§ 171.098.Appeal

The appeal section is a closed list, and what it leaves out is as telling as what it includes.

A judgment or decree entered under the chapter is appealable, which covers the judgment on a confirmed award under Section 171.092.

An order denying an application to compel arbitration is appealable. A party sent to litigation instead of arbitration can be heard immediately.

An order granting a stay of arbitration is appealable under the same reasoning.

An order granting an application to compel is not on the list. A party ordered to arbitrate generally arbitrates first and raises its objections later.

That asymmetry is deliberate. Orders that keep a case out of arbitration are reviewed at once; orders that send it there are not, because immediate review would defeat the speed the parties bargained for.

Three award orders are appealable: confirming or denying confirmation, modifying or correcting, and vacating an award without directing a rehearing.

The rehearing qualifier is the fine print. An order vacating an award and sending the case back to arbitration is not appealable under this section, because the arbitration is not over.

The appeal goes to the applicable court of appeals, in the manner and to the same extent as an appeal from an order or judgment in a civil action.

Ordinary appellate rules therefore apply — the same deadlines, the same record, the same briefing as any civil appeal.