Opinion ID: 874258
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Did the Harrisons Timely Appeal the Order Confirming the Arbitrator's Award?

Text: Lloyd's contends that the Harrisons did not timely appeal from the order confirming the arbitrator's award. On April 25, 2008, Lloyd's filed an application for an order confirming the arbitration award rendered by the parties chosen arbitrator on January 25, 2008, pursuant to Idaho Code § 7-911. Idaho Code § 7-911 provides: Upon application of a party, the court shall confirm an award, unless within the time limits hereinafter imposed grounds are urged for vacating or modifying or correcting the award, in which case the court shall proceed as provided in sections 7-912 and 7-913, Idaho Code. Idaho Code § 7-912 deals with an application to vacate the award, and Idaho Code § 7-913 deals with an application to modify or correct the award. Because the Harrisons had previously filed a motion to vacate the arbitrator's award pursuant to the [Idaho] Uniform Arbitration Act and the Federal Arbitration Act, the district could was required to proceed under section 7-912. Idaho Code § 7-912(D) provides, If the application to vacate is denied and no motion to modify or correct the award is pending, the court shall confirm the award. On July 28, 2008, the district court entered an order denying the Harrisons' application to vacate the arbitrator's award and granting Lloyd's application to confirm the award. The Harrisons filed this appeal on September 11, 2008. The issue is whether their appeal was timely in order to challenge the order confirming the award. Lloyd's filed their motion to confirm the arbitrator's award under Idaho Code § 7-911, and the district court granted that motion. Idaho Appellate Rule 11(a)(8) states that [a]n appeal as a matter of right may be taken to the Supreme Court from . . . [a]ny order appealable under the Uniform Arbitration Act, Title Seven, Chapter 9 of the Idaho Code. That Act provides that an appeal may be taken from [a]n order confirming or denying confirmation of an award. I.C. § 7-919(a)(3). Thus, the order confirming the arbitrator's award was appealable as a matter of right. Idaho Appellate Rule 14(a) states: Any appeal as a matter of right from the district court may be made only by physically filing a notice of appeal with the clerk of the district court within 42 days from the date evidenced by the filing stamp of the clerk of the court on any judgment, order or decree of the district court appealable as a matter of right in any civil or criminal action. . . . . Idaho Appellate Rule 14(a) requires a notice of appeal to be filed within forty-two days of `any judgment, order or decree of the district court [that is] appealable as a matter of right in any civil . . . action.' Goodman Oil Co. v. Scotty's Duro-Bilt Generator, Inc., 148 Idaho 588, 591, 226 P.3d 530, 533 (2010) (emphasis in original). In this case, the order confirming the arbitrator's award was entered on July 28, 2008. Forty-two days from that date was September 8, 2008. The Harrisons did not file their notice of appeal until September 11, 2008, three days after the expiration of the forty-two day period specified by Idaho Appellate Rule 14(a). Thus, under Idaho Appellate Rule 14(a), their appeal was not timely. Relying upon Idaho Appellate Rule 17(e)(1)(B), the Harrisons argue that the order confirming the arbitrator's award is reviewable in connection with their appeal from the judgment later entered on August 11, 2008. That Rule provides, The notice of appeal shall designate the final judgment . . . appealed from which shall be deemed to include, and present on appeal: (B) All final. . . orders . . . entered prior to the judgment. . . appealed from for which the time for appeal has not expired. Subsection (B) is applicable because the order confirming the arbitrator's award was a final order entered prior to the purported judgment in this case. See Storey Constr., Inc. v. Hanks, 148 Idaho 401, 407, 224 P.3d 468, 474 (2009) (an order denying arbitration of an issue was a final order appealable as a matter of right); I.A.R. 11(a)(8) (an order confirming an arbitration award is appealable as a matter of right). Subsection (B) provides that an appeal from a final judgment is deemed to include [a]ll final . . . orders . . . entered prior to the judgment . . . appealed from for which the time for appeal has not expired. The phrase for which the time for appeal has not expired refers to the orders . . . entered prior to the judgment. The time for appeal from those orders must not have expired in order for them to be included in an appeal from the judgment . . . appealed from. The time for appealing from a final order entered prior to the final judgment is forty-two days from the date the final order was entered. I.A.R. 14(a). Rule 17(e)(1)(B) does not purport to extend that time. Thus, the Harrisons' appeal from the order confirming the arbitrator's award was clearly untimely. The Harrisons contend that the Rule should be read as stating that at the time that judgment appealed from was filed, it incorporated any other final judgments, orders, or decrees for which the appeal time had not yet expired. The Rule provides that it is the notice of appeal, not the judgment, that is deemed to include the prior final orders for which the time for appeal has not run. Even if there was any ambiguity in the Rule, its meaning is clear when read in conjunction with Idaho Appellate Rule 14(a), which specifies the time for filing appeals. That Rule states that an appeal from any order appealable as a matter of right may be made only  by filing the notice of appeal within forty-two days of the date the order is entered. (Emphasis added.) As this Court stated in Goodman Oil Co. v. Scotty's Duro-Bilt Generator, Inc., 148 Idaho 588, 591, 226 P.3d 530, 533 (2010) (emphasis in original), Idaho Appellate Rule 14(a) requires a notice of appeal to be filed within forty-two days of `any judgment, order or decree of the district court [that is] appealable as a matter of right in any civil . . . action.' Giving Idaho Appellate Rule 17(e)(1)(B) the construction proposed by the Harrisons would make it conflict with Idaho Appellate Rule 14(a). The Harrisons also asserted during oral argument that because this Court has held that an order granting summary judgment is not a final judgment, an order confirming an arbitration award also should not be a final appealable order. Idaho Appellate Rule 11 provides that an appeal as a matter of right can be taken from an order confirming an arbitration award. The Rule does not provide that an appeal as a matter of right may be taken from an order granting summary judgment. Because the order confirming the arbitration award was appealable as a matter of right, any appeal from that order could only be made by filing the notice of appeal within forty-two days after the order was entered. In this case, the appeal was not filed within that forty-two day period, and therefore there was not a timely appeal from that order. The timely filing of a notice of appeal is jurisdictional. In re Universe Life Ins. Co., 144 Idaho 751, 755, 171 P.3d 242, 246 (2007). Because the time for appealing from the order confirming the arbitrator's award had expired, that order is not reviewable on an appeal from a later judgment in this case.