Hassler v. Columbia Gas Transmission Corp.

464 A.2d 1354, 318 Pa. Super. 302, 1983 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3828
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 26, 1983
Docket177
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 464 A.2d 1354 (Hassler v. Columbia Gas Transmission Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hassler v. Columbia Gas Transmission Corp., 464 A.2d 1354, 318 Pa. Super. 302, 1983 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3828 (Pa. 1983).

Opinions

[304]*304SPAETH, Judge:

This is an appeal from a judgment entered on an order denying a petition to vacate an arbitration award. Appellant argues that the lower court erred in refusing to decide whether the arbitrators had exceeded their jurisdiction, and asks that we remand for a hearing on that issue. In our view, the lower court did not refuse to decide the jurisdictional issue but, rather, held that the arbitrators had not exceeded their jurisdiction. Except as to one part of the arbitrators’ award, we agree with the lower court. We therefore affirm in part and reverse in part.

Appellees, Charles and Jean Hassler, own land over which appellant, Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation, has a right-of-way. The right-of-way dates from 1900, when Columbia Gas’s predecessor, the Manufacturers Light and Heat Company, paid the Hasslers’ predecessor $189 for the right to lay, maintain, and remove a 10-inch pipe line across the land. R.R. at 8a. The relevant portion of the 1900 agreement provides that Manufacturers Light will

pay any damages which may arise to crops or fences from the maintaining, operating, or removal of said lines; said damages, if not mutually agreed upon, to be ascertained and determined by three disinterested persons, ... and the award of such three persons, or any two of them, shall be final and conclusive.

Id.

On March 7, 1978, the Hasslers filed an amended complaint in equity seeking, among other things, damages from Columbia Gas for “excavation of farm land, destruction of fences and crops, stampeding of cattle and spraying of ecologically harmful defoliants ____” Complaint, para. 5, R.R. at 6a. The complaint alleged that the excavation took place in 1969 (para. 7), and that the stampeding of cattle, destruction of crops, and spraying of ecologically harmful defoliants took place in 1977 (para. 6). Id. (There was no allegation of when the destruction of fences took place.)

In its answer, Columbia Gas alleged, by way of new matter, that the Hasslers’ “cause of action for all acts of [305]*305commission or omissi[o]n by defendant, except for herbicidal spraying, occurred in the year 1968,” and was therefore barred by the statute of limitations and by laches, New Matter, paras. 21-22, R.R. at 15a, and that the “cause of action for spraying in the year 1977 and for other damages” was barred by the provision in the right-of-way agreement providing that damages not agreed upon must be determined by arbitration, New Matter, paras. 23-24, id. at 15a-16a.

By order dated November 28, 1978, the lower court “referred [the matter] to the arbitration set up by the parties themselves.” R.R. at 18a. On August 22, 1979, after hearing testimony and viewing the property, the majority of a panel of arbitrators recommended an award in favor of the Hasslers of $15,765.78, broken down as follows:

(1) $ 386.00 1969 loss

(2) 250.00 Cow lost due to 1977 spraying (“Helicop[t]er stampeded cattle and cow was destroyed due to broken leg”)

(3) 1,129.78 Trees lost due to 1977 spraying

(4) 10,500.00 Cutting and removal of trees due to 1977 spraying

(5) 3,500.00 Punitive damages

$ 15,765.78

R.R. at 19a.

On Columbia Gas’s petition to vacate the award, the lower court by order dated December 26, 1979, held that the award for the 1969 loss (item 1, supra) should be vacated as barred by the statute of limitations, and also, that the award for punitive damages (item 5, supra) should be vacated, but that otherwise the petition to vacate should be denied “because the concept of excessiveness is not available to the loser here.” R.R. at 35a. By order dated May 15, 1980, the court en banc, without opinion, dismissed Columbia Gas’s exceptions and confirmed the award.

Columbia Gas’s appeal to this court was quashed because no final judgment had been entered on the docket. Final [306]*306judgment was entered on February 23, 1982, and this appeal followed.

As appellant, Columbia Gas’s only statement of question involved is as follows:

Where the parties[’] agreement creates arbitration only for damages to crops and fences, and the arbitrators award damages for a cow and trees, but not for crops and fences, may the court review the award to see if the arbitrators exceeded their jurisdiction?
Brief for Appellant at 3.

In the conclusion of its brief, appellant asks that we reverse the judgment of the court below and direct a hearing to determine the scope of matters submitted to arbitration.

Id. at 12.

We acknowledge that these statements leave us uncertain as to appellant’s position. While the lower court’s orders are somewhat cryptic, we think it sufficiently clear that the court has “determine[d] the scope of matters submitted to arbitration,” and we don’t understand what appellants think would be accomplished by our directing that a hearing be held. In these circumstances we have concluded that what appellant really is arguing is that we should reverse the lower court and vacate the arbitrators’ award on the ground that the arbitrators exceeded their jurisdiction.

It is of course true, as appellees argue, that “[i]n arbitration agreements under common law, the arbitrator is the final judge of both law and fact, and there is no authority which sanctions the vacatur of his decision for a mistake of either.” Parking Unlimited v. Monsour Medical Foundation, 299 Pa.Super. 289, 292, 445 A.2d 758, 760 (1982). See also Newspaper Guild v. Phila. Daily News, 401 Pa. 337, 346, 164 A.2d 215, 220 (1960). However, it is also true that whether a dispute is within the terms of an arbitration agreement is for the court to determine. Flightways Corp. v. Keystone Helicopter Corp., 459 Pa. 660, 663, 331 A.2d 184, 185 (1975); Borough of Ambridge Water [307]*307Authority v. Columbia, 458 Pa. 546, 328 A.2d 498 (1974); Women’s S.P.C.A. v. Savage, 440 Pa. 34, 269 A.2d 888 (1970). We must therefore determine whether a dispute about the loss of a cow and trees is within the provision of the right-of-way agreement requiring arbitration of “any damages which may arise to crops or fences.”

In making this determination, we are

governed by two basic propositions: (1) that arbitration agreements are to be strictly construed and that such agreements should not be extended by implication: Jacob v. Weisser, 207 Pa. 484, 56 A. 1065 (1904); Scholler Bros., Inc. v. Hagen Corp., 158 Pa.Superior Ct. 170, 44 A.2d 321 (1945); McDevitt v. McDevitt, 365 Pa. 18, 73 A.2d 394

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Torma, J. v. Parrot Construction Corp.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017
Imhoff v. Pep Boys
71 Pa. D. & C.4th 1 (Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas, 2005)
Cason v. Conoco Pipeline Co.
280 F. Supp. 2d 1309 (N.D. Oklahoma, 2003)
Baker v. Conoco Pipeline Co.
280 F. Supp. 2d 1285 (N.D. Oklahoma, 2003)
Lytle v. CitiFinancial Services, Inc.
810 A.2d 643 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2002)
Two Rivers Terminal L.P. v. Benatec Associates Inc.
40 Pa. D. & C.4th 497 (Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas, 1998)
Smith v. Cumberland Group, Ltd.
687 A.2d 1167 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1997)
Croushore v. Buchanan Ingersoll P.C.
32 Pa. D. & C.4th 142 (Alleghany County Court of Common Pleas, 1996)
Gettysburg Inn v. McCoy Bros.
30 Pa. D. & C.4th 521 (Adams County Court of Common Pleas, 1996)
Gray v. Leer
29 Pa. D. & C.4th 178 (Adams County Court of Common Pleas, 1995)
DiLucente Corp. v. Pennsylvania Roofing Co.
655 A.2d 1035 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)
Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Deitrich
803 F. Supp. 1032 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 1992)
Dickler v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc.
596 A.2d 860 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)
Northampton Area School District v. Skepton
588 A.2d 1020 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)
Custer v. Somerset Manor Associates
4 Pa. D. & C.4th 225 (Somerset County Court of Common Pleas, 1989)
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Futures, Inc. v. Barr
530 N.E.2d 439 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1988)
Emlenton Area Municipal Authority v. Miles
548 A.2d 623 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1988)
NCR Credit Corp. v. Dutchmaid Inc.
1 Pa. D. & C.4th 26 (Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas, 1988)
Elkins & Co. v. Suplee
538 A.2d 883 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1988)
Nationwide Insurance v. Frazier
39 Pa. D. & C.3d 254 (Mercer County Court of Common Pleas, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
464 A.2d 1354, 318 Pa. Super. 302, 1983 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3828, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hassler-v-columbia-gas-transmission-corp-pa-1983.