Court Opinion

ID: 9737450
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:25:28.990434+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:58.985162
License: Public Domain

MESCHKE, Justice,
concurring.
While I join in Justice Levine’s opinion, I caution that this opinion should not be read too broadly. While the res judicata effect of the initial arbitration is not irrational in this case, application of res judicata in other arbitrations may go beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration.
Not every second arbitration will duplicate a first one, even for highway construction contracts. See NDCC 24-02-26.1, 24-02-27, 24-02-28, 24-02-29, 24-02-30 and 24-02-31. Particularly, see NDCC 24-02-32. It seems to me that, under many circumstances, these statutes contemplate more than one arbitration on a single highway construction contract.
This statutory plan for arbitrating disputes in highway construction contracts does not clearly preclude “splitting a cause of action,” as in civil actions. Cf. 46 Am. Jur.2d Judgments § 405 (1969). Arbitration parties should be concluded only as to those matters that were submitted to arbitration, that have been heard, and that were the subject of an arbitration award. 5 Am.Jur.2d Arbitration and Award § 147 (1962). In this case, I am satisfied that it was not irrational to rule that the second arbitration claim included matters submitted and determined in the first arbitration proceeding.