Judge: Christopher K. Lui, Case: 21STCV04299, Date: 2024-03-12 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 21STCV04299 Hearing Date: March 12, 2024 Dept: 76
The
hearing on Defendants BMW of North America, LLC and
Sterling BMW’s Petition To Confirm Partial Final Arbitration Award is CONTINUED
to April 29, 2024 at 8:30 a.m.
ANALYSIS
Petition To Confirm Arbitration Award
Discussion
Defendants BMW of North America, LLC and Sterling BMW move for an order confirming the arbitration award.
The petition to confirm must be served and filed no later than four years after the date of service of a signed copy of the award on the petitioner (Code Civ. Proc., § 1288) but may not be served and filed until at least 10 days after service of the signed copy of the award upon the petitioner. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1288.4.)
Although a petition to confirm arbitration award may be filed after 10 days of the service of the award (Civ. Proc. Code, § 1288.4), the hearing must be at least 100 days after the service of the award (Civ. Proc. Code, § 1288.2), which is the period of time in which the respondent may either file a file a petition to vacate the award, even if that time is beyond the 10 days in which the respondent may file a response to the petition. (Civ. Proc. Code, §§ 1285.2, 1290.6.) As articulated by the California Supreme Court, it appears that a response to a petition to confirm an arbitration award, which response seeks to vacate or reduce the award, may be served within 100 days of the service of the award.(Law Fin. Grp., LLC v. Key (2023) 14 Cal.5th 932, 946-47 [bold emphasis and underlining added].)
Here, the award is dated January 9, 2024, and thus cannot have been served any earlier than that date.
As articulated by the California Supreme Court, it appears that a response to a petition to confirm an arbitration award, which response seeks to vacate or reduce the award, may be served within 100 days of the service of the award.
The Act also sets out a more specific set of procedures
governing postarbitration proceedings, including deadlines by which parties
seeking to confirm or vacate an arbitral award must file those requests with
the court. (See Code Civ. Proc., pt. 3, tit. 9, ch. 4 [“Enforcement
of the Award”].) A party seeking to confirm the arbitral award may file a
petition within four [*946] years of the service of the final
award. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1288.) A party seeking to vacate the arbitral
award, however, has much less time. A request to vacate may be made either
in a petition to vacate (id., § 1285) or in a
response to the petition to confirm (id., § 1285.2). Regardless of the method, the Act
imposes the same deadline: “A petition to vacate an award … shall be served
and filed not later than 100 days after the date of the service of a signed
copy of the award on the petitioner” (id., § 1288), and
identically, “[a] response requesting that an award be vacated … shall
be served and filed not later than 100 days after the date of service of a
signed copy of the award” on the respondent (id., § 1288.2).
. . .
Under the plain terms of sections
1288 and 1288.2, Key had 100 days from the service of the final
award to request that the arbitration award be vacated—whether she chose to do
so via a standalone petition to vacate or via a response to Lender's petition
to confirm the award. Key's argument that her 139-day filing was nonetheless timely
depends on the proposition that section 1290.6—a general statutory provision
permitting parties to extend the default 10-day period for any responsive
filing in an arbitration matter—supersedes the specific 100-day deadline for
requesting that an arbitration award be vacated, at least when a petition to
confirm has been filed within 100 days of the award's service. But under
the governing statutes, neither deadline supersedes the other. On the
contrary, when a filing both (1) responds to a petition to confirm, and
(2) requests that the arbitration award be vacated, both deadlines apply: (1)
Absent a written agreement or court [*947] order, the response
must be filed within 10 days after service of the petition to confirm and (2)
in any event, no later than 100 days after service of the award. This
rule respects the plain language of both provisions without reading an
unnecessary conflict into the statutory scheme. (Dyna-Med, Inc. v. Fair
Employment & Housing Com. (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1379, 1387
[241 Cal. Rptr. 67, 743 P.2d 1323] [“[S]tatutes or statutory sections
relating to the same subject must be harmonized, both internally and with each
other, to the extent possible.”].)
(Law Fin. Grp., LLC v. Key (2023) 14 Cal.5th 932, 946-47 [bold
emphasis and underlining added].)
The 100-day period following the
issuance (and presumably service) of the award is April 18, 2024. As such, the
hearing on the Petition To Confirm Partial Final Arbitration Award is CONTINUED
to April 29, 2024 at 8:30 a.m.