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Under Ohio law, courts are required to hold a hearing before confirming an arbitration award, a state court in Ohio held.
In MBNA America Bank, N.A v. Anthony, No. 05AP090059, 2006 WL 1063752 (Ohio Ct. App. April 18, 2006), MBNA petitioned the Court to confirm an arbitration award issued in MBNA’s favor. The trial court confirmed the award prior to holding a confirmation hearing.
Anthony argued that the award should not be confirmed because the trial court confirmed the award before she had an opportunity to file an answer and before holding a hearing.
The Court first noted that motions to confirm or vacate an arbitration award are special statutory proceedings; therefore, the Civil Rules do not apply “to the extent that they would by their nature be clearly inapplicable.” Ohio Civ. R. 1(C)(7). Instead, the Court stated that the applicable civil rules were those governing motions, and the rules governing motions do not provide for answers in special statutory proceedings.
However, the Court still held that the trial court erred in confirming the arbitration award because the trial court had specifically stated that it would hold a hearing before confirming the award. Additionally, Ohio law provides that a hearing is required before an arbitration award is confirmed. Ohio Rev. Code § 2711.09. The trial court failed to hold the additional hearing, and confirmed the award without further argument. Therefore, the appellate court remanded to confirmation proceedings to the trial court for a hearing.
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