Bay Area Drilling v. RGW Construction CA1/5

Filed 12/15/20 Bay Area Drilling v. RGW Construction CA1/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

BAY AREA DRILLING, INC., A159417 Plaintiff and Appellant, v. (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. RGW CONSTRUCTION Inc. et al, RG18930151 ) Defendant and Respondent.

After a dispute arose in the course of a highway reconstruction project, RGW Construction obtained an arbitration award against its subcontractor, Bay Area Drilling, and filed a petition to confirm the award in the trial court. Bay Area Drilling appeals from the court’s decision denying its petition to vacate the arbitration award and granting RGW Construction’s petition. Because Bay Area Drilling’s response to the petition to confirm the arbitration award was untimely, we affirm. BACKGROUND RGW Construction entered into a contract with Caltrans to reconstruct a stretch of Highway 880 in Oakland. RGW Construction then entered into subcontracts with Bay Area Drilling to perform work for the project. Subsequently, RGW Construction cancelled the subcontract based on its determination that Bay Area Drilling had breached the contract.

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To recover its damages from the breach, RGW Construction initiated arbitration against Bay Area Drilling and ultimately obtained a final arbitration award in its favor. On November 6, 2019, RGW Construction filed a petition to confirm the arbitration award in the trial court. On November 21, 2019, Bay Area Drilling filed an opposition to the petition as well as a petition to vacate the arbitration award under Code of Civil Procedure 1282.6. The trial court granted RGW Construction’s petition to confirm the award, and denied Bay Area Drilling’s petition for vacatur. DISCUSSION RGW Construction asserts that the trial court’s judgment should be affirmed because Bay Area Drilling’s petition to vacate was untimely. By failing entirely to address this question in its briefing on appeal, Bay Area Drilling has forfeited the issue. (See, e.g., Recorder v. Comm’n on Judicial Performance (1999) 72 Cal.App.4th 258, 278 fn. 20.) We therefore affirm. Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1290.6,1 a response to a petition to confirm an arbitration award must be served and filed within 10 days after service of the petition (subject to an exception inapplicable here) (See Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. v. Bernard (2010) 182 Cal.App.4th 60, 66-67.) RGW Construction served Bay Area Drilling by overnight mail on November 6, 2019. Ten days from that date (taking into account that the last day fell on a weekend (see § 12)) would have been November 18. However, because service was by overnight delivery, section 1013, subdivision (c), extends the response deadline by two court days. As a result, Bay Area Drilling’s response was due on November 20, 2019.