AboutTimmy Chou Expertise I am a experienced Mediator and a partner in a management consulting firm. As a mediator I work as a third-party neutral and specialize in partnership/shareholder disputes, management/labor issues, company culture difficulties, and family-owned business problems. I can help describe why alternative dispute resolution may be a good choice for you. As an experienced management consultant I may be able to offer creative ideas to help resolve your organizational and business problems and disputes. "If you say conflict, I say opportunity".
Question QUESTION: I recently prevailed in an Arbitration hearing in Superior Court of AZ (Maricopa County) and was awarded a sum by the Arbitrator. The Arbitration Award has been filed with the court. The payment was supposed to be paid to me by the defendant by August 1st, but was not. How do I collect this award? Is the Arbitration Award the same as a judgement or do I have to take action to make it a judgement?
ANSWER: Thanks for your question.
Your instinct is right -- an arbitration award does not mean that the party is compelled to pay, and it is not the same as a judgment.
Often an arbitration award is submitted to a court for a stipulated (designated) judgment, in which case the award would be just like you had won a court case and you would have the remedies for collection available to any winner in court.
In other cases, there is no arrangement with a court and you must then start a case in court to have the arbitration entered as a judgment. Usually though, the other party can dispute the matter and so you can end up at the beginning having to try the case in court all over again.
In either case, just because you have a judgment does not mean that you will get paid. It is up to you to enforce the judgment in court by filing motions to seize assets or to garnish wages. Sometimes it can take a long time to actually compel the loser to pay, and they can always file bankruptcy and skate from the whole thing before a judgment is entered.
You must look at the terms of the arbitration award to see what its relationship to a court is, or what other rights may have been conferred on you to get paid. Then, you will have to consult an attorney to determine how to enforce the award.
Sorry my answer is not the best news.
Feel free to follow up.
Good Luck!
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QUESTION: Thanks for your answer. Here are a couple of facts about arbitration in Superior Court in AZ.
Arbitration is a mandatory program for disputes valued under $50,000. A court-appointed arbitrator reviews the case to decide a just resolution and award. Arbitration is intended to lower court costs for litigants and allow the Court to utilize judicial resources more effectively. Arbitrators have judicial authority to resolve cases without a trial. However, their final award is appealable to the Court. (In my case the defendant has 20 days from filing date to appeal...and we're at day 12!)
In addition to this, the "Arbitration Award" must be and has been filed with the Superior Court by the Arbitrator.
I don't know if this gives you any additional information that will help narrow down your answer, but I thought I'd give it a try! I've done everything myself thus far and don't really have the money to hire an attorney to collect the money. Is there a difference between hiring an attorney or a collections agency? Do they do the same thing? Is one better than the other? Is one less expensive?
Thanks again,
Alyson
Answer OK thanks, this helps some.
If there is a period of time to appeal the case, you can likely do nothing until this period passes. Once the appeal deadline passes, your ruling will be entered as a judgment and then you have to begin to compel compliance.
In some places you must have representation, but in others you may do this yourself, but you must begin to go through the process of enforcement. Again, you can seize assets or garnish wages or bank accounts. There are specific papers you must file for each type of action. For instance, if you know the person's bank and/or account number (or SS#) you can send a garnishment order to the bank and any accounts belonging to the person will be garnished for the judgment amount. A similar order can be sent to employers if you know who they are.
A related order is called a Supplemental Order to Appear, and this is issued to the person to compel them to come to court and testify about assets. They must tell you their bank account numbers and employers and a list of their assets, etc. at this hearing.
You can probably see that this process can take a long time and the person has some ability to mess with you, but it is the only way to compel compliance. If the person does not comply, the court can issue bench warrants and/or arrest warrants.
