Seventh Circuit Rules
on FAA Section 12
--------------------------
90 days counts from,
and to, days you might
not have thought about

           Near the end of last year the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the loser in an employment arbitration had to observe the dates of these events when applying the ninety-day statute of limitations for suing to vacate an arbitration award:

            1)  When the award was sent (not when it was received), and
            2)   when notice was served on the winner (or its counsel), not when the suit to         
            vacate was filled in court.

Webster v. A. T. Kearney, Inc., __F3rd__, 2007 WL 3225637 (November 2007).

            The court held that Section 12 of the Federal Arbitration Act was unambiguous.  Hence the period was triggered when the award was "filed or delivered," not received.  In the case before the court, "delivered" was defined as "mailed" since that interpretation was supplied by the AAA, the dispute resolution forum the parties had contracted for.

  

1/30/08