An Iowa state appellate court has reversed a trial court’s order denying confirmation of an arbitration award, holding that vacatur of the award was time-barred under the Iowa Code.

InFIA Card Services N.A. v. Helmer, No. 07-1631, 2008 WL 2902183 (Iowa Ct. App. July 30, 2008), FIA obtained an arbitration award against Helmer for unpaid credit card debt. A copy of the award was delivered to Helmer on September 19, 2006. FIA subsequently applied for confirmation of the award. In March 2007, Helmer filed an application to deny the motion to confirm, arguing that he did not have notice of the arbitration proceeding and that the award was procured by "corruption, fraud, or other illegal means."

The trial court denied FIA’s motion to confirm the award. It held that FIA had not established the existence of a valid agreement to arbitrate.

On appeal, FIA asked the Court to reverse the denial and order confirmation, arguing, among other grounds, that Helmer’s motion to vacate was untimely. The Court agreed.

Is the Court noted, the Iowa Code requires applications for vacatur to be filed either within 90 days of the delivery of a copy of the award to the applicant or, in cases of fraud and the like, within 90 days of the date when the alleged grounds for vacatur were known or should have been known. See Iowa Code § 679A.12(3).

Because Helmer essentially conceded that he received a copy of the award on September 19, 2006, his failure to apply for vacatur until March 2007 – nearly six months later – was fatal to his challenge. Accordingly, the Court reversed the denial of FIA’s application and ordered the trial court to confirm the award.