Court Opinion

ID: 9526292
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:15:11.059298+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:19:21.451903
License: Public Domain

SCHUMACHER, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. When the arbitrators’ award draws its essence from the parties’ agreement, the interpretation must in some rational manner be derived from the agreement. Littfin Lumber Co. v. Fasching, 436 N.W.2d 791, 795 (Minn.App.1989) (citing Ramsey County v. American Fed’n of State, County & Mun. Employees, Local 8, 309 N.W.2d 785, 792 (Minn.1981)). Paragraph 10.13 of the investment agreement provides as follows:
If any legal action or other proceeding is brought for the enforcement of this Agreement, or because of an alleged dispute, breach, default or misrepresentation in connection with any of the provisions of this Agreement, the successful or prevailing party or parties shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys’ fees and other costs incurred in that action or proceeding, in addition to any other relief to which it or they may be entitled.
(Emphasis added.) The unambiguous language of the investment agreement entitles the successful or prevailing party in any action to costs and attorney fees. This provision is a fixture of the parties’ agreement with no relation to the nature and extent of the underlying dispute.
After deciding the merits of the dispute, the arbitrators were required by this separate provision of the investment agreement to award attorney fees to the successful or prevailing party. Instead, they chose to ignore this provision. If upheld, this disre*679gard of the parties’ rights will have a chilling effect on the use of arbitration clauses in contracts. The arbitrators’ decision to ignore these rights represents an infidelity to the essence of the investment agreement. See Ramsey County, 309 N.W.2d at 790 (citing United Steelworkers v. American Mfg. Co., 363 U.S. 564, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (I960)). I would remand this issue to the district court for determination of the appropriate amount of costs and attorney fees.