Swissmex-Rapid S.A. de C.V. v. SP Systems, LLC

Defendant and appellant SP Systems, LLC (SP), appeals a judgment confirming an arbitration award in favor of plaintiff and respondent Swissmex-Rapid S.A. de C.V. (Swissmex), a Mexican corporation.

SP contends the trial court erred in entering judgment on the award because title 9 United States Code section 9 (section 9), part of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) ( 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.), preempts state law with respect to confirmation of arbitration awards, section 9 does not permit judicial confirmation of an arbitration award without the written agreement of the parties that the award could be judicially confirmed, and here, the parties had no prior agreement regarding judicial confirmation.

We conclude section 9 is procedural, not substantive, and therefore does not apply in state court proceedings.

Further, even assuming section 9 does apply to state court proceedings so as to require the parties’ prior consent to judicial confirmation of an arbitration award, the parties herein consented to judicial confirmation of any arbitration award. Specifically, their arbitration agreement provided for arbitration of disputes before the American Arbitration Association (AAA).…