Opinion ID: 167812
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Exceeding its authority

Text: 55 The district court may review the appraisal to determine whether MPI exceeded its contractual authority. 56 A court may review an appraisal where the appraiser exceeds the scope of his or her contractual authority. See Levine, 478 A.2d at 399-400 (considering an accountant's valuation of a person's interest in a company as an appraisal where the accountant was bound by professional standards governing accountancy) (internal quotation marks omitted). A decision-maker exceeds his or her authority when he or she disregards the contractual limitations. 3 See, e.g., N.J. Tpk. Auth. v. N.J. Tpk. Supervisors Ass'n, 143 N.J. 185, 670 A.2d 1, 8-9 (1996); County Coll. of Morris Staff Ass'n v. County Coll. of Morris, 100 N.J. 383, 495 A.2d 865, 869 (1985) (The scope of an arbitrator's authority depends on the terms of the contract between the parties.); Commc'ns Workers of Am., Local 1087 v. Monmouth County Bd. of Soc. Servs., 96 N.J. 442, 476 A.2d 777, 780 (1984) ([T]he jurisdiction and authority of the arbitrator are circumscribed by and limited to the powers delegated to him.). A contract may limit authority both in the procedure that the arbitrator must apply in resolving disputes and the substantive matters that he may address. Commc'ns Workers, 476 A.2d at 780. 57 Tribune Publishing alleges that the Appraisal Agreement limited MPI's authority in three ways. First, the Appraisal Agreement required MPI to use the definition of fair market value from the Option Agreement. First Am. Compl. ¶¶ 32-35. Second, the Appraisal Agreement required MPI to comply with professional appraisal standards. Id. ¶¶ 32-35. Third, the Appraisal Agreement required MPI to alert the parties if the Option Agreement's definition of fair market value conflicts with professional appraisal standards so that the parties could seek judicial review. Id. ¶ 35. Accepting these allegations as true, Tribune Publishing has alleged that MPI exceeded its authority, and the district court may review MPI's appraisal on that ground. 58