Opinion ID: 2497296
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Confirmation and Vacation of Arbitral Awards Under the FAA

Text: For an arbitral award to be made enforceable by law, it must first be confirmed by a court. The FAA provides a streamlined procedure for confirming awards, as set forth in 9 U.S.C. § 9: If the parties in their agreement have agreed that a judgment of the court shall be entered upon the award made pursuant to the arbitration, and shall specify the court, then 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 thereupon the court must grant such an order unless the award is vacated, modified, or corrected as prescribed in sections 10 and 11 of this title. The FAA also allows limited judicial review in the form of a motion to vacate, modify, or correct an award based on the following specifically enumerated statutory grounds: (1) where the award was procured by corruption, fraud, or undue means; (2) where there was evident partiality or corruption in the arbitrators, or either of them; (3) where the arbitrators were guilty of misconduct in refusing to postpone the hearing, upon sufficient cause shown, or in refusing to hear evidence pertinent and material to the controversy; or of any other misbehavior by which the rights of any party have been prejudiced; or (4) where the arbitrators exceeded their powers, or so imperfectly executed them that a mutual, final, and definite award upon the subject matter submitted was not made. 9 U.S.C. § 10; see also La.Rev.Stat. § 9:4210-4211. Notably, nonexistence of an arbitration agreement is not one of the enumerated grounds for a motion to vacate under 9 U.S.C. § 10. However, any motion to vacate, modify, or correct an award must be served upon the adverse party or his attorney within three months after the award is filed or delivered. 9 U.S.C. § 12; see also La. Rev.Stat. § 9:4213. It is undisputed that Weaver did not file a timely motion to vacate, modify, or correct the arbitral award within the three month period provided by statute. FIA argues Weaver's failure to move to vacate the award within the statutorily prescribed deadline means he has waived all defenses. In essence, if no motion to vacate, modify, or correct an arbitral award is filed within three months, a court is legally required to confirm the award as a purely ministerial act. We disagree. As explained below, the FAA requires a court faced with a petition to confirm to first ensure there is an arbitration agreement between the parties covering this dispute. This requirement is inherent in a petition to confirm and is independent of the statutory defenses which may be raised in a motion to vacate the award. Because FIA has failed to meet its evidentiary burden to show there has ever been a valid arbitration agreement between itself (or MBNA) and Weaver, its petition to confirm must be denied.