ROBERTA ROSS, APPELLANT,
v.
PROSPECTSPLUS!, INC., APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2016-01-06
No. 2D14-5217
. . NORTHCUTT and CRENSHAW, JJ., Concur. ■
182 So. 3d 802 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2016) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Roberta Ross appeals an order confirming an arbitration award against her. The court dismisses the appeal as premature because the order is nonfinal and nonappealable, and the issues she raises fall outside the scope of appellate review of arbitration confirmations.


Holding

The order confirming the arbitration award is a nonfinal, nonappealable order because it must be followed by a final judgment. Additionally, even if a final judgment were entered, the arbitrator's legal rulings are generally not within the scope of appellate review of arbitration confirmations.


Headnotes

[1] An order confirming an arbitration award is not a final, appealable order until a judgment is entered in conformity therewith.

[2] A party who petitions a court to confirm an arbitration award cannot appeal the order granting that confirmation.

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“Section 682.15 states that "[u]pon granting an order confirming ... an award, the court shall .enter a judgment in conformity therewith." Thus, an order confirming an arbitration award is not the final order in such a proceeding;, it must be followed by a final judgment.”

Establishes that the confirmation order is nonfinal and therefore not appealable

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Ross was an independent contractor for Prospectsplus!, Inc. under a 2005 Representative Agreement containing an arbitration clause. When the company t…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
ALTENBERND, Judge.

ALTENBERND, Judge.

Roberta Ross appeals an order, confirming an arbitration award. ■ We conclude that the order is a nonfinal, nonappealable order. In many cases we would relinquish jurisdiction for the trial court to enter a final, appealable order. But the issues that Ms. Ross wishes to raise do not appear to be issues within our scope of review even from a final order. Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal.

Roberta Ross was an independent contractor who sold products for Prospect-splus!, Inc. The ■ parties entered into a “Representative Agreement” in 2005, 'under which Ms. Ross, received certain compensation for sales. The agreement provided for the resolution of any claims or controversies between the parties by arbitration pursuant to the American Arbitration Association rules.

Prospectsplus! terminated this contract at the end of 2012, and a controversy arose concerning Ms. Ross’s right to receive continuing payments for products sold to customers who were obtained through Ms; Ross’s efforts. She filed a claim for arbitration with the American Arbitration Association alleging a breach of contract and unjust enrichment; After a two-day hearing, the arbitrator filed a short award in August 2014 denying Ms. Ross’s claims and ruling in favor of Prospectsplus!.

Oddly, Ms. Ross thereafter filed a petition in circuit court pursuant to section 682.12, Florida Statutes (2014), to confirm the award in her unsuccessful arbitration. She did not seek to vacate the unsuccessful award for any of the reasons enumerated in section 682.13. The circuit court accommodated her request and entered an “Order Confirming Arbitration Award.” Ms. Ross now seeks to appeal the order in which the circuit court provided her with the relief she requested. In her brief, Ms. Ross argues that the arbitrator erred in making certain rulings during the arbitration.

• This court issued an order for Ms. Ross to show cause why the. action should not be dismissed as an appeal from a nonfinal, nonappealable order. Having received responses, we conclude that the appeal should be dismissed.

Section 682.15 states that “[u]pon granting an order confirming ... an award, the court shall .enter a judgment in conformity therewith.” Thus, an order confirming an arbitration award is not the final order in such a proceeding;, it must be followed by a final judgment. See City of Tallahassee v. Big Bend PBA, 703 So.2d 1066, 1069 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997). No final judgment has been entered in this case.

Even if a final judgment had been entered in this case, the issues that this court can consider under its scope of review of an order confirming an arbitration award are very narrow. Ms. Ross is not aggrieved by the order confirmihg arbitration because she asked for this order; she cannot argue that the circuit court erred in ruling in her favor on this petition. Even when a party files a motion to vacate an award, the legal rulings made by the arbitrator are rarely within the purview of our review. See Eaton Vance Distribs., Inc. v. Ulrich, 692 So.2d 915, 916 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997); Applewhite v. Sheen Fin. Res., Inc., 608 So.2d 80 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992).

*804Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal. If Ms. Ross believes there is an issue this .court can review following the. entry of final judgment on the order of confirmation,' she is still free to file an appeal from that final judgment. ... •, ;

Dismissed.

. . NORTHCUTT and CRENSHAW, JJ., Concur. ■


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Singh v. U.S. Bank, 223 So. 3d 436 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017)
    …der" which grants a motion for default “does not fall within the parameters of’ Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130). Further, the trial court’s order granting default did not enter final judgment in the case. See Ross v. Prospectsplus!, Inc., 182 So. 3d 802, 803-04 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) (dismissing the appeal because it was an appeal from a nonfinal nonappealable order and final judgment had not-been entered on the case). Because the trial court’s order of default is a nonfinal, nonappealable order, Ms..…
  • Oana v. Sorin Lupu (Fla. 2d DCA 2023)
    …Luna Partnership One, LLC, to sell the partnership's assets—246 condominium units—to Axonic Properties. To the extent the order generally confirms and approves the arbitration award, it is nonfinal and nonappealable, see Ross v. Prospectplus!, Inc., 182 So. 3d 802, 803 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) ("[A]n order confirming an arbitration award is not the final order in such a proceeding; it must be followed by a final judgment."); accordingly, we lack jurisdiction to consider Oana's challenge to that portion of the order…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw