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BACHMAN SUNNY HILL FRUIT FARMS, INC.,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
PRODUCERS AGRICULTURE INSURANCE COMPANY,
Respondent-Appellee.
   No. 21-2868
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids.
No. 1:20-cv-01117—Janet T. Neff, District Judge.
Argued: July 20, 2022
Decided and Filed: January 11, 2023
Before: KETHLEDGE, BUSH, and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges.


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OPINION
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JOHN K. BUSH, Circuit Judge. When farmers and private insurers enter a federally reinsured crop-insurance contract, they agree to common terms set by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC). One such term requires the parties to arbitrate coverage disputes. In those proceedings, the arbitrator must defer to agency interpretations of the common policy. Failure to do so results in nullification of the arbitration award.

Bachman Sunny Hill Fruit Farms lost at an arbitration with its insurer, Producers Agriculture Insurance Company. Bachman Farms blames its loss on the arbitrator allegedly engaging in impermissible policy interpretation. On that ground, the insured petitioned a federal district court to nullify the arbitration award. The petition to nullify, however, did not comply with the substance or time limits of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Those FAA requirements govern this challenge to an arbitration award in federal court, as we explain below. We therefore affirm the district court’s dismissal of Bachman Farms’s petition to nullify.