A Mistake By The Trial Court Did Not Affect The Outcome.
Client Nussbaum and attorney Liberty had a fee dispute that they arbitrated pursuant to the Mandatory Fee Arbitration Act (MFAA). The arbitration panel awarded Liberty $75K in fees and $30K in interest. After the notice of the award was mailed and more than 30 days had passed, the attorney moved to confirm the fee award. And after the fee award has been confirmed, the client appealed the order confirming the award. Liberty v. Nussbaum, A149830 (1/1 11/9/17) (Dondero, Margulies, Banke) (unpublished).
It appeared to the Court of Appeal that "the trial judge here mistakenly concluded that the parties had elected to have binding arbitration at the time of the arbitration hearing . . . " No matter. The MFAA creates a statutory scheme, and if the award is not challenged within 30 days after service by requesting a trial de novo or by moving to vacate, it becomes final. Such was the case here.
The arbitration provision also required that the parties mediate as a condition to arbitrating. Here, however, the client did not assert a right to mediate before the arbitration. The Court of Appeal analogized this failure to a waiver by delay of the right to arbitrate.
The order confirming the arbitration award was affirmed.
COMMENT: The Court of Appeal described the respondent plaintiff - attorney's failure to file an appellate brief as "plaintiff's dereliction of duty" -- especially so, because the respondent was an attorney. Lucky for respondent, the Court of Appeal sua sponte undertook the tasks of reviewing the record on the basis of defendants' brief, and the trial court's order and judgment for prejudicial error!
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