Opinion ID: 1880490
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether the arbitrator manifestly disregarded the law with regard to punitive-damages awards.

Text: The arbitrator's award provided: The Respondent H & S Homes L.L.C. shall pay to the Claimant [Christina] $500,000.00. It does not specify whether those damages are compensatory or punitive or both. In her complaint, Christina sought damages for lost moneys, loss of use of money, and mental anguish, anxiety, and emotional distress; she sought both compensatory and punitive damages. H & S Homes does not challenge the amounts awarded Christina for lost moneys, loss of use of money, mental anguish, anxiety, and emotional distress, apart from arguing that it has no liability at all based on fraud. This Court cannot determine how much of the arbitrator's award of $500,000 was for compensatory damages, including damages for mental anguish. Therefore, this Court cannot hold that the arbitrator showed a manifest disregard of the law in awarding punitive damages. Birmingham News Co. v. Horn, 901 So.2d at 67-68. When parties elect arbitration, they elect a procedure designed primarily to avoid the complex, time-consuming, and costly alternative of litigation. Arbitration is not a perfect system of justicediscovery is abbreviated, the rules of evidence are relaxed, and the arbitrator, as fact-finder, operates with almost none of the controls and safeguards present in traditional litigation. Stark v. Sandberg, Phoenix & von Gontard, supra. H & S Homes has not shown that in determining the amount of the award in this case the arbitrator manifestly disregarded the law. The award is affirmed. AFFIRMED. NABERS, C.J., and LYONS, JOHNSTONE, and WOODALL, JJ., concur.