Uninsured Motorist Arbitration of Injury Claims

An arbitration aware that has not been confirmed or vacated by court has the same force and effect as a written contract between the parties. The parties have 10 days after service of an award to apply to the arbitrator to correct an evident miscalculation, misidentification, or formal imperfection in the award. The arbitrator has 30 days from the date of service of the award to correct the award or to deny the application, or the application will be deemed denied. Code Civ. Proc. sections 1284 and 186.6. 

A party may petition the court to confirm, correct or vacate the award. the court may correct an arbitration award in an uninsured motorist case  if (1) there is an evident miscalculation of figures or a mistake in the description of a relevant person, property, or thing; (2) the arbitration exceeded his power and the award may be corrected without affecting the merits of the case; or (3) the award is imperfect in a matter of form that does not affect the merits. 

The only grounds for vacating an award are listed in Code Civ. Proc. section 1286.2. A court must vacate an award if it determines any of the following: (1) the uninsured motorist arbitration award was procured by corruption, fraud or other undue means; (2) ther was corruption in any of the arbitrators; (3) the rights of the party were substantially prejudiced by misconduct of a neutral arbitrator; (4) the arbitrator exceeded his powers and the award cannot be corrected without affecting the merits of the arbitration decision; (5) the rights of the party were substantially prejudiced by the refusal of the arbitrators to postpone hearing on sufficient cause being shown, or by refusal of the arbitrator to hear evidence crucial to the case, or by an arbitrating acting contrary to the statutory arbitration rules; or (6) an arbitrator making the uninsured motorist arbitration award was subjected to disqualification on the grounds specified in Code Civ. Proc. section 1281.9, but failed to timely demand to disqualify himself as required by law. 

It is important to note that the mere fact that an arbitrator reached an erroneous conclusion based on an error in law that does not appear on the face of the recordwill not invalidate the award. However, when the error appears on the facte of the award and causes substantial injustice, the award may be vacated. Campbell v. Farmers Ins. Exchange (1968, 4th Dist.) 260 Cal.App.2d 105.