Giorgianni

Under the Mandatory Fee Arbitration Act (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6200 et seq.; MFAA), a client may resolve attorney fee disputes by a speedy and inexpensive nonbinding arbitration process. 1 Carrie Giorgianni prevailed at arbitration, and her attorney, John Kevin Crowley, filed a request for trial de novo that was within the 30-day time limit specified in the MFAA, thereby (he thought) rejecting the arbitration award. Giorgianni petitioned to confirm the award, claiming that Crowley’s de novo request was filed in the wrong court and was therefore ineffective. The court below agreed and confirmed the arbitration award.

We conclude that the trial court erred. The award was nonbinding and would have become binding only if neither side timely rejected it. Crowley filed a timely request for trial de novo in the small claims division of the superior court (small claims court; see Code Civ. Proc., § 116.210), alleging that the amount in controversy—i.e., the amount that he claimed owing from Giorgianni—was no more than $5,000. We reject Giorgianni’s contention that the de novo request should have been filed as an unlimited jurisdiction matter of the superior court because both her…