Court Opinion

ID: 9833400
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 22:41:08.963415+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:44:02.370325
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
In their motion for rehearing appellees vigorously complain that this court did not, in the original opinion, discuss the testimony of certain lay witnesses, who were tenants in the damaged building at the time of the fire, and who, by the way, still occupy their quarters therein. Those witnesses testified, in effect, that the fire caused the floors to sag, and drew doors and other fixtures out of alignment. All those facts must be conceded, but the appraisers were aware of them and took them into consideration in appraising the loss.
Appellees contend that the appraisers were not aware of the precise degree of increase in the sags caused by the fire, and did not take that increase as seriously as they should have done in estimating the damages. There is no merit at all in this contention. The whole question is, Was it necessary, considering those sags and all other injuries, to replace the whole interior of the building in order to restore it to its prior condition, or could it be rSstored by repairing some parts of the interior and replacing other parts? It was the deliberate judgment of the appraisers, conceded to be fully competent, honest, fair, and impartial, that notwithstanding the sags present after the fire and all other damages, the building could be restored by the repairs and replacements agreed upon by them,-at a total cost of $3,741. This award represented the deliberate and unanimous judgment and opinion of the appraisers, who were selected by the parties on account of. their peculiar skill, experience, and judgment in those very matters, and, as it is conceded, and conclusively established, that they were fully qualified and acted in good faith in accordance with their best and deliberate judgment, their award was binding alike upon the parties who selected them and obligated themselves to abide the award.
We conclude from a review of the record that there is no evidence in the ease which does not fully sustain the presumption that the appraisers thoroughly, skillfully, accurately, honestly, and fairly appraised the damages sustained by appellees on account of the fire in question, and that the award made by them should be upheld. The books do not show a clearer case of an honest and fair award of competent appraisers, and if the award in this case can be set aside upon the showing made by appellees, then arbitration, which is and ought to be favored by the law, may be no longer resorted to as a means of averting troublesome and useless litigation.
Both parties agree and urge that the case is one for rendition rather than remand, conceding that it is fully developed and cannot he strengthened or clarified upon another trial. We concur in this appraisal of the record, and, in view of this attitude of all parties, it is ordered that the judgment appealed from be reformed so as to decree recovery in favor of appellees against appellants for the sum of $3,741, without interest, and, as so reformed, the judgment will be affirmed at the cost of appellees in all courts.