Statutory Attacks on the Award

• Author: David A. Allgeyer
• Pages: 115-122

115

CHAPTER 18

Statutory Attacks

ontheAward

In the last chapter, we had assumed you obtained a favorable

award. We then looked at how to enforce it. But we warned that

the “losing” party might want to attack the award. Or, if you

like, assume you are the “losing” party and now want to consider

how to try to undo the award. This is what the FAA refers to as

“vacating” the award.

THE STANDARD

The standards that apply to vacating an arbitration award are

much more rigorous than those that apply to appellate review

of a trial court judgment. Arbitration was designed to accom-

plish a quicker, less expensive, and final determination of the

parties’ dispute. The FAA and most state arbitration acts recog-

nize that. Because the FAA typically preempts state arbitration

acts for transactions in interstate commerce—which will almost

certainly include your patent arbitration1—we focus on the FAA.

Before we do, though, note that under the rules of most arbi-

tral bodies, you can build in an arbitration appeal. I’ve already

promised more on that in Chapter 21. As a practical matter, you

must build an arbitration appeal into your arbitration clause if

1

See the discussion of this in Chapter 17.