LD 1218, Page 73 - 121th Legislature, FIRST REGULAR Session

	5. Section 21(e) addresses concerns respecting arbitral
remedies of punitive or exemplary damages because of the
absence, under present law, of guidelines for arbitral punitive
awards and of the severe limitations on judicial review
arbitration awards. Recent data from the securities industry
provides some evidence that arbitrators do not abuse the power
to punish through excessive awards. See generally Thomas J.
Stipanowich, Punitive Damages and the Consumerization of
Arbitration, 92 Nw. L. Rev. 1 (1997); Richard Ryder, Punitive
Award Survey, 8 Sec. Arb. Commentator, Nov. 1996, at 4. Because
legitimate concerns remain, however, specific provisions have
been included in Section 21(e) that require arbitrators who
award a remedy of punitive damages to specify in the award the
basis in fact for justifying, in law for authorizing, and the
amount of the award attributable to the punitive damage remedy.
Again, it should be noted that parties can waive the
requirements set forth in Section 21(e) by agreement.

§8722.__Confirmation of award

After a party to an arbitration proceeding receives notice
of an award, the party may make a motion to the court for an
order confirming the award, at which time the court shall
issue a confirming order unless the award is modified or
corrected pursuant to section 8720 or 8724 or is vacated
pursuant to section 8723.

Uniform Comment

1. The language in Section 22 has been changed to be similar
to that in FAA Section 9 to indicate that a court has
jurisdiction at the time a party files a motion to confirm an
award unless the award has been changed under Section 20 or
vacated, modified or corrected under Section 23 or 24.
Although a losing party to an arbitration has 90 days after
the arbitrator gives notice of the award to file a motion to
vacate under Section 23(b) or to file a motion to modify or
correct under Section 24(a), a court need not wait 90 days
before taking jurisdiction if the winning party files a motion
to confirm under Section 22. Otherwise the losing party would
have this period of 90 days in which possibly to dissipate or
otherwise dispose of assets necessary to satisfy an
arbitration award. If the winning party files a motion to
confirm prior to 90 days after the arbitrator gives notice of
the award, the losing party can either (1) file a motion to
vacate or modify at that time or (2) file a motion to vacate
or modify within the 90-day statutory period.

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