§ 1141.20.Award Final Unless De Novo Trial Or Dismissal Requested;; De Novo Trial

An arbitration award under this chapter isn't the end of the case automatically, but it becomes final if nobody acts. Subdivision (a) gives any party 60 days after the arbitrator files the award to file a request for a trial de novo, or a request for dismissal in the form the Judicial Council prescribes. Let that window close without filing either, and the award stands as final.

Subdivision (b) is what makes the trial de novo meaningful rather than a formality: any party can elect it, and the resulting trial, by court or jury, reaches both the law and the facts fresh, as if the arbitration had never happened. The statute also protects the case's place in line: the trial de novo is calendared, where possible, to give the case the same spot on the active trial list it held before arbitration, or civil priority on the next setting calendar if that's not possible.

This is the feature that separates judicial arbitration from binding private arbitration — no party is stuck with an arbitrator's decision. § 1141.21's cost-shifting rule is the only real check on a party's freedom to demand the trial de novo, discouraging a demand made only to delay or pressure the other side rather than because the party has reason to think trial will produce a better result.