Petition to Vacate or Modify Arbitration Award in New York

What Is a Petition to Vacate or Modify Arbitration Award?

Background

Any party to an arbitration in which an award has been made may petition the court to vacate or modify the award. (Civ. Prac. Law & Rules, § 7511.)

How to Structure the Motion

“A party moving to vacate an arbitration award has the burden of proof, and the showing required to avoid confirmation is very high.” (U.S. Elecs., Inc. v. Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc., 17 N.Y.3d 912, 915 [2011].)

The Court’s Decision

In recognizing a broad public policy favoring arbitration, New York courts have consistently held that “[j]udicial review of arbitration awards is extremely limited.” (MBNA Am. Bank, N.A. v. Karathanos, 65 A.D.3d 688, 688 [2d Dept. 2009].) “A court may not substitute its judgment for that of the arbitrator, and once the arbitrator’s award is made after a hearing in which both sides have a fair opportunity to be heard, the matter is concluded unless some legal basis is brought forth for overriding the determination.” (Bevona v. Caprice Mgmt. Corp., 146 A.D.2d 500, 500 [1st Dept. 1989].)

Indeed, the New York Court of Appeals has “stated time and again that an arbitrator’s award should not be vacated for errors of law and fact committed by the arbitrator and the courts should not assume the role of overseers to mold the award to conform to their sense of justice.” (Wein & Malkin, LLP v. Helmsley-Spear, Inc., 6 N.Y.3d 471, 479-80 [2006].) “An arbitration award must be upheld when the arbitrator offer[s] even a barely colorable justification for the outcome reached.” (Id. at 479.)

While this court must give deference to the outcome of an arbitration proceeding and an arbitration award should not be set aside because of an error in judgment either upon the facts or the law, “it is imperative that the integrity of the process, as opposed to the correctness of the individual decision, be zealously safeguarded.” (Goldfinger v. Lisker, 68 N.Y.2d 225 [1986].) The award may not be vacated "unless it is violative of a strong public policy, or is totally irrational, or exceeds a specifically enumerated limitation on [the arbitrator's] power." (Silverman v. Kenmore Coats, Inc., 61 N.Y.2d 299, 308-309 [1984].)

The grounds upon which an arbitration award may be vacated or modified are limited and exclusive. (Civ. Prac. Law & Rules, § 7511; Allstate Ins. Co. v. Westchester Medical Group, M.D., 125 A.D.3d 649 [2d Dept. 2015]; Mercury Cas. Co. v. Healthmakers Med. Group, P.C., 67 A.D.3d 1017 [2d Dept. 2009].) "The award shall be vacated on the application of a party who either participated in the arbitration or was served with a notice of intention to arbitrate if the court finds that the rights of that party were prejudiced by:

corruption, fraud or misconduct in procuring the award; or
partiality of an arbitrator appointed as a neutral, except where the award was by confession; or
an arbitrator, or agency or person making the award exceeded his power or so imperfectly executed it that a final and definite award upon the subject matter submitted was not made; or
failure to follow the procedure of this article, unless the party applying to vacate the award continued with the arbitration with notice of the defect and without objection."

(Civ. Prac. Law & Rules, § 7511(b)(1); In re O'Flynn (Monroe County Deputy Sheriff's Assn.), 141 A.D.3d 1097 [4th Dept. 2016]; In re Kowaleski (New York State Dept. of Correctional Services), 16 N.Y.3d 85 [2010].)

"The award shall be vacated on the application of a party who neither participated in the arbitration nor was served with a notice of intention to arbitrate if the court finds that:

the rights of that party were prejudiced by one of the grounds specified in paragraph one; or
a valid agreement to arbitrate was not made; or
the agreement to arbitrate had not been complied with; or
the arbitrated claim was barred by limitation."

(Civ. Prac. Law & Rules, § 7511(b)(2).)

"The court shall modify an arbitration award if

there was a miscalculation of figures or a mistake in the description of any person, thing or property referred to in the award; or
the arbitrators have awarded upon a matter not submitted to them and the award may be corrected without affecting the merits of the decision upon the issues submitted; or
the award is imperfect in a matter of form, not affecting the merits of the controversy."

(Civ. Prac. Law & Rules, § 7511(c).)

If none of these vacatur or modification conditions are met, the court must confirm the arbitration award. (Bernstein Family Ltd. P'ship v. Sovereign Partners, L.P., 66 A.D.3d 1, 2 [1st Dept. 2009].)

Timeline

"An application to vacate or modify an award may be made by a party within ninety days after its delivery to him." (Civ. Prac. Law & Rules, § 7511(a).)

Documents for Petition to Vacate or Modify Arbitration Award in New York

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American Transit Insurance Company v. Rn Supply Inc A/A/O Duane Lewis Nolly document preview

Affirmation

2 pages

FILED: QUEENS COUNTY CLERK 05/17/2024 04:49 PM INDEX NO. 710574/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 8 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/17/2024 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Index No. COUNTY OF QUEENS _______________________ AMERICAN TRANSIT INSURANCE COMPANY, VERIFICA…

Case Name American Transit Insurance Company v. Rn Supply Inc A/A/O Duane Lewis Nolly