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Posts Tagged ‘Judicial Review’

Some Things to Consider Seriously Before You Agree to Arbitrate: An Arbitration Award may Direct You to Pay Your Adversary’s Attorney’s Fees

March 7th, 2025 Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration as a Matter of Consent, Arbitration Fees, Arbitration Law, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Arbitration Provider Rules, Arbitration Providers, Arbitration Risks, Attorney Fee Shifting, Attorney Fees and Sanctions, Authority of Arbitrators, Awards, Bad Faith, Charles Bennett, Drafting Arbitration Agreements, Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards, Outcome Risk, Practice and Procedure, Richard D. Faulkner, Small and Medium-Sized Business Arbitration Risk, Small Business B-2-B Arbitration, Uncategorized No Comments »

Attorney's Fees in ArbitrationThose who agree to arbitration expose themselves to potential awards of attorney’s fees in cases where courts would likely not award fees.

If you’re a small business or an individual there’s a good chance you’re not fully familiar with certain of the risks associated with arbitration. Clients frequently consult with me when they find themselves saddled with unfavorable awards, and some of these persons are ones who, through no fault of their own, did not appreciate the risks involved and might  consequently have missed opportunities to better manage them. In many instances these persons were represented by attorneys who understood that subject matter of the arbitrated disputes, and who were skilled courtroom litigators, but who were not necessarily as well-versed in arbitration-law as are arbitration and arbitration-law practitioners.

This is more than simply an anecdotal observation. My good friends, colleagues, and sometimes co-counsel, Richard D. Faulkner and Charles (“Chuck”) Bennett, who also practice in this field, tell me they share this view and that their experiences are aligned with my own. (Here is a post concerning a Federalist-Society-sponsored webinar Rick, Chuck, and I participated in last year.) Other arbitration attorneys with whom I have spoken also agree.

Readers armed with some practical knowledge may be better able to avoid, mitigate or otherwise manage arbitration risks. It is in that spirit that we discuss a risk that tends to be more severe in arbitration than it is in court litigation:  your exposure to an award of attorney’s fees. As always, nothing we say here is or should be construed as legal advice. If you require legal advice you should engage and consult with an attorney.

Exposure to Liability for Your Adversary’s Legal Fees

A commonly overlooked risk associated with agreeing to arbitrate is that, if you lose, you might be on the wrong end of an award that requires you to reimburse your adversary for some or all of the fees it incurred in the arbitration. To be sure, there is a risk that in court litigation, the court may assess attorney’s fees against a losing party, but as we’ll see, the risk is generally higher in arbitration than it is in court litigation. Worse yet, in arbitration the ability to challenge meaningfully  such an award (or any other award) in court is extremely circumscribed under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). The same is generally so where state arbitration law applies.

No one likes paying attorney fees but they are a necessary incident of dispute resolution, especially resolution of high-dollar disputes. But imagine not only having to pay your own attorney’s fees, but also those of your adversary, an adversary who, in effect, is reimbursed for the fees it incurred in making your life miserable. Continue Reading »

California Appeals Court Says Clause Construction Award is not Final Award Subject to Confirmation or Vacatur

August 29th, 2018 Arbitration as a Matter of Consent, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Awards, California State Courts, Class Action Arbitration, Clause Construction Award, Confirmation of Awards Comments Off on California Appeals Court Says Clause Construction Award is not Final Award Subject to Confirmation or Vacatur

Introduction

Clause Construction Award 1

Clause Construction Award 1

We have discussed (here) what constitutes a final award under the Federal Arbitration Act, an issue that is important for a host of reasons, but is particularly so to any business faced with an adverse clause construction award. A clause construction award is an interim or partial final arbitration ruling that determines the threshold issue of whether the parties consented to class arbitration.

 

But not all arbitrations – even class arbitrations – are governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), and even when they are, parties may agree to procedural rules that are different from those of the FAA. See Preston v. Ferrer, 128 S.Ct. 978, 987-89 (2008); Volt Info. Sciences, Inc. v. Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Jr. Univ.,  489 U.S. 468, 478-79 (1989). In Maplebear, Inc. v. Busick, ___ Cal. App.5th ___, slip op. (Cal. App., 1st Dist. August 21, 2018) (certified for publication), the parties agreed that  “the arbitration would be conducted by JAMS under its rules and procedures; the arbitrator would apply California substantive law; the arbitrator had no ‘power or authority to commit errors of law or legal reasoning’; and ‘[a]ny action to review the arbitration award for legal error or to have it confirmed, corrected or vacated’ would be decided under California law by ‘a California state court of competent jurisdiction.’” Slip op. at 2.

At issue in Maplebear was whether the California courts had jurisdiction to vacate a partial final Clause Construction Award, which concluded that the parties had consented to class arbitration. The California Appeals Court said “no,” which means that—unless the California Supreme Court (or the U.S. Supreme Court) hears an appeal and says otherwise—the parties have to endure through an entire class arbitration procedure before there is any judicial review of the Clause Construction Award. (Whether or not review by the California Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court is even possible given the procedural posture of this case is outside the scope of this post.)

 

An Unfair Burden on the Clause Construction Award Challenger?

Clause Construction Award 2

Clause Construction Award 2

Consider the burden the decision imposes on the class-arbitration opponent. According to the majority opinion in Concepcion, then fairly current American Arbitration Association statistics showed that: (a) “[a]s of September 2009, the AAA had opened 283 class arbitrations[;]” (b) “[o]f those, 121 remained active, and 162 had been settled, withdrawn, or dismissed[;]” (c) “[n]ot a single one, however, had resulted in a final award on the merits[;]” and (d) “[f]or those cases that were no longer active, the median time from filing to settlement, withdrawal, or dismissal—not judgment on the merits—was 583 days, and the mean was 630 days.” AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S.Ct. 1740, 1751 (2011).

Clause Construction Award 4

Clause Construction Award 4

While we have not researched whether more recent statistics tell a different story, it seems quite likely that the Court’s decision on finality means that the class arbitration opponent will have to spend an awful lot of time and money before the issue of class arbitration consent is reviewed by a court, assuming it is ever reviewed.

 

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SCA v. Armstrong: Anatomy of the Lance Armstrong Arbitration Award—Part III.B.2: Panel’s Authority to Decide the SCA Parties’ Sanctions Claims

April 2nd, 2015 Arbitrability, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Attorney Fees and Sanctions, Authority of Arbitrators, Awards, Contract Interpretation, Functus Officio, Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards, Practice and Procedure, State Arbitration Law, State Arbitration Statutes, State Courts, United States Supreme Court Comments Off on SCA v. Armstrong: Anatomy of the Lance Armstrong Arbitration Award—Part III.B.2: Panel’s Authority to Decide the SCA Parties’ Sanctions Claims

Part III.B.2

Panel’s Analysis of the Merits of the Arbitrability Issue (Panel Issue No. 1)

Now that we’ve discussed why we think the Court will review the arbitrator’s threshold arbitrability decision de novo, let’s take a closer look at the Panel’s analysis of the arbitrability issue and whether the Texas state courts will conclude that the Panel had the jurisdiction to decide the SCA Parties’ sanctions claims.

yay-15706730-digitalThe procedural posture of  the jurisdictional issue before the Panel is unusual because the Panel, with the parties’ consent, had previously made a partial final award expressing its views on jurisdiction. The intent was to permit expedited judicial review of the issue. The Panel’s 2-1 ruling finding jurisdiction was confirmed by the trial court, which means that the trial court will almost certainly reject Armstrong’s putative challenge to the Panel’s jurisdiction.

The Armstrong Parties’ appeal to the intermediate court of appeals was dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction, presumably because the intermediate court of appeals concluded that the trial court’s order confirming the partial final award was not a final order or judgment from which an appeal could be taken. The Armstrong Parties sought temporary relief and mandamus review in the Texas Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court denied those requests.

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Issue No. 1 is simply whether the parties agreed  to submit to arbitration the SCA Parties’ claims against Armstrong relating to Armstrong’s alleged procurement of the consent award through perjury, fraud and other deceptive means. The key question is whether the SCA Parties’ disputes fell within the broad scope of the parties’ arbitration agreement. And the answer is driven in large part by the presumption in favor of arbitration, under which ambiguities about the scope of an arbitration agreement are resolved in favor of arbitration.

By comparison, recall that the answer to the question who decides arbitrability questions was driven by a presumption against arbitration: courts presume that arbitrability questions are for the court to decide unless the parties “clearly and unmistakably” agree to delegate those questions to the arbitrators. The whole point of agreeing to arbitrate is to have arbitrators decide disputes about the merits, and so when the question is whether the parties empowered the arbitrators to decide the merits of a party’s claim for relief, courts presume those questions are for the arbitrators to decide.

The presumption of arbitrability applies to case governed by the Federal Arbitration Act as well as cases falling under the Texas General Arbitration Act. It provides that ambiguities in the scope of an arbitration agreement are to be resolved in favor of arbitration. See, e.g., Moses H. Cone Mem. Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 24-25 (1983); Mitsubishi Motors v. Soler Chrysler Plymouth, 473 U.S. 614, 626 (1985); G.T. Leach Builders, LLC v. Sapphire V.P. LP, No. 130497, at *21-22 & nn. 14 & 16 (Tex. Mar. 20, 2015); Branch Law Firm, L.L.P. v. Osborn, 447 S.W.3d 390, 394-98 & n.10 (Tex. App. 14 Dist. 2014). That means that if the scope provision of an arbitration agreement is susceptible to more than one interpretation, and at least one of those interpretations would require the dispute to be submitted to arbitration, then the court, as a matter of law, must find that the parties agreed to submit the dispute to arbitration. Continue Reading »

SCA v. Armstrong: Anatomy of the Lance Armstrong Arbitration Award—Part III.B.1: Panel Issue No. 1: the Panel’s Authority to Decide the SCA Parties’ Sanctions Claims

March 29th, 2015 Arbitrability, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration as a Matter of Consent, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Attorney Fees and Sanctions, Authority of Arbitrators, Awards, Confirmation of Awards, Contract Interpretation, Grounds for Vacatur, Practice and Procedure, State Courts, United States Supreme Court Comments Off on SCA v. Armstrong: Anatomy of the Lance Armstrong Arbitration Award—Part III.B.1: Panel Issue No. 1: the Panel’s Authority to Decide the SCA Parties’ Sanctions Claims

Part III.B.1

Panel Issue No. 1: the Armstrong Panel’s Authority to Decide the SCA Parties’ Sanctions Claims

Introduction

Part III.A of our Lance Armstrong Arbitration Award series identified (a) the categories of issues (the “Issue Categories”) that a court can address on a motion to vacate an arbitration award on the ground the arbitrators exceeded their powers (the “Issue Categories”); and (a) the four specific issues that the Panel addressed in its award (the “Panel Issues”).

Panel Issue No. 1 was, as phrased by the arbitrators: “Does this Arbitration Tribunal have the jurisdiction or authority to decide and resolve the existing disputes between the named parties?” That issue falls into Issue Category No. 1: Issues concerning whether the parties delegated to the arbitrators—or were required to delegate to the arbitrators—the power to decide particular disputes.

summer-10343058Arbitrability

Whether or not the Panel had the authority to decide the SCA Parties’ claims against  Armstrong and Tailwind (the “Armstrong Parties”) depends on whether at least one 0f the parties requested the arbitrators to adjudicate those claims; and the other party either: (a) expressly or impliedly consented to the arbitrators deciding the dispute; or (b) objected to the request, but the claims were within the scope of the parties’ written pre- or post-dispute arbitration agreement.   Disputes what issues the parties submitted—or were required to be submit—to arbitration present questions of arbitrability. See, e.g., Howsam v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., 537 U.S. 79, 83-86 (2002); First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan, 543 U.S. 938, 942-45 (1995).

Relationship Between Arbitrability and the Post-Award Standard of Judicial Review

Ordinarily, questions of arbitrability are— in the allocation-of-decision-making-power scheme of things—for the court to decide, unless the parties have clearly and unmistakably agreed to delegate them to arbitrators. See, e.g., First Options, 543 U.S. at 944-45. Under a typical broadly-worded pre-dispute arbitration agreement, the vast majority of disputes that may arise between the parties—including disputes about arbitration procedure—are presumptively arbitrable, that is, they are subject to arbitration unless the parties clearly a nd unmistakably exclude them from arbitration. But when a dispute presents a question of arbitrability, then it is presumptively for the court to decide, that is, they are not subject to arbitration unless the parties clearly and unmistakably include them within the universe of disputes that must be submitted to arbitration.

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Where as here, an arbitrability issue arises at the award enforcement (or back-end) stage of the proceedings—rather than the pre-arbitration,  arbitration-agreement-enforcement (or front-end) stage (i.e., on a motion to compel arbitration or stay litigation)—then whether or not an issue is a question of arbitrability affects the standard of review. The standard of review is, in essence, the degree of deference to  which a court pays the arbitrators’ decisions on matters that are material to applications to confirm, vacate or modify arbitration awards. Continue Reading »

Arbitration and Mediation FAQs: Can I Appeal an Arbitration Award in Court?

May 21st, 2014 Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration and Mediation FAQs, Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Awards, Drafting Arbitration Agreements, Grounds for Vacatur, Nuts & Bolts, Nuts & Bolts: Arbitration, Practice and Procedure Comments Off on Arbitration and Mediation FAQs: Can I Appeal an Arbitration Award in Court?

Introduction

When a party is on the wrong end of an arbitration award that he, she or it thinks is fundamentally unfair, tainted by impropriety, or disconnected from the agreement the arbitrator was supposed to interpret and apply, the first question that comes to mind is whether there might be some form of recourse available. In court,  the usual avenue of relief from an adverse judgment or order is an appeal.

Can a losing party to an arbitration award governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (the “FAA”) appeal it in court? Since private arbitration is an alternative to public, government-sponsored court litigation, since the court system plays an important role in enforcing arbitration agreements, since both arbitration and court litigation share at least some of the same attributes and since in the U.S. procedural due process and the primacy of the rule of law are as dear to us as baseball and apple pie, it is natural to assume that one should be able to appeal an adverse arbitration award.

But one cannot—in any meaningful sense of the word—“appeal” an arbitration award to a court. In court litigation 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 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 trial judge). While appellate review thus does not involve a retrial on the merits, it is broad and searching, particularly where outcomes turn solely on questions of law.

The FAA does not authorize courts to review arbitration awards under an appellate standard of review, even if the parties consent to a court applying such a standard. Parties can agree before or after a dispute arises to an arbitration procedure that empowers another arbitrator or panel of arbitrators to review an award under an appellate or some other standard of review, but arbitration awards are subject to very limited and deferential review by courts and then only on a few narrow grounds.

The FAA Award-Enforcement Process

The FAA award enforcement process permits either party to make an application to vacate, modify or correct an award, or an application to “confirm” it, that is, enter judgment on it. Since the deadline for applying to vacate, modify or correct an award is considerably shorter than that for confirming an award, in many cases, parties who are seeking relief from the award make the initial application. If a putative challenging party does not timely seek relief, and the other party seeks confirmation after the expiration of the deadline for making an application to vacate, modify or correct the award, then the challenging party is time-barred from asserting grounds for vacatur or modification, even simply as affirmative defenses to confirmation. (See, e.g., L. Reins. & Arb. Law Forum post here.)

Let’s assume a party makes a timely motion to vacate an award. What will likely then happen is the other party will cross-move to confirm the award. The burden on the party seeking confirmation is pretty modest. Generally the party moving to confirm will need to show that the parties: (a) agreed to arbitrate; (b) consented to entry of judgment on the award; (c) appointed an arbitrator or panel of arbitrators; and (d) submitted the dispute to the arbitrators, who issued the award. The award is presumed valid and the court does not review its outcome or substance.

Once the modest prerequisites for confirmation have been established by a properly supported petition or motion to confirm an award, then the court “must grant” confirmation “unless the award is vacated, modified or corrected” under FAA Sections 10 or 11. 9 U.S.C. § 9. Thus, apart from those relatively rare cases where a party can show that the parties never agreed to arbitrate at all (and that the challenging party did not waive that defense), or perhaps never even impliedly consented to entry of judgment on the award, the only grounds on which the losing party can oppose confirmation are those set forth in Section 10 and 11.

The only exception might be if the award interprets the contract in a way that causes it to violate a well-defined and explicit public policy, or if the remedy the arbitrator awards violates the criminal law or requires one of the parties to do so. For example, one would not expect a court to enter judgment on an award that purported to authorize the prevailing party to inflict bodily harm on the losing party or vice-versa. That principle is simply an application of the contract-law rule that courts will not enforce contracts that violate public policy. See, generally, W. R. Grace & Co. v. Rubber Workers, 461 U.S. 757, 766 (1983); United Food & Commercial Workers Int’l Union v. King Soopers, 743 F.3d 1310, 1315 (10th Cir. 2014).

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