Opinion ID: 1591422
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Necessity of Challenge in the Circuit Court

Text: A challenge to an arbitration award is a prerequisite to an appeal. As we said in Horton Homes, Inc. v. Shaner, 999 So.2d 462 (Ala.2008): [3] The judgment entered by the circuit clerk on the arbitrator's award pursuant to § 6-6-15[, Ala.Code 1975,] is a conditional one; it does not become a final appealable judgment until the circuit court has had an opportunity to consider a motion to vacate filed by a party seeking review of the arbitration award. A party seeking review of an arbitration award is required to file a motion to vacate during this period  while the judgment entered by the circuit clerk remains conditional  in order to preserve its ability to later prosecute that appeal to an appellate court once the judgment becomes final. This is so not only because § 6-6-15 contemplates a party's first seeking relief from an award in the circuit court, but also because `[a]ny grounds not argued to the trial court, but urged for the first time on appeal, cannot be considered.' Lloyd Noland Hosp. v. Durham, 906 So.2d 157, 165 (Ala.2005). 999 So.2d at 467. Here, the record bears no evidence that such a motion was filed. A similar situation existed when Horton Homes was decided. Horton Homes, relying on this Court's decision in H & S Homes, L.L.C. v. McDonald, 910 So.2d 79 (Ala.2004), holding that a Rule 59(e), Ala. R. Civ. P., motion to vacate the award was not required before an arbitration award could be appealed, did not challenge the arbitration award in the circuit court, but timely filed its notice of appeal. In considering this failure in Horton Homes, this Court reviewed and then overruled McDonald, noting that a judgment on an arbitrator's award does not become a final appealable judgment until the circuit court has had an opportunity to consider a motion to vacate. 999 So.2d at 467. We then held: Because the failure ... to file a motion to vacate the award with the circuit court was presumably in reliance on McDonald, it would hardly be just to deny relief in their appeals on that basis. For that reason, we now reverse the final judgment resulting from the passage of 10 days from the circuit clerk's entry of a conditional judgment, leaving in place the conditional judgment, and remand the cause for [the appellants] to file motions to vacate the award with the circuit court within 30 days of the date of this opinion. If, within the following 90 days, the circuit court denies those motions or otherwise allows the conditional judgment entered by the circuit clerk to become final by default, [the appellants] may engage in further appellate proceedings that permit us to review the circuit court's action with new briefs and a record that includes grounds asserted in any subsequently filed motions to vacate. 999 So.2d at 468-469. Here, because Horton Homes was decided after Ace had filed its notice of appeal, the same reliance on McDonald may have influenced Ace's decision to appeal without filing a motion in the circuit court to vacate the judgment. Consequently, it would be unjust to deny Ace's appeal on that basis, and we, therefore, reverse the circuit court's judgment and remand the case to afford Ace the opportunity to present its motion to vacate the judgment in the circuit court. REVERSED AND REMANDED. COBB, C.J., and SEE, WOODALL, and SMITH, JJ., concur.