Love v. Kaspar Ranch Hand Equip., LLC

Cynthia Love suffered serious injuries at a worksite controlled by Kaspar Ranch Hand Equipment, LLC, a non-subscribing employer, and sued it for negligence, gross negligence, and premises liability.¹ Kaspar moved to dismiss and compel arbitration, and the case went to arbitration under Kaspar's arbitration policy, which is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act and says the final award "will be rendered in writing and include at least a summary of all findings of fact and law necessary to support the arbitrator's decision".²

In arbitration Kaspar repeatedly moved for summary judgment on limitations, and the motions failed before two different arbitrators. Kaspar then asked the 25th District Court of Lavaca County to vacate the arbitrator's final award; more than two years later the court granted the motion.¹ The Thirteenth Court of Appeals (No. 13-24-00577-CV) affirmed vacatur under 9 U.S.C. § 10(a)(4), holding that the arbitrator exceeded her powers because her final award did not include a summary of findings of fact and law on limitations.² This is a petition for review of an order vacating an arbitration award. Love petitioned on May 22, 2026, Kaspar responded July 2, and Love replied July 17 (Docket). On October 23, 2026 the Court granted the petition and set the case for oral argument on March 2, 2027 (Docket).

Love presents three issues:¹

1. whether the arbitrator exceeded her powers by not including in her final award a summary of findings of fact and law, when the arbitration agreement did not require it and called for mandatory application of Texas law, under which interlocutory orders merge into the final judgment
2. whether, viewing the record as a whole and presuming in favor of the award, any other ground exists on which the award could be vacated
3. whether Love is entitled to reasonable costs and attorney's fees incurred fighting Kaspar's challenge to the award

Issues 1 and 2 (vacatur of the award)

Petitioner (Cynthia Love): Arbitral awards are presumed valid and subject to "extraordinarily narrow" review. The agreement did not use mandatory language requiring the arbitrator to include a summary of findings in her interlocutory rulings or to repeat them in the final award, and under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure that applied, interlocutory orders merge into the final judgment. Even when an arbitrator fails to provide a required written decision, that alone does not support vacatur under the grounds the FAA lists.¹ She adds that the court of appeals vacated the award only because the arbitrator did not include a summary on limitations in the final award, though she had included one in two earlier written orders, and that its supporting authorities are no longer good law or are distinguishable.²

Respondent (Kaspar Ranch Hand Equipment, LLC): The decision is "narrow, fact-bound, and contract-specific." Kaspar properly pleaded limitations, the final award did not address it, and Love does not dispute that findings on limitations were necessary to support the decision. The agreement required the findings in the final award, and the arbitrator's earlier orders did not supply them. The opinion relies on federal law under the FAA and on decisions of the Fifth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, and conflicts with no decision of this Court or any court of appeals.³

Issue 3 (costs and attorney's fees)

Petitioner: The Court should award Love reasonable costs and attorney's fees for Kaspar's "meritless challenges" to the award and its refusal to abide by it.⁴

Love says the petition raises two important questions: whether a party may cause a delay and then use it to prevail on a limitations defense and indefinitely challenge an unfavorable award until it obtains a desired ruling, and whether, because interlocutory orders merge into a final judgment under Texas law, an award may be vacated only because its final form omitted a summary of findings. She argues that leaving the decision in place threatens to expand the "extraordinarily narrow" judicial review of arbitral awards.¹

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