The Maine Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's award confirmation because the aggrieved party did not meet the burden of proof by failing to produce a transcript of the lower court hearing.

In NCO Portfolio Management, Inc. v. Folsom, No. Oxf-07-59, 2007 WL 4531840 (Me. Dec. 27, 2007), NCO obtained an arbitration award against Folsom. NCO then sought confirmation of the award under the Maine Arbitration Act.

In response, Folsom contested the amount of the award and argued that she had not been given notice of the arbitration hearing. Following a hearing, the lower court confirmed the arbitration award and entered judgment in favor of NCO.

On appeal, Folsom argued that the lower court erred in confirming the award because she did not receive notice of the underlying arbitration hearing and because she contested the amount of the award.

The Court noted that under the Maine Uniform Arbitration Act, personal service or service by registered mail is required no less than five days before the arbitration hearing. Following arbitration, the award is to be delivered to the parties personally or by registered means. A motion to vacate or modify the award must be brought within ninety days of delivery of the award.

Further, the burden of proof is on the party seeking to vacate, modify, or correct the award. The Court noted that Folsom did not provide a record of the hearing in the lower court. As the appellant, Folsom had the burden of providing the Court with a record sufficient to allow consideration of her arguments.

The Court concluded that given the absence of the record, the lower court made its findings based on evidence sufficient to support its decision. Because judicial review of arbitration decisions is limited, the party seeking enforcement bears the burden of demonstrating that the statutory procedural requirements have been fully satisfied.

In this case, since no record of the hearing was provided, the Court must assume that any inadequacies were resolved at the hearing and that the lower court had sufficient evidence to support its decision to confirm the award. The Court affirmed the lower court's judgment.