Accelerated Processing for Parties Who Qualify Based on Their Age or Health Condition

For cases filed on or after March 30, 2026, a party may request accelerated processing of their arbitration proceeding pursuant to Rules 12808 for customer disputes or Rule 13808 for industry disputes. The party must be at least 70 years of age or certify that they have received a medical diagnosis and prognosis and, based on that medical diagnosis and prognosis, they have a reasonable belief that accelerated processing is necessary to prevent prejudicing their interest in the arbitration. A party is not required to disclose the details of their medical diagnosis or prognosis with the certification. 

Requests can be made when initiating an arbitration pursuant to Rule 12302 or 13302 or filing an answer pursuant to Rule 12303 or 13303. Unless the party is initiating an arbitration on the DR Portal, the Form Requesting Accelerated Processing should be used to make the request. 

If the Director of Dispute Resolution Services determines that the request complies with the requirements, Rules 12808 and 13808 provide that:

• The time for a respondent to serve the signed and dated Submission Agreement and answer will be within 30 days of the respondent’s receipt of the statement of claim.
• The time for a party to respond to a third-party claim with a signed and dated Submission Agreement will be within 30 days of the party’s receipt of the third-party claim.
• The time for a party to complete the Arbitrator Ranking Forms will be no more than 10 days after the date the Director sends the arbitrator lists to the parties.
• For customer cases, unless the parties agree otherwise, within 35 days of the date the answer is due, parties must respond to Document Production Lists pursuant to Rule 12506. In addition, unless the parties agree otherwise, within 30 days from the date a discovery request other than the Document Production Lists is received, the party receiving the request must respond to the discovery request pursuant to Rule 12507(b)(1).
• For industry cases, unless the parties agree otherwise, within 30 days from the date a discovery request is received, the party receiving the request must respond to the discovery request pursuant to Rule 13507.
• The arbitration panel will endeavor to render an award within 10 months from the date the Director determines that the case is subject to accelerated processing.

FINRA encourages arbitrators to be sensitive to the accelerated processing status when scheduling hearing sessions, setting deadlines, resolving discovery disputes, and determining the reasonableness of postponements.

FINRA staff will begin the arbitrator selection process, schedule the Initial Prehearing Conference and serve the final award as quickly as possible. FINRA staff will also determine promptly whether the parties are interested in mediation.