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The Ohio Court of Appeals held that a party seeking confirmation of an arbitration award does not have to produce a signed arbitration agreement because the statutory procedure only requires a written agreement. A signature requirement would run afoul of the Federal Arbitration Act by placing special restrictions on arbitration agreements.
In MBNA America Bank v. Harper, No. C-060937, 2007 WL 2812906 (Ohio Ct. App. Sept. 28, 2007), MBNA filed an arbitration claim for unpaid debt on Harper’s credit card. The arbitrator awarded MBNA $6,071.65, and MBNA filed an application to confirm the award pursuant to Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2711.09.
Section 2711.14(A) of the Ohio code requires the party seeking confirmation to submit a copy of the arbitration agreement. Accordingly, as part of its application, MBNA submitted a copy of a generic credit card agreement with an arbitration clause. The trial court refused to confirm the award on the ground that MBNA had not submitted an agreement containing Harper’s signature.
On appeal, the issue before the Court was whether the generic credit card agreement satisfied the statutory requirement that the party seeking confirmation submit a copy of the arbitration agreement. The Court held that the generic agreement was satisfactory and, accordingly, that the trial court erred in denying confirmation.
In reaching this holding, the Court relied on three decisions in which other Ohio appellate courts arrived at the same conclusion. See NCO Portfolio Mgmt. Inc. v. Lewis, No. 06CA009001, 2007 WL 2229251 (Ohio Ct. App. Aug. 6, 2007); NCO Portfolio Mgmt., Inc. v. McGill, No. 21229, 2006 WL 2041476 (Ohio Ct. App. July 21, 2006); and Warren Educ. Ass’n v. Warren City Bd. of Educ., 480 N.E.2d 456 (Ohio 1985).
Under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), an arbitration agreement must be in writing, but it does not have to be signed. See 9 U.S.C.A. § 2; see also Clar Prods., Ltd. v. Isram Motion Pictures Prod. Servs., 529 F. Supp. 381, 383 (S.D.N.Y. 1982) (noting “it is settled law in this Circuit that ‘a party may be bound by an agreement to arbitrate even in the absence of a signature,’ as long as the arbitration provision itself is in writing”).
In fact, the FAA would preempt any state law requiring a signed arbitration agreement because the signature requirement would place special restrictions on arbitration agreements, and it is well-established that the FAA requires states to place “arbitration agreements on equal footing with all other contracts[.]” Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna, 546 U.S. 440, 443 (2006).
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