Travis Winscher v. George M. Davison and Davison Design and Development, Inc.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania adopted a magistrate judge’s Report and Recommendation and construed Travis Winscher’s First Amended Complaint as a motion to vacate or modify an arbitration award. The court denied relief, concluding that the arbitrator did not manifestly disregard the law or exceed his powers and that the asserted mistake did not warrant modification under the Federal Arbitration Act. The court also reviewed Winscher’s untimely objections de novo in the interest of justice.

Holdings

1. A pleading seeking to vacate or modify an arbitration award may be construed as a motion or application under the FAA rather than treated as an ordinary complaint.
2. Untimely objections may forfeit a party's right to de novo review, but the district court may still provide reasoned or de novo consideration of the report and objections.
3. An arbitration award may not be vacated merely because the arbitrator committed a legal or factual error; where the arbitrator was at least arguably construing or applying the parties' agreement, the award must stand absent the narrow grounds for FAA vacatur.
4. Modification under 9 U.S.C. § 11 is unavailable when the requested change would relitigate the merits rather than correct an evident material miscalculation, qualifying mistake, submission error, or nonmerits defect.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the First Amended Complaint should be construed as a motion or application to vacate or modify an arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act.
2. Whether the arbitration award should be vacated under 9 U.S.C. § 10(a)(4) because the arbitrator allegedly exceeded his powers or acted in manifest disregard of established law.
3. Whether the arbitration award should be modified under 9 U.S.C. § 11 based on an alleged mistake in the description of contracts or property.
4. What level of review the district court should apply to plaintiff's objections to the magistrate judge's report and recommendation when the objections were filed four days late.

Disposition

other