Over-Preemption of State Vacatur Law: State Courts and the FAA
Journal of American Arbitration, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2004
37 Pages Posted: 21 May 2008
Abstract
This article explores the issue of whether the Federal Arbitration Act or state arbitration law applies to a motion to vacate. After examining inconsistent application of state standards to motions to vacate arbitration awards both among various states and within several states, the article finds that states do not apply properly the Supreme Court's FAA preemption jurisprudence. The article concludes that too many state courts apply the FAA in circumstances in which their own state's arbitration law should apply instead, leading to what I call over-preemption - an unnecessary expansion of the FAA into state law matters.
Keywords: arbitration, dispute resolution, preemption
JEL Classification: K10, K20
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation