Central Montana Rail v. Bnsf Railway Company

MEMORANDUM

Central Montana Rail, Inc. (“CMR”), individually and as former assignee of the State of Montana, appeals the district court’s confirmation of an arbitration award, denial of CMR’s motion to dismiss without prejudice, and award of summary judgment in favor of BNSF Railway Company (“BNSF”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

1. The Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) provides that “a court ‘must’ confirm an arbitration award ‘unless’ it is vacated, modified, or corrected ‘as prescribed’ ” by the FAA. Hall St. Assocs., L.L.C. v. Mattel Inc., 552 U.S. 576, 582 , 128 S.Ct. 1396 , 170 L.Ed.2d 254 (2008) (quoting 9 U.S.C. § 9 ). Vacatur is available “where the arbitrators exceeded their powers, or so imperfectly executed them that a mutual, final, and definite award upon the subject matter submitted was not made.” 9 U.S.C. § 10 (a)(4). Here, the conditions for vacatur are not met, and the district court properly confirmed the award. The arbitrators did not act outside of their scope of authority, as the award was limited to answering the questions submitted for arbitration. See Mich. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Unigard Sec. Ins. Co., 44 F.3d 826 , 830 (9th…