Expert: Timmy Chou - 1/13/2006

Question
I have a question concerning arbitration expiration dates.  A colleage of mine claims that arbitration awards do not expire in the state of Ohio.  The awards clearly have a date printed on them, and prior to this discovery it was assumed that the awards expire one year from that printed date.  She claims that in Ohio, the award itself simply does not expire and it is good indefinitely.

Answer
Thanks for your question.

Sorry for the delay in responding as I was traveling over the weekend.

I'm sorry I can't answer clearly on Ohio law and I am neither a lawyer, however as a rule of thumb, unless the arbitration is conducted under the direction of Ohio court systems, there are not arbitrary expiration dates for performance of the terms of the settlement.  The settlement terms are usually either agreed to by the parties or ruled on by the arbitor.  However, frequently the results of an arbitration are sent to a judge to be entered into the record as an order.  In this case there would be specific requirements which, if violated, could become the
object of additional litigation.

You will want to review the case itself carefully and also the court order, if applicable.

Your state BAR will have a section on arbitration on its website I'm sure.  Check there for contact references.

Please feel free to follow up with additional questions.

Good luck!