Held v. Comfort Bus Line Inc.

• Decision Date: 11 February 1948
• Citation: 136 N.J.L. 640,57 A.2d 20
• Parties: HELD v. COMFORT BUS LINE, Inc.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

136 N.J.L. 640

57 A.2d 20

HELD

v.COMFORT BUS LINE, Inc.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Feb. 11, 1948.

Suit by Frances D. Held, administratrix ad prosequendum of Robert Held, deceased, against Comfort Bus Line, Inc., to recover for death of plaintiff's decedent, which occurred as result of defendant's bus in which decedent was riding as passenger falling into river. The cause was submitted to arbitration pursuant to agreement under N.J.S.A. 2:40-1 et seq. On motion to confirm report of arbitrators.

Award confirmed.

Before HEHER, J., at the Passaic Circuit.

Oscar R. Wilensky, of Passaic, for the motion.

John W. McGeehan, Jr., of Newark, opposed.

HEHER, Justice.

Pursuant to agreements made under R.S. 2:40-1, et seq., N.J.S.A., there were submitted to arbitration the matters in difference between the parties hereto and the parties to twenty-one other personal actions in tort for negligence instituted against the defendant corporation arising from the fall of a bus into the Passaic River while the vehicle was in operation on the Market Street bridge between the City of Passaic and the Borough of Wallington. There was a rule in each cause directing the submission of the subject matter to the arbitration of Donald G. Collester, William W. Evans and Thomas E. Duffy in accordance with the arbitration agreement, which was entered of record, and providing that the parties shall be finally concluded by the arbitration in conformity with the submission.

On February 7, 1948, reports made by the arbitrators in the several causes were submitted to me in open court for confirmation, on notice to all parties. Thereupon, the plaintiff herein moved that confirmation be deferred to afford her an opportunity to apply to the arbitrators for a reconsideration of the award made to her on the sole ground that it is inadequate. There was no objection to immediate confirmation by any other party in interest.

The motion must be denied. Examination of the statute confirms the view I entertained on the oral argument that upon the presentation of the reports for confirmation, the arbitrators lost jurisdiction of the subject matter. That tribunal thereupon became functus officio. The authority of the arbitrators was terminated by the execution and completion of the award; and, in the absence of provision therefor in the statute or in the submission itself, the court has no power, except by the consent of the parties, to recommit the matter to the arbitrators for further action. Where an award is impeached and set aside, the parties are thereby relegated to their original rights and remedies and an action will lie on the underlying demand. This rule has general acceptance, 6 C.J.S., Arbitration and Award, §§ 51, 52, 104, 112, 113.

The report or award is impeachable by the express terms of the statute if procured ‘by corruption or other undue means,’ R.S. 2:40-2, 2:40-3 N.J.S.A.; and it is conceded that the award here is not assailable upon any ground falling within that category, and that there is no valid reason for...