You can appeal an arbitration award only in narrow circumstances, and the path depends entirely on what kind of arbitration you agreed to. If the arbitration was non-binding, either party can usually reject the decision and demand a trial. If it was binding — which covers most employment, consumer, and commercial arbitration — you cannot get a do-over just because you disagree with the outcome. Your only route is a motion in court to vacate, modify, or correct the award on a short list of procedural grounds, and you generally have three months to file it.
Binding or Non-Binding Changes Everything
Non-binding arbitration functions more like a recommendation. Either side can reject the arbitrator’s decision within a short window and ask for a full trial in court, sometimes called a trial de novo. Court-annexed arbitration programs often work this way. If nobody objects in time, the award becomes final.
Binding arbitration is the opposite. Once the arbitrator issues an award, you cannot get a fresh hearing on the merits. A court reviewing the award will not re-weigh evidence, reconsider the arbitrator’s legal reasoning, or substitute its own conclusion. Even if the judge would have decided differently, the award stands unless the process itself broke down in a specific way.
Check your arbitration clause first. It should state whether the arbitration is binding. Most contracts today specify binding arbitration, which is why this article focuses on what to do when that is the case.
Why Binding Awards Rarely Get Overturned
The Federal Arbitration Act sets a very high bar. In Hall Street Associates v. Mattel, the Supreme Court held that the grounds listed in the FAA for vacating or modifying an award are exclusive, and parties cannot expand them by writing broader review rights into their contract. Under the FAA, a court must confirm the award unless one of the statutory grounds applies.1Justia US Supreme Court Center. Hall Street Associates, L. L. C. v. Mattel, Inc. | 552 U.S. 576 (2008)
That means “the arbitrator got the law wrong” is not, by itself, a valid challenge. Neither is “the arbitrator ignored evidence I thought was important.” Courts interpret the available grounds narrowly, and the party challenging the award carries the burden of proving one applies.
Grounds to Vacate an Award
Vacating means the court throws the award out entirely. Section 10 of the FAA lists four grounds, each aimed at a serious breakdown in the process rather than an error in reasoning.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 9 U.S.C. 10 – Same; Vacation; Grounds; Rehearing
- The award was procured by corruption, fraud, or undue means. Fabricated evidence that the arbitrator relied on is the classic example.
- The arbitrator showed evident partiality or corruption. Undisclosed financial ties to one party are where this argument most often succeeds.
- The arbitrator engaged in misconduct that prejudiced a party — refusing to postpone a hearing despite good cause, refusing to hear relevant evidence, or otherwise denying a fair chance to present the case. Minor procedural gripes do not qualify.
- The arbitrator exceeded their powers, either by deciding an issue that was never submitted or by failing to issue a final and definite award on the issues that were.
Manifest Disregard of the Law
Some federal circuits recognize a judge-made ground called manifest disregard: the arbitrator knew the governing law, knew it controlled the outcome, and deliberately refused to apply it. Getting the law wrong is not enough; the disregard has to be conscious.
Whether this ground still exists after Hall Street depends on your circuit. The Fifth Circuit and others treat it as gone. The Second, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits still apply it, though they now describe it as a subset of the statutory “exceeded their powers” ground rather than a freestanding basis.3Yale Law Journal. The Mess of Manifest Disregard If this is your best argument, where the case will be heard matters a great deal.
Public Policy
A few courts have vacated awards that would force a party to violate a clear public policy. In United Paperworkers International Union v. Misco, the Supreme Court held that the policy must be explicit, well defined, and grounded in actual laws or legal precedent — not general notions of fairness. In practice, this succeeds only when enforcing the award would directly conflict with a specific legal prohibition.
When to Modify Rather Than Vacate
Sometimes the problem is a technical error, not the decision itself. Section 11 of the FAA lets a court modify or correct an award in three situations: a material miscalculation of figures or misdescription of a person, thing, or property; a ruling on an issue that was never submitted, where that portion can be separated out; and an award that is imperfect in form but sound in substance.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 9 U.S.C. 11 – Same; Modification or Correction; Grounds; Order
The court’s job here is limited to fixing objective mistakes. It will not revisit the arbitrator’s judgment. And once the award issues, the arbitrator’s own authority over the dispute generally ends, so substantive fixes have to come from the court, not by asking the arbitrator to reconsider.
Internal Appellate Arbitration
Before running to court, check whether your arbitration agreement adopts an appellate arbitration procedure. The American Arbitration Association offers Optional Appellate Arbitration Rules that let a losing party appeal to a panel of appellate arbitrators. Unlike judicial review, this appeal looks at the merits: a party can argue that the original award rested on material and prejudicial errors of law or on clearly erroneous factual findings.5American Arbitration Association. New Optional Appellate Arbitration Rules
Both parties have to have agreed to these rules, either up front or after the dispute arose. The appellate panel can adopt the original award, replace it with a new one, or ask for more information, but it cannot send the case back to the original arbitrator. If this option is available to you, it is often a more realistic path than a court challenge because the standard of review is less deferential.
Filing a Motion in Court
To challenge a binding award, you file a motion to vacate, modify, or correct in the federal or state court in the district where the arbitration took place. You must serve notice on the other party or their attorney within three months of the date the award was filed or delivered.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 9 U.S.C. 12 – Notice of Motions to Vacate or Modify; Service; Stay of Proceedings
That three-month window is firm under the FAA. Miss it and the court will almost certainly refuse to hear you. State arbitration statutes sometimes set different deadlines — as short as 30 days, as long as 100 — so if state law governs your arbitration, verify the deadline before assuming you have 90 days.
After you file, the other side can cross-move to confirm the award. Under Section 9, the court must confirm unless a statutory ground for vacatur or modification is established.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 9 U.S. Code 9 – Award of Arbitrators; Confirmation; Jurisdiction The judge decides on written submissions and the arbitration record. No new trial, no fresh testimony, no re-examination of the underlying evidence.
If the Court Vacates the Award
Winning a motion to vacate does not mean you win the dispute. It means the award is erased and the case is unresolved again.
If the deadline in your arbitration agreement for completing the arbitration has not passed, the court can order a rehearing before arbitrators. Whether the case goes back to the original arbitrator or a new one depends on why the award was vacated. Evident partiality means a new panel; something like exceeding authority might send the properly submitted claims back to the original arbitrator. If the agreement’s time limit has expired, the parties may end up in court from scratch. Either way, vacatur restarts the clock and adds cost.
The Downside of a Weak Challenge
Filing a long-shot motion carries risk. Courts have inherent authority to sanction frivolous filings, and a motion filed in bad faith can result in an order to pay the other side’s attorney fees. Federal appellate courts can also award damages and double costs for frivolous appeals.8Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Rule 38. Frivolous Appeal – Damages and Costs
Even without sanctions, a failed challenge delays enforcement and stacks up legal bills. Attorney fees for briefing and arguing a vacatur motion can run into tens of thousands of dollars. If your only real complaint is that the arbitrator weighed the evidence badly or applied the law in a way you dislike, courts reject those arguments as a matter of course. Weigh that carefully before you file.