Opinion ID: 1387535
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Binding Arbitration Award?

Text: The last argument of the School District on the existence of an arbitration agreement is that any award by the arbitrators is not final and binding. In making this argument, the School District relies upon part of our decision in State Highway Commission of Wyoming v. Brasel & Sims Construction Co., Inc., Wyo., 688 P.2d 871, 876 (1984), wherein it is stated:    The intention of the parties to submit their disputes to conclusive determination by a contractually designated agent should be made manifest by plain language.    In that case, we were confronted with the contention that Brasel & Sims Construction Co., Inc., in its contract with the state highway commission, agreed to submit any disputes to the state highway commission for final and conclusive determination. During our discussion, we noted: Our holding in Brasel & Sims Construction Co., Inc. v. State Highway Commission of Wyoming, supra, does not prevent parties from agreeing to submit disputes to one of the parties to the contract and further agreeing to be bound by that party's decision. Such provisions are fairly common in construction contracts and are enforceable in court. United States v. Moorman, 338 U.S. 457, 70 S.Ct. 288, 94 L.Ed. 256 (1950). These provisions are valid because the court, not the agency, performs the judicial function of interpreting the terms of the contract and their legal effect in accordance with the familiar requirements of good faith and absence of collusion, fraud or mistake. United States v. Moorman, supra; 3A Corbin on Contracts, § 652, pp. 121-131. We recognized the validity of self-imposed prerequisites to the initiation of a suit in Brasel & Sims Construction Co., Inc. v. State Highway Commission of Wyoming, supra, [Wyo.], 655 P.2d [265] at 268 [1982]: `   Parties to a contract can create valid conditions precedent to the right to bring an action and the claim will not accrue until the condition has been performed.' To the same effect, see United States v. Joseph A. Holpuch Company, 328 U.S. 234, 66 S.Ct. 1000, 90 L.Ed. 1192 (1946); United States v. Blair, 321 U.S. 730, 64 S.Ct. 820, 88 L.Ed. 1039, reh. denied 322 U.S. 768, 64 S.Ct. 1052, 88 L.Ed. 1594 (1944). 688 P.2d at 875. In the present case, we are not concerned with a provision wherein the parties agreed that the decision of one of the parties or its agent would be the final and conclusive resolution of a dispute between them. Instead, the parties in this case submitted their dispute for resolution by an impartial third party, the arbitration board which they mutually selected. The School District and Strube chose to submit a number of issues for determination by voluntary arbitration. Little purpose would be served by such submission if the arbitrators' decision is without any binding effect. We will not assume that the parties intended a futile act when they submitted their dispute for arbitration.