PRESERVE ESTATES, A FLORIDA PARTNERSHIP, APPELLANT,
v.
BRYANT CONTRACTING CORP., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLEE
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The trial court erred in adding pre-award interest to an arbitration award that expressly settled all claims, as statutory grounds for vacating or modifying an award do not include the arbitrator's legal errors.
An arbitration award was issued in full settlement of all claims, including a claim for interest. The trial judge added pre-award interest to the awar…
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FARMER, Judge.
Because the arbitration award in this case expressly stated that it was “in full settlement of all claims and counterclaims submitted,” and appellee had submitted to the arbitrator a claim for interest on the contract amount also claimed, it was error for the trial judge to add pre-award interest to the amount awarded by the arbitrator. Okun v. Litwin, 652 So. 2d 387 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995); Goldberger v. Hofco Inc., 422 So. 2d 898 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982); McDaniel v. Berhalter, 405 So. 2d 1027 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981).
The fact that Argonaut Ins. Co. v. May Plumbing Co., 474 So. 2d 212 (Fla.1985), requires a court to add prejudgment interest to a determination of liquidated damages by a jury or judge does not overcome the provisions of sections 682.13 and 682.14, Florida Statutes (1993). Those statutes allow a court to vacate or modify a final arbitration award in very limited circumstances, none of which apply here; the permitted grounds do not include legal error by the arbitrator. Schnurmacher Holding Inc. v. Noriega, 542 So. 2d 1327 (Fla.1989) (arbitrator’s erroneous construction of statute was no basis to vacate award because error of law was not specific ground for vacating award); McDonald v. Hardee County School Bd., 448 So. 2d 593 (Fla. 2d DCA), rev. denied, 456 So. 2d 1181 (Fla.1984) (arbitration award may not be vacated upon mistake of fact or law, only upon statutory grounds).
Accordingly, we reverse that part of the final judgment that included interest from the date of the claim to the date of the final arbitration award. In all other respects, we affirm.
GUNTHER, C.J., and GLICKSTEIN, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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The Expressway Cos., Inc. v. Precision Design, Inc., 882 So. 2d 1016 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004)…“[a]bsent justification to vacate or modify the award, the trial court was without authority to alter the terms.”). Finally, Precision’s reliance on Argonaut is misplaced. As the Fourth District held in Preserve Estates v. Bryant Contracting Corp., 657 So. 2d 59 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), [t]he fact that Argonaut Ins. Co. v. May Plumbing Co., 474 So. 2d 212 (Fla.1985), requires a court to add prejudgment interest to a determination of liquidated damages by a jury or judge does not [*1019] overcome the provisions…
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Griffin v. Balistreri Realty, Inc., 908 So. 2d 520 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)…total award of $155,000,” which did not include prejudgment interest. In the proceedings before the court for confirmation of the award, plaintiffs sought prejudgment interest, which was denied based on Preserve Estates v. Bryant Contracting Corp., 657 So. 2d 59 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). Plaintiffs argue that the present case is distinguishable from Preserve Estates, because in that case the arbitration order stated that it was “in full and final settlement of all claims submitted” to the arbitrator. We disagree…
Authorities Cited
- Argonaut Ins. Co. v. MAY Plumbing Co., 474 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 1985)
- Schnurmacher Holding, Inc. v. Noriega, 542 So. 2d 1327 (Fla. 1989)
- McDANIEL v. Berhalter, 405 So. 2d 1027 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981)
- McDONALD v. Hardee Cnty. Sch. Bd., 448 So. 2d 593 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984)
- Goldberger v. Hofco, Inc., 422 So. 2d 898 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982)
- Mark and Barbara Okun v. Litwin Sec., Inc., 652 So. 2d 387 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)