United States Tenth Circuit

In an action seeking the vacation or modification of an arbitration award on the ground that the arbitrators erred in determining the proper venue for arbitrating a dispute between the parties, dismissal of plaintiff's complaint is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff had a contractual right to seek vacation or modification of an arbitration award only if the award was based in whole or in part on an incorrect or erroneous ruling of law; 2) the fact that an arbitration was held in an improper venue did not call into question the merits of the award, and thus the complaint failed to state a claim; and 3) additionally, plaintiff could not provide the court with a basis on which to conclude that venue was a purely legal determination.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/09/2007
• Published 07/10/2007

Judges

• PAUL KELLY, JR., Circuit Judge., Before KELLY, HENRY, and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Thomas William Peters (and David W. Scofield, Peters, Scofield, Price, on the brief), Salt Lake City, UT, for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Robert B. Lochhead, Parr, Waddoups, Brown, Gee & Loveless, Salt Lake City, UT, for Defendants-Appellees.