Morganti, Inc. v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

563 A.2d 1055, 20 Conn. App. 67, 1989 Conn. App. LEXIS 322
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedSeptember 19, 1989
Docket7578
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 563 A.2d 1055 (Morganti, Inc. v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morganti, Inc. v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 563 A.2d 1055, 20 Conn. App. 67, 1989 Conn. App. LEXIS 322 (Colo. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

Dupont, C. J.

In this action, Morganti, Incorporated (Morganti), applied for an order confirming an arbitration award and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIP), in a separate application, moved to vacate that same award.

On August 23,1983, the parties entered into a written agreement wherein Morganti agreed, as a general contractor, to construct and renovate the research and [69]*69development facilities owned by BIP at its facility in Ridgefield. At the conclusion of the project on August 8, 1986, Morganti filed a demand for arbitration pursuant to the arbitration clause contained in that contract, § 7.9.1, which reads: “All claims, disputes and other matters in question arising out of, or relating to, this Contract or the breach thereof . . . shall be decided by arbitration in accordance with the Construction Industry Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association then obtaining unless the parties mutually agree otherwise. This Agreement to arbitrate shall be specifically enforceable under the prevailing arbitration law. The award rendered by the arbitrators shall be final, and judgment may be entered upon it in accordance with the applicable law in any court having jurisdiction thereof.”

The claim submitted to the arbitrators requested the following: “A determination of the amount due Morganti on behalf of itself and its subcontractors on the Project, including, but not limited to: (1) the contract balance; (2) extra and additional work outside the scope of the contract; (3) delays; (4) labor escalation; (5) disruption, inefficiency and loss of productivity; (6) loss of use of money; (7) interest; and (8) arbitration fees and expenses and attorney’s fees.”

Thereafter, BIP filed a complaint in Superior Court asking for a temporary and a permanent injunction prohibiting Morganti from proceeding to arbitrate any claims on behalf of the subcontractors. Morganti filed a motion to dismiss the action, which was granted. The court, Thim, J., in its concluding paragraph, after a lengthy discussion of the applicable arbitration precedent, stated: “The contract provision at issue, ‘all claims, disputes and other matters in question arising out of, or relating to, this Contract or the breach thereof,’ is broad and all-encompassing, thus indicating the parties’ intentions to submit the issue of arbitra[70]*70bility of the dispute to the arbitrators. Accordingly, the defendant’s motion to dismiss the injunction action must be granted.”

BIP appealed that decision to this court, where Judge Thim’s decision was upheld on a technical basis because of BIP’s failure to file its brief in opposition to Morganti’s motion to dismiss in a timely fashion. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Morganti, Inc., 13 Conn. App. 813, 814, 537 A.2d 171 (1988).

The parties proceeded to arbitration and both parties argued and briefed the issue of whether the subcontractor claims were arbitrable. The arbitrators, in their decision dated July 1,1987, stated: “The arbitrators on this matter, having heard the evidence and arguments of the parties, and having considered their briefs, determine that it was agreed in the construction contract between the parties that all claims of the subcontractor and the sub-subcontractors for breach of contract as well as for extra work are arbitrable in this proceeding.”

After more than forty days of testimony, the arbitrators on April 27,1988, filed their arbitration award as follows: “On the Claimant’s claim, the arbitrators find in favor of the Claimant in the total amount of $1,615,527 and further find the entitlement to said sum to be” $812,250 for Morganti and the balance divided among five named subcontractors.

Thereafter, the parties filed the applications in the trial court for confirmation and vacation of the award that are the subject of this appeal. In the first count of its application to vacate, BIP claimed that the arbitrators had violated the parties’ agreement to arbitrate by considering the subcontractor claims, which it claimed is contrary to Connecticut law. In the second count, BIP claimed that in making the award the arbitrators had exceeded their authority in violation [71]*71of § 52-418 (a) (4) of the General Statutes. In its reply brief in that court, BIP characterized the first count of its application to be an allegation that “the panel procedurally violated the parties’ agreement by finding that the subcontractors’ claims were arbitrable . . . .” (Emphasis added.)

The trial court, Gormley, J., in a carefully constructed and well reasoned memorandum of decision, found that the decision by Judge Thim finally and conclusively left the determination of arbitrability to the arbitrators, that the doctrine of res judicata precluded further court review of that determination and that the arbitrators’ determination of arbitrability did not contravene General Statutes § 52-418 or procedurally violate the parties’ contract. The trial court thereafter granted Morganti’s request to confirm the arbitrators’ award and denied BIP’s request to vacate the award. BIP subsequently filed the present appeal claiming error in the trial court’s findings and conclusions of law. We find no error.

BIP first claims that the trial court erred in determining that the decision by Judge Thim finally and conclusively left the determination of arbitrability to the arbitrators and that the doctrine of res judicata precluded further court review of that determination. BIP claims that Judge Thim’s opinion decided only that the initial determination as to the arbitrability of the subcontractor claims was for the arbitrators, but that the decision of the arbitrators was still ripe for review. Morganti claims that Judge Thim’s opinion finally and conclusively left the determination of arbitrability to the arbitrators and that that decision, by the doctrine of res judicata, precluded further court review. We agree with Morganti’s view.

“Issue preclusion or collateral estoppel can be distinguished from claim preclusion or res judicata. Issue [72]*72preclusion is the doctrine that bars the ‘relitigation’ of an issue of ultimate fact by the same parties upon a different cause of action. State v. Aillon, 189 Conn. 416, 424, 456 A.2d 279, cert. denied, 464 U.S. 837, 104 S. Ct. 124, 78 L. Ed. 2d 122 (1983). By contrast, ‘under “the doctrine of res judicata, or claim preclusion, a former judgment on a claim, if rendered on the merits, is an absolute bar to a subsequent action on the same claim. A judgment is final not only as to every matter which was offered to sustain the claim, but also as to any other admissible matter which might have been offered for that purpose.” ’ State v. Ellis, 197 Conn. 436, 462-63, 497 A.2d 974 (1985), quoting State v. Aillon, supra, 423-24. In Ellis, the court questioned the continued viability of distinguishing between claim and issue preclusion and suggested that the ultimate inquiry, as to both concepts, should be to ask whether the party had an ‘ “adequate opportunity to litigate the matter in the earlier proceeding . . . .” ’ (Emphasis added.) State v. Ellis, supra, 464-65 n.22, quoting D. Currie, ‘Res judiciata: The Neglected Defense,’ 45 U. Chi. L. Rev.

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Bluebook (online)
563 A.2d 1055, 20 Conn. App. 67, 1989 Conn. App. LEXIS 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morganti-inc-v-boehringer-ingelheim-pharmaceuticals-inc-connappct-1989.