The Georgia Arbitration Code provides that a "court shall confirm an award upon application of a party made within one year after its delivery to him, unless the award is vacated or modified by the court[.]” O.C.G.A. § 9-9-12. The Court of Appeals of Georgia recently clarified that the one year limitation is suspended upon an appeal of an order related to the arbitration award, namely a motion to vacate such award. Kamara v. Mark Anthony Homes et al., 2022 WL 418586, A21A1258 (Ga. Ct. App. Feb. 11, 2022).
In Kamara, the appellant received an arbitration award against defendant company but not defendant individual. Id. at *1. Appellant then petitioned to vacate the arbitration award in superior court in order to get a new arbitration award against both the company and the individual, however, that petition was denied. Id. Appellant appealed that decision and during the pendency of that appeal, Appellant filed a Motion to Extend Time to Confirm Arbitration Award or Alternatively to Confirm Arbitration Award and Stay Ruling on Confirmation of Award Pending Resolution of Plaintiff's Appeal of the Motion to Vacate. Id. The Superior Court then denied the Motion to Confirm and refused to extend the time for Appellant to confirm the award. Id.
The Court of Appeals clarified that during a pending appeal of a judgment, the trial court does not have jurisdiction to rule on a motion that deals with that judgment. Avren v. Garten, 289 Ga. 186, 190 (6), 710 S.E.2d 130 (2011) (“The supersedeas of a. . .notice of appeal deprives the trial court of the power to affect the judgment appealed, so that subsequent proceedings purporting to supplement, amend, alter or modify the judgment, whether pursuant to statutory or inherent power, are without effect.”); See also Mughni v. Beyond Mgmt. Group, Inc., 349 Ga. App. 398, 402-403 (3), 825 S.E.2d 829 (2019) (notice of appeal of order confirming arbitration award divested trial court of jurisdiction to consider motion to vacate the same arbitration award).
Despite this, the Court of Appeals stated that the Motion to Confirm was properly before the trial court upon the Court of Appeals decision on the Motion to Vacate. Id. at *2. Specifically, after remittitur, a court may act upon motions filed pending remittitur. See Marsh v. Way, 255 Ga. 284, 284 (1), 336 S.E.2d 795 (1985). Furthermore, “there is precedent in the law for treating a premature filing as ripening into effectiveness.” Woodgrain Millwork/Windsor Wood Windows v. Millender, 250 Ga. App. 204, 207 (1) (b), 551 S.E.2d 78 (2001)(prematurely filed workers’ compensation claim ripened upon expiration of statutory six-month waiting period); see also Bowman v. State, 358 Ga. App. 612, 614 (1), n. 2, 856 S.E.2d 11 (2021) (“the doctrine of ripening has been employed broadly in civil cases”).
Most importantly, the Court of Appeals found that Appellant's "appeal of the order denying his petition to vacate suspended the one-year period of limitation for filing the application to confirm the arbitration award." Id. at *2 quoting Hardin Constr. Group v. Fuller Enterprises, 233 Ga. App. 717, 720 (1), 505 S.E.2d 755 (1998) (physical precedent only) (limitation period for filing application to confirm an arbitration award suspended during appeal).
Ultimately, the one-year limitation will always apply to confirming an arbitration award, however, if you petition the superior court for something other than a confirmation of the award, for instance to vacate the arbitration award, the moment an appeal of that order is instituted the one year limitation is suspended. You therefore have two choices: (1) do what the appellant did in Kamara and file that confirmation while the appeal is pending because in the event the Court of Appeal denies your appeal of the motion to vacate the confirmation motion will be ripe, and in the alterative, if the Court of Appeals reverses the denial of the motion to vacate, you can withdraw your confirmation motion; or (2) wait until the Court of Appeals rules on the initial motion and file the confirmation motion at that point when the one-year limitation suspension runs (beware of how much time you have remaining so as to not miss this deadline).