Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Re: what should I do after winning arbitration

I am assuming that you won a binding contractual arbitration, rather than a judicial arbitration. If this is so, you can reduce the arbitration award to a judgment and then take steps to collect on the judgment. It is unlikely that you can now sue the homeowner because most arbitrations are meant to encompass the entire dispute, although it is possible that the arbitration agreement limited the issues to be decided by the arbitrator. An attorney could help you to decide if you have any further rights, could confirm the arbitration award as a judgment and help you to collect on the judgment.

Re: what should I do after winning arbitration

STEP ONE: Take the arbitration award and file it with the Superior Court. You must literally file a new lawsuit to do this. It starts with a Petition to Confirm Arbitration Award. The Petition is served on the respondent (in this case, your debtor), and he has until the hearing date to respond, if at all. Typically, there is no defense to such a Petition.

The reason why a Petition is required is because the Arbitration Award by itself is meaningless and not effective to execute judgment. You need to obtain a judgment. The Petition to Confirm is the legal procedure for doing this.

This all of course presumes that the debtor was properly served with the Demand for Arbitration and that the arbitration forum had proper jurisdiction over the debtor. Presumably, mandatory, binding arbitration was called for in the written agreement between you and the debtor?

You cannot likely turn around and sue him again. The arbitration would likely have included all claims you had against him. This can get a little complicated, but generally, you must bring all related claims in the same action or they are waived.

STEP TWO: Once you have obtained judgment, you can execute on it just like a regular judgment. You might consider having a collection attorney take over.

If you would like advice specific to your case, please feel free to contact us for a no charge consult. We are collection litigators with extensive experience in judgment enforcement and would be pleased to chat with you.

Good luck.

***No Legal Services or Attorney Client Relationship - Although this email may provide information concerning potential legal issues, it is not a substitute for legal advice from qualified counsel. You should not and are not authorized to rely on this email as a source of legal advice. Until a formal Retainer Agreement is executed, any communication between you and The Guerrini Law Firm cannot create any attorney-client relationship between you and The Guerrini Law Firm.***

Re: what should I do after winning arbitration

You do not get to sue, except to enforce the arbitration award, which is the entire amount you will be able to try to collect. Arbitration was your chosen remedy. IF you decide you need professional help to do this, feel free to contact me.

Re: what should I do after winning arbitration

I would like to point out a possible problem with this arbitration process as you describe it. You say the defendant didn't even show up. This would require the arbitrator to proceed "ex parte" (with a party missing).

It is generally considered that an arbitration cannot proceed ex parte unless either (1) the arbitration contract expreessly or impliedly authorizes this, or (2) a court has ordered the parties to arbitrate pursuant to a contractual agreement to arbitrate and a petition to compel the arbitration was brought under Code of Civil Pricedure section 1281.2.

Unless one or the other of these conditions is present, your arbitrator may not be able to make an award, and/or a court may refuse to grant you a judgment on the award if you are granted one.

Of course, if the defendant continues to hide out in his chateau and never asserts his rights, even at the award confirmation hearing, he may lose anyway, and you might luckily get a judgment. However, I think it's far too early to rejoice about having prevailed. Could be this defendant is very wily and know that you are on infirm ground.

Of course, if you had a CCP 1281.2 order to arbitrate, the es-parte proceeding is OK.