How To Respond to an Arbitration Claim

The FORUM is not a party to an arbitration claim and is not affiliated with or owned by any party who files a claim with the FORUM.

Like clerks of court, FORUM staff members coordinate the dispute resolution process by answering parties’ questions, scheduling hearings, and managing the flow of information between the parties and the arbitrator reviewing the case until it has been decided. The FORUM works out of a national office, and affiliates with arbitrators locally in all 50 of the United States, and in 35 countries around the world.

A copy of the Code of Procedure can be obtained online or in writing from the FORUM at:

Online

http://www.adrforum.com/main.aspx?itemID=609&hideBar=False&navID=162&news=3

Mailing Address

National Arbitration Forum
P.O. Box 50191
Minneapolis, MN 55405-0191

Look in any document containing contract terms that is a part of your relationship or any transaction with the opposing party in arbitration.  Arbitration agreement language must be stated in writing. For more information on finding and understanding your agreement to arbitrate, see Arbitration Agreements.

If all parties agree to use another language, parties can arbitrate in their language of choice. However, the FORUM or FORUM arbitrator may order the parties to provide translations at their own cost unless the FORUM has agreed in advance to the use of another language.

English is the default language used in FORUM proceedings and documents. The Code of Procedure, Fee Schedule, and some other documents are available in Spanish.

Arbitrators are legally trained third-party experts who make decisions about the case, much like judges do in lawsuits filed in court. FORUM arbitrators are experienced attorneys or former judges. The arbitrator is neutral and does not represent you or any other party in the case. FORUM arbitrators base their decisions on the law that applies to the dispute.

Arbitrators review disputes in one of three basic ways under the Code of Procedure: (1) Rule 36 Proceedings; (2) Document Hearings; and (3) Participatory Hearings. 

1. Document Hearings (Rule 28): A document hearing is a hearing where the arbitrator reads all the documents submitted by both sides and then makes a decision. If your case goes to a document hearing, you will be given the opportunity to submit additional documents for the arbitrator to consider and to make requests (or motions) under Rule 18 of the Code of Procedure.
2. Participatory Hearings (Rules 26, 30-35): A participatory hearing is a hearing where the arbitrator reads all the documents submitted by both sides, listens to each party present their case at a hearing, and then makes a decision. If a party elects a participatory hearing they may choose their preferred type of participation, whether it be in-person, by telephone, or online. If you specifically request a participatory hearing you must pay the appropriate fees for that request.
3. Rule 36 Proceeding (Rule 36): If you do not send a response to the FORUM the arbitrator will make a decision based on the information submitted by the claimant only. In FORUM arbitration, no party prevails solely because the other party does not respond.  Instead, the Claimant must prove their case to the arbitrator.

If a party chooses to respond to an arbitration claim, they can designate the type of hearing requested in the body of the response, or simply by writing a letter explaining the type of hearing requested.

You must deliver to all other parties and the FORUM your written request for a participatory hearing, and you must pay the appropriate fee. If you are a consumer, you will not have to pay more than $250 for a participatory hearing. If you are unable to pay, under Rule 45 you may request a waiver of the fee, or under Rule 44G you may request that responsibility for the fee be shifted to the other party.

If you select a participatory hearing within fifteen days of filing your response (or simply ask for one in your response) and pay your portion of the fee (or request and are granted a fee waiver), you are guaranteed a participatory hearing. If you do not make this selection within fifteen days of filing your response, or do not include your portion of the fee (or your request for a waiver is denied), the FORUM will not grant your request for a participatory hearing. You may still file a request for a participatory hearing under Rule 18. Your request for a participatory hearing will then be decided by an arbitrator. The other party will be given a chance to object to your request. You may be asked to pay a fee for an arbitrator to hear your request, depending on when you make your request.

The FORUM endeavors to assign each participatory hearing to a reasonably convenient location for the consumer party. The National Arbitration Forum Code of Procedure designates that a participatory hearing will be scheduled at a reasonably convenient location within the federal jurisdiction district where a responding consumer resides or where a responding business has contacts with the consumer claimant.

No. Generally, each party gets to pick the way they want to appear. So you may decide to appear online, while the claimant may decide to appear by telephone. Or you may decide to appear in person and the other party may decide to appear online. Unless you file a request for a subpoena that would order the other party to appear in a certain way, and the subpoena is issued by an arbitrator, each party may decide how it will appear for a participatory hearing, see Rule 30.

Fees may be paid by check, money order, cashier's check, or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover). If a party chooses to pay a fee by check, money order, or cashier's check, they can do so by sending the payment directly to the FORUM:

National Arbitration Forum

P.O. Box 50191

Minneapolis, MN 55405-0191

The Code of Procedure allows the parties to participate in the selection of an arbitrator. Should the parties be unable to agree to an arbitrator, the FORUM will appoint an arbitrator to the case. Arbitration participants are notified by letter when an arbitrator has been appointed to their arbitration case. The name and resume of the assigned National Arbitration Forum arbitrator will be included with the notification letter.

Two rules under the Code of Procedure allow for the disqualification or removal of an appointed arbitrator:

• Rule 21 permits each party to strike one arbitrator without providing a specific reason.
• Rule 23 permits each party to seek to strike as many arbitrators as necessary for specific stated reasons as outlined in the rule.

Under both rules, the party must submit in writing that they wish to remove the appointed arbitrator. If the removal request is for specific stated reason ("for cause"), the disqualification must be justified with an explanation and submitted in writing to the FORUM. Rule 23 disqualification requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Read the claim to learn who the claimant is and what the claim is about. If you need a copy of the claim documents, contact the FORUM at info@adrforum.com or 1-800-474-2371. If you need more information about the claim or want to ask for documents related to the claim please contact the claimant (or the claimant's representative) directly using their contact information which is provided at the end of the claim form. If you do not recognize the name of the Claimant that does not necessarily mean that there has been an error. Sometimes companies sell their accounts to or merge with other companies. If you have not heard of the company listed as the claimant, read the claim to see if the claimant bought your account from or merged with another company that you are familiar with. If you do not respond, you may miss the opportunity to defend against the claim in arbitration.

The Second Notice of Arbitration is a second notification of the fact that an arbitration claim has been filed against you. The first Notice of Arbitration was sent to you by the individual or organization who filed an arbitration claim against you, along with the initial claim documents. The Second Notice of Arbitration is sent to you by the FORUM itself, because a response was not received from you after you were sent the first Notice of Arbitration from the claimant.

The Second Notice provides you with important information about your rights. If you have not already filed a response within the 30-day deadline you were given in the initial claim documents and first Notice of Arbitration, the Second Notice gives you additional time to file a response. You have 14 days from the date printed on the top of the Second Notice, not the date you receive you receive the Second Notice, to send the FORUM and the other parties your response. The additional 14 day response window ends on the date the FORUM actually receives your response, not the date you send it. If you need more time to file a response, you may request more time to respond under Rule 13B. You may send in a response at any time before a decision is issued, although if you missed the deadline the arbitrator may decide not to consider your submission because it was untimely.

Here are a few example scenarios:

1. Assume that you received claim documents on August 1, and you did not submit a response within 30 days. If you then received a Second Notice of Arbitration on October 3, with a date of October 1 printed on the top of the Second Notice, your response needs to arrive at the FORUM (with a copy to the claimant) by no later than October 15.
2. Assume that you received claim documents on August 1, and then received a Second Notice on August 10 with a date of August 7 printed on it. Because 14 days from the date of the Second Notice would be August 21, and 30 days from August 1 is August 31, your response needs to arrive at the FORUM on the later of the two dates, which would be August 31.

If you believe you did not receive the initial claim documents, which included the Notice of Arbitration, or you no longer know where they are, you may request a copy of those documents by contacting the FORUM at info@adrforum.com or 1-800-474-2371. If you need more time to file a response, you may request more time to respond under Rule 13B.

Follow Rule 13 of the Code of Procedure when responding to a claim. You may draft your own response, or use the Response Form available from the FORUM. You may seek the advice of a representative or may represent yourself. A person does not need to be a lawyer to represent a party in the arbitration proceeding. You may submit anything you would like the Arbitrator to review and consider when deciding your case, including any information or evidence you have supporting your position.

You need to do two things to properly submit a response:

Make sure the claimant and the FORUM both receive a response in writing. The response must be received by the FORUM within thirty days from the date you received the claim and First Notice of Arbitration (the date of service) or within fourteen days from the date printed on the top of the Second Notice of Arbitration (not from the date you received the Second Notice), whichever is later. 

Indicate on your response that you have delivered a copy of the response (and any other documents you submit with your response) to the claimant. You can deliver your response to the claimant using regular mail. The claimant’s address is on the claim form. If you would like to use a form that can assist you in telling the FORUM that you delivered your response to the claimant, you can use a form called "Respondent’s Proof of Service" that is available on the FORUM’s website.

You may obtain ten additional days to respond to a claim by filing with the FORUM and delivering to all other parties an extension notice. The notice, a document asking for more time must be filed and delivered before the response is due. Only one extension is available.

Here is an example extension scenario:

If you signed for a delivery that contained the claim form and Notice of Arbitration on August 15, your response must be received by the FORUM within thirty (30) days from August 15 (which is September 14), or 14 days from the date printed on the top of the Second Notice, whichever is later. If you then received a Second Notice on November 10 with a date of November 7, your response must be received by the FORUM no later than November 21 in order to be timely (because November 21 is later than September 14). If the due date falls on a weekend or on a federal holiday, the due date is the next business day. See Rule 9.

A response is not timely unless it has been received by the FORUM by the deadline noted above and it will be deficient unless you state that you sent a copy to the claimant. You do not need to wait until you receive a Second Notice of Arbitration to send your response to the FORUM and to the other parties. Send your completed response to the FORUM in one of four ways:

Regular Mailing Address

National Arbitration Forum  

P.O. Box 50191 

Minneapolis, MN 55405-0191

Fax Number

866-743-4517 

Email Address

file@adrforum.com

Overnight Delivery Address

National Arbitration Forum

6465 Wayzata Blvd.

Minneapolis, MN 55426

You may always send in a response at any time before a decision is issued, although if you missed the deadline the arbitrator may decide not to consider your submission because it was untimely.

If you sent in a response after the deadline expired (this is called a "late"
response), or you sent in a response but did not indicate that you also sent your response to the claimant (this is called a "deficient" response), you will receive a letter from the FORUM telling you that your submission was not accepted for filing and the reason why. The FORUM will still send your late documents to the arbitrator appointed to your case.

The first decision that the arbitrator makes is whether to take your late or deficient response into account when making a decision. If the Arbitrator decides that your response should not be considered because it was late or deficient, the Arbitrator will not consider anything you stated in your response and will make a decision on the case based on the rest of the information in the file. If the arbitrator decides to accept your late or deficient response, the arbitrator will order the case to be heard by a new arbitrator. Both parties will receive an order from the Arbitrator explaining that decision. They will also receive notice of the appointment of that new arbitrator and the hearing, and they will be able to submit additional documents.

You have the right to choose to have a lawyer or a non-lawyer represent you, or you can act on your own behalf. Anyone who submits a document or makes a statement on your behalf (this is sometimes referred to as making an "appearance") may be considered to be your representative, whether or not they are a lawyer.

You do not need a lawyer to bring or defend an arbitration claim. If you would like to seek out legal representation or legal advice and do not know how to find a lawyer, contact your local legal aid or state bar association, see Legal Help.

In Code of Procedure arbitration, parties who are unable to afford their portion of the arbitration fees may request a waiver. Once waived, a party is excused from paying some, or all, of the arbitration fees.

Common Claims (less than $75,000) (Rule 45)

Under the arbitration rules of the National Arbitration Forum, indigent consumer claimants and respondents can have fees waived in smaller value arbitration cases (less than $75,000). Indigency is determined in accordance with the federal poverty guidelines or the applicable law. To request a waiver of any one fee in a Common Claim arbitration, an indigent consumer claimant or respondent must do two things at the time payment is due:

1. File a written request for a waiver.
2. File an Affidavit of Poverty (found on the FORUM’s Rules and Forms webpage).

Large Claims ($75,000 or more) (Rule 44G)

In addition, consumers can have fees shifted to the business party in any Large Claim case, so long as they make their case to an arbitrator that the fee would prevent them from effectively vindicating their case in arbitration. To request that fees be shifted in a Large Claim arbitration, a consumer claimant or respondent must do one of two things in conjunction with filing their Initial Claim or filing their Response to a Large Claim:

1. File a written request that another party or parties pay all or part of the arbitration fees, or;
2. File a written request that the arbitration provision be declared unenforceable (permitting the consumer to litigate the case instead of arbitrating the case).

Certain provisions of the FORUM Fee Schedule define the fees that consumers are required to pay. A consumer who responds to an arbitration claim must pay one-half of the fee for a participatory hearing if selected by the consumer Respondent up to a maximum of $250, unless otherwise provided by agreement of the parties or by applicable law.  The consumer’s portion of the participatory hearing fee is most often much less than the $250 maximum. The business, who is the Claimant, pays the amount of the participatory hearing fee that remains unpaid after the consumer Respondent has paid the consumer’s portion of the participatory hearing fee.

These cost estimates were drawn up based on the National Arbitration Forum Fee Schedule, and do not take into account instances where the arbitration agreement between the parties addresses fees. See Arbitration Fees for more detail on cost.

If you have received an arbitration claim against you and you think you are a victim of identity theft, you should contact the claimant directly. The claimant's contact information should be provided on the claim form. If an arbitration claim has been filed against you, you should deny liability in your response. You should respond in writing in timely manner and state any reasons why you are not responsible for the claimed damages.

Resources on identity theft can be found at Credit and Identity Theft.

You can contact the claimant directly to discuss settlement or payment options. The claimant's contact information should be provided on the claim form. The FORUM cannot negotiate on behalf of either party and cannot forward settlement offers to any party.

If you have documents that show that you have already paid the claimant or reached a settlement, send those documents to the FORUM, along with a copy to the claimant, for consideration by the arbitrator. See Rule 40. With some exceptions, and unless both parties agree to dismiss a claim, the arbitrator will decide whether the claim should be dismissed based on the evidence in the case.

You should contact the claimant directly. The claimant's contact information should be provided on the claim form.

An arbitration award is a decision that was made by a neutral decision maker called an arbitrator. An award states the result of the arbitration case, typically the dollar amount that the arbitrator decided that one party owes the other party. A party who receives an award may then go to court and ask a judge to confirm the arbitration award. This is generally called a confirmation hearing. Confirmation hearings follow the rules and laws that apply to the court holding the confirmation hearing. If the award is confirmed by the court, it becomes a civil judgment that is enforceable in any of the ways other civil judgments are enforceable in your state. That might include garnishment of wages, a levy on a bank account, or other methods of recovering the amount of money that was awarded.

If you filed for bankruptcy protection and your bankruptcy case is still ongoing or you received a discharge, the arbitration will be stayed, or put on hold. To do this, one of the parties must tell the FORUM about the bankruptcy by submitting a copy of the bankruptcy petition that you filed, and any other relevant bankruptcy-related documents (such as a schedule of creditors and a notice of discharge).

If you filed for bankruptcy before the award was issued and then you received an arbitration award, you may send the FORUM a request to vacate the award, along with your bankruptcy documents. If you do this, the FORUM will send the parties a document stating that the Award has been vacated—or retracted—so it is no longer valid. When the FORUM does this, it will also put a hold (or stay) on the arbitration.

When a claim is dismissed with prejudice, the arbitrator has decided that the claimant did not prevail on the claim, and that the same claim cannot be filed again against the same respondent.

Except where the arbitration agreement between the parties specifically states that an appeal with the FORUM is available, the FORUM’s rules do not permit an arbitrator's decision to be appealed. Instead, under Rule 43, you may file a request for a reopening or reconsideration of the case. Depending on the reasons you have for making the request, in most cases the FORUM must receive your request within 45 days of the date the award or order was issued or within a "reasonable time" of that date. Unless you qualify for a fee waiver, there is a fee for requesting that the case be reopened. Please note that in most cases your request for the matter to be reopened will be decided by the same arbitrator that decided the case in the first place. If the arbitrator decides to reopen the case, the same arbitrator in most cases will also decide the case the second time. If your request to reopen is denied, you cannot make a second request. You may have other appeal rights based on federal or state laws, including the right to seek to vacate the award or oppose confirmation of the award in court. Consult a lawyer to learn more about any other rights you may have once an arbitration order or award has been issued.

The Federal Arbitration Act and various state arbitration laws permit parties who have received arbitration awards to apply to a court with jurisdiction to have the award "confirmed." When an award is confirmed, it is enforceable as a civil judgment. Contact an attorney or seek out self-help resources for unrepresented parties from the specific court where the action was filed if you are not sure how to respond to any such notice of a court proceeding.

Review Arbitration FAQs or contact the FORUM directly.