The Fourteenth District Court of Appeals in Houston has reversed a lower court’s decision confirming an arbitral award without rendering a final judgment. In Leslie v. Hill, No. 14-13-00600-CV (October 16, 2014), two individuals, the Hills, entered into a contract to purchase a majority interest a company from Robert Leslie in 2007. A provision in the agreement stated all disputes related to the purchase contract would be decided through binding arbitration in Louisiana. The arbitral provision also stated the prevailing party would be entitled to recover reasonable legal fees.

Eventually, a payment dispute arose between the parties. As a result, Leslie initiated arbitral proceedings pursuant to the contract. After an arbitrator issued a damages award that included prejudgment interest and attorneys’ fees in favor of Leslie, he sought to confirm the award in Harris County, Texas. Because the court was not certain “whether Texas law allowed a trial court to confirm an arbitration award containing an award of prejudgment interest and attorneys’ fees,” the Harris County court denied Leslie’s motion to confirm the arbitration award. Leslie then filed another motion to confirm which the court also “denied because it concluded Texas law did not allow recovery of attorneys’ fees that included accrued interest.”

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