Washington Legislature Says Statute of Limitations Applies to Arbitration Proceedings

An interesting arbitration-related development has come out of the Washington Legislature. In an apparent response to a 2010 Washington Supreme Court ruling, lawmakers have amended the state’s Uniform Arbitration Act to allow statutes of limitations to apply to arbitral proceedings. The bill was purportedly filed in response to the holding in Broom v. Morgan Stanley DW, Inc. which said a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel exceeded its authority when it dismissed arbitral claims based on expiration of the applicable statute of limitations. HB 1065, which passed the Washington House unanimously, was signed into law by the Governor on May 1^st and will become effective on July 28, 2013.