Opinion ID: 2037452
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: District CourtScope of Review.

Text: Humphreys' first argument is that the district court improperly limited its scope of review. We disagree. Judicial review of arbitration awards is very limited in Iowa. Reicks v. Farmers Commodities Corp., 474 N.W.2d 809, 810-11 (Iowa 1991); Iowa City Community Sch. Dist. v. Iowa City Educ. Ass'n, 343 N.W.2d 139, 142-43 (Iowa 1983); Sergeant Bluff-Luton Educ. Ass'n v. Sergeant Bluff-Luton Community Sch. Dist., 282 N.W.2d 144, 147-48 (Iowa 1978). Here, the scope of judicial review is limited to those statutory grounds contained in Iowa Code sections 679A.12 and .13. The United States Supreme Court has summarized the role of the courts in reviewing arbitration awards, stating: Arbitrators are judges chosen by the parties to decide the matters submitted to them, finally and without appeal. As a mode of settling disputes, it should receive every encouragement from the courts of equity. If the award is within the submission, and contains the honest decision of the arbitrators, after a full and fair hearing of the parties, a court of equity will not set it aside for error, either in law or fact. A contrary course would be a substitution of the judgment of the chancellor in place of the judges chosen by the parties, and would make an award the commencement, not the end, of litigation. Burchell v. Marsh, 58 U.S. (17 How.) 344, 349, 15 L.Ed. 96, 99 (1855); see Iowa City Sch. Dist., 343 N.W.2d at 143. The United States Supreme Court addressed the narrow scope of judicial review in the arbitration process in United Steelworkers v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960). Citing Enterprise Wheel, we have said that [t]he function of the courts is strictly limited to a determination of the arbitrator's authority and the existence of an arbitrable dispute. Ordinarily courts may not inquire into the merits of the decision itself. Teamsters Local 394 v. Associated Grocers of Iowa Coop., Inc., 263 N.W.2d 755, 757 (Iowa 1978). We have continually recognized the arbitrator's broad authority and correspondingly restricted judicial involvement in the arbitration process. See, e.g., Central Iowa Pub. Employee Council v. Des Moines, 439 N.W.2d 170, 172 (Iowa 1989); Iowa City Sch. Dist., 343 N.W.2d at 142-43. In light of the advantages inherent in arbitration, we have stated: To allow a court to second guess an arbitrator by granting a broad scope of review would nullify those advantages. Most important, limited judicial review gives the parties what they bargained forbinding arbitration, not merely arbitration binding if a court agrees with the arbitrator's conclusion. Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 282 N.W.2d at 147. Recently, we have stated: [A]rbitration decisions are not ... closely scrutinized. A refined quality of justice is not the goal in arbitration matters. Indeed such a goal is deliberately sacrificed in favor of a sure and speedy resolution. Under our common-law view the purpose of arbitration is to end disputes without court participation. It is no idle coincidence that the words arbitration and arbitrary are both derived from the same Latin word. Reicks, 474 N.W.2d at 811 (citations omitted). Here, the district court applied a very limited scope of review. The court essentially stated it would not correct errors of fact or law, as long as the arbitrator's award did not violate any of the provisions of chapter 679A. This is the correct scope of judicial review in the arbitration process. Humphreys urges chapter 679A has modified the scope of review of arbitration in Iowa. We agree this chapter modifies common-law arbitration. It contains provisions not included in the Uniform Arbitration Act. Under this chapter, the district court shall vacate an arbitration award if: Substantial evidence on the record as a whole does not support the award. The court shall not vacate an award on this ground if a party urging the vacation has not caused the arbitration proceedings to be reported, if the parties have agreed that a vacation shall not be made on this ground, or if the arbitration has been conducted under the auspices of the American arbitration association. Iowa Code § 679A.12(1)(f). Under the federal arbitration act, federal courts overturn arbitrator's decisions when they are fundamentally irrational or in manifest disregard of the law. Wilko v. Swan, 346 U.S. 427, 436-37, 74 S.Ct. 182, 187-88, 98 L.Ed. 168, 176 (1953). In Reicks, the parties disputed whether this standard is different from the substantial evidence standard. Reicks, 474 N.W.2d at 812. Generally, evidence is substantial if a reasonable person would accept the evidence as sufficient to reach a conclusion. Johnson v. Dodgen, 451 N.W.2d 168, 171 (Iowa 1990). Without such evidence, a judgment should be denied. Id. Here, the district court found substantial evidence supported the arbitrator's award. We agree that the award must be vacated if not supported by substantial evidence. This is a different standard than that applied under the federal arbitration act. However, Humphreys must show on appeal that the district court erred in its finding of substantial evidence. He has failed to do so. A mere general allegation that the award is unsupported by substantial evidence is insufficient.