Oregon law required that the appraisal process be included in all fire insurance policies. The issue was whether ORS 743.648 violated Article I, section 17, by depriving the insured of the right to a jury trial. Although the appraisal process was permissive to the demanding party, once invoked by the demanding party the process became mandatory for the non-demanding party. One of the parties in Molodyh demanded an appraisal. The plaintiff argued that the appraiser's award could not bind him without violating Article I, section 17.
Defendants contend arbitration was commenced but that plaintiff's counsel withdrew.
Plaintiff contends arbitration never commenced because the parties could not agree on the scope of arbitrable issues and could not agree as to the scope of discovery within the arbitration. Because the appraisal process in Molodyh was permissive, Molodyh is factually distinguishable from this case. The remaining parts, standing alone, are incomplete and incapable of being executed in accordance with the legislative intent. First, no provision in the PIP statutes provides otherwise. The best evidence of the independence of these two provisions is the fact that the mandatory arbitration of disputes over the amount or denial of PIP benefits predated the requirement that such arbitration be binding on the parties.