Contact: Casey Murray; Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP (Missouri, USA)
The American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) has adopted new rules establishing an optional appeals process. The rules went into effect on November 1, 2013.
Prior to the adoption of these optional rules, a party wishing to challenge an arbitrator’s award had limited options. Judicial review of an arbitration award is only allowed on very narrow grounds, such as arbitrator misconduct or clear bias. There was no option for a substantive review of the decision.
Now, if all parties expressly agree to the new rules — whether by contract or by stipulation — an appellate tribunal can substantively review the arbitrator’s decision. A party has 30 days from the arbitration award to: (1) file a notice of appeal with the AAA and all parties; (2) file a copy of the arbitration agreement with the AAA and all parties; (3) file the arbitration award with the AAA; and (4) pay an administrative fee of $6,000. Once an appeal is filed, the parties may choose their own appellate tribunal, or they may allow the AAA to choose the tribunal from its appellate panel. This appellate panel will provide a substantive review of the award, but may only review the award on the grounds that it was based on material and prejudicial errors in law and/or clearly erroneous determinations of fact.
