Petition
(Confirm Arbitration Award) (TX)

Summary

This template is an original petition for use in a Texas state court to confirm a contractual arbitration award under the Texas Arbitration Act (TAA). This template contains practical guidance, drafting notes, and alternate and optional clauses. Timing considerations. The TAA sets no specific deadline by which a party must move or petition to confirm an arbitration award. Note, however, that a petition to modify or correct an award must be made not later than the 90th day after the date of delivery of a copy of the award to the applicant. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.091(b). Thus, if you are seeking to modify or correct the award, rather than merely confirm the award as entered, you should file your application within 90 days after your client receives a copy of the award. If you are seeking to confirm the award as entered (i.e., without correction or modification), you may wish to consider waiting to do so until after the 90-day period for moving to vacate, modify, or correct the award has expired. After that period has expired, the opposing party arguably would be precluded from seeking to vacate the award under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.088 or to modify or correct the award under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.091 because of expiration of the 90-day period, and the court would be required to confirm the award as entered. See New Med. Horizons II, Ltd. v. Jacobson, 317 S.W.3d 421, 428–29 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2010, no pet.) (when one party filed petition to confirm arbitration award, other party was precluded from seeking to vacate award because party had failed to challenge award within 90 days after receiving copy of award). Nevertheless, you are not required to wait 90 days to file the application to confirm the award, and if you file the application before the 90-day period expires, the burden is on the opposing party to raise grounds for vacating (or modifying or correcting) the award in response to your application for confirmation. See First Tex. Homes, Inc. v. Provost, No. 10-18-00202-CV, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 2080, at *2–*4 (Tex. App.—Waco Mar. 11, 2020, no pet.); Hamm v. Millennium Income Fund, L.L.C., 178 S.W.3d 256, 263–65 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2005, pet. denied); see also Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.087 (court must confirm award "[u]nless grounds are offered for vacating, modifying, or correcting" the award). Venue and form of application. This template assumes that there is no pending court proceeding related to any issues that were arbitrated pursuant to the arbitration agreement. In that situation, an initial application under the TAA in the form of an original petition to confirm the arbitration award should be filed as follows: • If the arbitration hearing was held in Texas, you must file the petition with the clerk of the court of the county in which the hearing was held. • If no arbitration hearing was held in Texas (e.g., the hearing was held in another state), but the agreement provided for the hearing to be held in a Texas county, you must file the petition with the clerk of the court in that county. • Otherwise, you must file the petition: o In the county in which an adverse party resides or has a place of business or o If no adverse party has a residence or place of business in Texas, in any county in Texas. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.096(a)–(c). If there is a pending court proceeding relating to an issue that is subject to arbitration under the agreement, the application to confirm the award should be filed in that court. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.096(d). For example, if a motion or petition under the TAA to compel arbitration under the agreement was previously filed in a particular court, you must also file the application to confirm the arbitration award in that court. Such a subsequent application is treated like a motion filed in a pending civil action. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 171.093, 171.095(a). This template may be modified for use as a subsequent motion when related litigation is pending. For discussion of general motion procedures, see Motion Practice: Making a Motion (TX). Filing and service of petition. If there were no previous court proceedings related to the arbitration (i.e., you are filing an initial application under the TAA to confirm the award), service and filing procedures are essentially the same as for any other original petition in a civil action. In all Texas counties, the petition must be filed electronically with the court clerk through the state's electronic filing system (efiletexas.gov). See Tex. R. Civ. P. 21(a), (f). For discussion of electronic filing procedures, see E-filing and E-service in State Court (TX). An initial application (i.e., original petition) to the court under the TAA must be accompanied by payment of the usual fees for filing a civil action in that court. On filing the petition, the court will docket the proceeding as a civil action pending in that court. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.082(b). Although the petition must generally be filed electronically, you may not serve it electronically. Instead, the clerk will issue process (i.e., a citation) for each adverse party named in the petition, and service of the citation and petition must be made on the opposing parties in the same manner as for a civil action in the district court. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.094; see also Tex. R. Civ. P. 21a(a) (methods of service provided in Tex. R. Civ. P. 21a(a) do not apply to service of citation); Tex. R. Civ. P. 99 et seq. (procedures for issuance and service of citation). For discussion of procedures for issuance and service of citation, see Commencing a Lawsuit: Filing the Petition and Serving Process (TX). The court must hear an initial application under the TAA in the manner and with the notice required by law or court rule for making and hearing a motion filed in a pending civil action in a district court. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.093. Thus, when filing an original petition to confirm an arbitration award, you should obtain a hearing date from the court and be sure to serve the petition and a notice of hearing on the petition no later than three days before date specified for the hearing, as is generally required for hearings on civil motions. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 21(b). Enforcing an arbitration award under the TAA. The steps for enforcing an arbitration award under the TAA are as follows: • You should file a petition or motion with the court to confirm the award. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 171.082(a), 171.085, 171.087. • If the court confirms the award (either as originally entered or as modified or corrected), it will enter judgment on the award. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.092(a). • You may then enforce the judgment in the same manner as any other judgment. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.092(a). Format and contents of petition. When filing an original petition for confirmation (i.e., when there is no pending court action related to issues within the scope of the arbitration agreement), you should format the document like an original petition in a civil action. For general discussion of the format for petitions, see Commencing a Lawsuit: Drafting the Petition (TX). Also, be sure to check local rules for any specific requirements for such a petition. The TAA contains no specific format requirements for a petition or motion to confirm an arbitration award. Generally, the petition or motion should be formatted like other documents filed in court, including a caption showing the case number, names of the parties, the name of the court, and title of the document (i.e., motion or petition to confirm the arbitration award). See generally Formatting Rules in Court Checklist (TX). As in all cases, check local rules for any specific format requirements. For additional discussion of procedures for confirming and enforcing arbitration awards in Texas, see Arbitration Awards: Confirming and Enforcing (TX) and Arbitration Awards: Confirming and Enforcing Arbitration Award Checklist (TX). For discussion of procedures for modifying, correcting, or vacating an arbitration award under the TAA, see Arbitration Awards: Modifying, Correcting, and Vacating (TX). For discussion of procedures for enforcement of arbitration awards that are subject to the Federal Arbitration Act, see Motion to Confirm and Enforce a Domestic Arbitration Award: Making and Opposing the Motion Checklist (Federal). For a full listing of key content covering fundamental civil litigation tasks throughout a Texas state court litigation lifecycle, see Civil Litigation Fundamentals Resource Kit (TX).