award is vacated, then the parties generally must (absent a settlement) go back and re-arbitrate the matters that were the subject of the award.  When an award is modified or corrected, the correction or modification may be made by the court, or the court may remand the matter back to the arbitrators for that purpose. Continue Reading »