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In MBNA America Bank, N.A. v. Williams, No. 20060073, 2006 WL 2578914 (Utah App. Sept. 8, 2006), the a Utah appellate court upheld the confirmation of an arbitral award, despite the court’s failure to publish its findings.
Williams first argued that the lower court improperly vacated an earlier summary judgment ruling against MBNA. After filing his case in the wrong district, Williams had re-filed his summary judgment motion with the proper court, but MBNA did not learn of this filing until the response period had lapsed. Nonetheless, the lower court properly vacated the summary judgment order under Rule 60(b) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, due to unfair surprise or excusable neglect.
Finally, the Court rejected Williams’ argument that the lower court had not issued findings supporting its decision to confirm an arbitral award in favor of MBNA. Rule 52(a) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure requires that “[i]n all actions tried upon facts without a jury or with an advisory jury, the court shall find the facts specifically and state separately its conclusions of law thereon.”
However, Utah law specifically requires the court to confirm an award unless the award had otherwise been modified or corrected according to statutory procedures. Utah Code Ann. §78-31a-123. Therefore, it was not necessary for the court to provide findings when confirming the award.
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