So you’ve got an arbitration award, what next? In other types of civil cases, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Rules) control service, and they have greatly reduced the role of U.S. Marshals in serving parties. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(c). But enter the Federal Arbitration Act § 9 and § 12 (FAA). When a party seeks to confirm, vacate, or modify an arbitration award, § 9 and § 12 say that a nonresident party must be “served by the marshal of any district within which the adverse party may be found in like manner as other process of the court.” Which set of requirements controls here?

Since adequate service is necessary for the court to have personal jurisdiction, the question of service has been litigated in a few district courts, but no federal appellate courts. See Logan & Kanawha Coal Co.v. Detherage Coal Sales, LLC, 789 F. Supp. 2d 716, 718 (2011) (chronicling the courts that have analyzed the issue). Some courts, like the D.C. District Court in VentureForth Holdings LLC v. Joseph, have found that service consistent with the Rules also satisfies FAA § 9 and § 12. Those courts rely on the final phrase of § 9 or § 12 that says, “in like manner as other process of the court.” They read that phrase as indicating that arbitration award confirmation or modification service should follow the same rules as other civil suits. They derisively dismiss the requirement in §§ 9 and 12 as an artifact or an anachronism.

However, some courts, like the Southern District of West Virginia in Logan & Kanawha v. Detherage Coal Sales, require service by U.S. Marshal. The first and primary argument for those courts is that the plain language of the FAA §§ 9 and 12 requires service by U.S. Marshal. When confronted with the apparent tension between the Rules and the FAA, they point to the fact that Congress has not yet repealed the marshal requirement in the FAA even if the new Rules reduce the role of U.S. Marshals. The Rules, in fact, still retain the option of using U.S. Marshals to serve other parties, so a court could order service by U.S. Marshal without violating Rule 4.

All in all, there are some district courts—but not circuit courts—talking about the potential conflict between the service requirements in the Rules and the FAA, and they do not all agree. There is no circuit law on it yet, but at least some of the district courts seem content to allow Congress’ anachronism to control current outcomes. The safest bet for any party seeking to confirm, vacate, or modify an arbitration award in federal court is to use a U.S. Marshal for service, or to get an express waiver of that requirement from the opposing party.

ArbitrationNation thanks Claire Williams, a law student at the University of Minnesota Law School, for researching and drafting this post.

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A nonexhaustive list of courts not requiring marshal service

  • VentureForth Holdings LLC v. Joseph, 80 F. Supp. 3d 147, 148 (D.D.C. 2015) (“[T]his Court holds that service of a nonresident complies with § 9 of the FAA if service is provided in accordance with Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”)
  • United Cmty. Bank v. Campbell, No. 1:10 CV 79, 2011 WL 815684, at *2 (W.D.N.C. Mar. 1, 2011) (The Court finds that the Bank properly effected service pursuant to Rule 4(e).)
  • Elevation Franchise Ventures, LLC v. Rosario, No. 1:13-CV- 719 AJT/JFA, 2013 WL 5962984, at *4 (E.D. Va. Nov. 6, 2013) (“Service of process upon an individual is governed in this court by Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(e)(1) . . . .”)
  • Hancor, Inc. v. R &R Eng’g Prod., Inc., 381 F. Supp. 2d 12, 15 (D.P.R. 2005) (relying on Reed & Martin, Inc. v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp.)
  • Litigants in the Second Circuit should be aware of Reed & Martin, Inc. v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 439 F.2d 1268, 1277 (2d Cir. 1971). In it, the Second Circuit analyzed the same phrase “in like manner” that courts point to when arguing that service in accordance with Rule 4 is sufficient. The court held that “[t]he phrase ‘in like manner as other process of the court’ found in § 9 of the Arbitration Act refers to Fed. R. Civ. P. 4 on the accomplishment of appropriate service, not to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(a). . . .” While this quote appears to support service in accordance with the Rules, there are two big caveats. First, the court was addressing an issue on which the FAA is silent (time to answer). Second, this case was decided in 1971 when Rule 4 required “[s]ervice of all process shall be made by a United States marshal . . .” so at the time there was no conflict between the Rules and the FAA and therefore the court could not have addressed the current tension between the FAA and the Rules.

 

A nonexhaustive list of courts requiring marshal service:

  • Johnson v. Drake, No. 3:16-CV- 1993-L, 2017 WL 1173275, at *6 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 30, 2017) (“[C]ourts cannot simply disregard the plain language of 9 U.S.C. § 9 . . . .”)
  • PTA-FLA, Inc. v. ZTE USA, Inc., No. 3:11-CV- 510-J- 32JRK, 2015 WL 12819186, at *6 (M.D. Fla. Aug. 5, 2015) (“[S]ervice on nonresidents must be made via marshal. . . “)
  • Logan & Kanawha Coal Co. v. Detherage Coal Sales, LLC, 789 F. Supp. 2d 716, 722 (S.D.W. Va. 2011)
  • Nu-Best Franchising, Inc. v. Motion Dynamics, Inc., No. 805 CV 507T27TGW, 2006 WL 1428319, at *3 (M.D. Fla. May 17, 2006) (“Plaintiffs were required to serve notice through the United States Marshal.”)
  • Int’l Union of Operating Engineers Local 825 Employee Benefit Funds v. Getty Contracting LLC, No. CIV. 2:14-7799 KM, 2015 WL 4461512, at *2 (D.N.J. July 20, 2015) (“If it is a nonresident of New Jersey, Getty must be served via the U.S. Marshal in its home district.”)
  • Dobco, Inc. v. Mery Gates, Inc., No. CIV. 06-0699 (HAA), 2006 WL 2056799, at *2 (D.N.J. July 21, 2006) (“Rather, Dobco had an obligation to have Mery Gates served by a marshal, as the strict language of the statute provides.”)