Press v. Maryland Cas. Co.

• Decision Date: 03 April 1974
• Citation: 324 A.2d 403,227 Pa.Super. 537
• Parties: Michael PRESS, Appellant, v. MARYLAND CASUALTY COMPANY.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 403

324 A.2d 403

227 Pa.Super. 537

Michael PRESS, Appellant, v. MARYLAND CASUALTY COMPANY.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

April 3, 1974.

Application for Allocatur Denied June 13, 1974.

Jerome M. Dubyn, Philadelphia with him Dubyn & Smith, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Joseph X. Heincer, with him Heincer, Read & Nemeth, Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before WRIGHT, President Judge, and WATKINS, JACOBS, HOFFMAN, CERCONE, and SPAETH, JJ.

SPAETH, Judge:

The issue in this case is whether it was error to confirm the order of a common law arbitration panel that the award to appellant be placed in escrow pending the outcome of an action brought by appellant against a third party. We conclude that the panel's order was permitted by the Accidental Claims Tribunal Rules of the American Arbitration Association, to which this claim was submitted pursuant to appellant's insurance policy with appellee. We therefore affirm.

Appellant sustained serious personal injuries when the automobile he was operating was involved in a collision with an automobile operated by one Tadeusz Iwasinski. Appellant brought an action against Iwasinski in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. As of the date of this opinion that action has not been tried. On deposition Iwasinski testified that he had lost control of his automobile because it had been 'struck by an unknown hit and run vehicle.' Thereupon appellant filed with the American Arbitration Association a demand seeking damages under the uninsured motorist clause of his insurance policy. After a hearing the arbitrators entered an award in favor of appellant in the amount of $10,000 (the maximum amount under the policy), on condition that the money be placed in an escrow savings account to be paid to appellant only to the extent that his recovery against Iwasinski was less that $10,000. Appellant filed a petition that this condition be vacated but that otherwise the award be confirmed. The court below dismissed the petition. ¹

Appellant concedes that the arbitration was a common law arbitration and that the arbitrators acted only after giving him a fair hearing. Nor does he argue that we should depart from the rule that in a common law arbitration the decision of the arbitrators is binding and cannot be attacked unless it can be shown by clear, precise, and indubitable evidence that a party was denied a hearing, or that there was fraud, misconduct, or other irregularity that caused the rendition of an unjust, inequitable or unconscionable award. Allstate Insurance Co v. Fioravanti, 451 Pa. 108, 299 A.2d 585 (1973); P G Metals Co. v. Hofkin, 420 Pa. 620, 218 A.2d 238 (1966); Harwitz v. Selas Corp. of America, 406 Pa. 539, 178 A.2d 617 (1962); Novakovsky v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., 219 Pa.Super. 5, 280 A.2d 669 (1971). Appellant's contention is that to require the money to be held in escrow pending the outcome of his action against Iwasinski was such an 'irregularity' as to cause the award to be 'unjust, inequitable, or unconscionable.'

This contention disconceives the type of irregularity contemplated by the rule. The term 'irregularity' does not refer to the result of an arbitration, I.e., the award, but to the process employed in reaching that result. In any event, there was...