Swift Industries, Inc. v. Botany Industries, Inc.

325 F. Supp. 577, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14961
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 21, 1971
DocketCiv. A. No. 70-790
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 325 F. Supp. 577 (Swift Industries, Inc. v. Botany Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Swift Industries, Inc. v. Botany Industries, Inc., 325 F. Supp. 577, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14961 (W.D. Pa. 1971).

Opinion

OPINION

WEBER, District Judge.

In this case which was referred to binding arbitration by prior Order of this Court, the Arbitrator has made his award, and we face cross-motions to confirm the award and to vacate or modify the award.

The plaintiff argues that the award must be confirmed because it is the only award that will afford complete relief between the parties, that the scope of review of this Court is limited.

The defendant argues that the Arbitrator exceeded his authority under the Submission and under the Contract in question, and thus the award must be entirely vacated; or, in the alternative, it must be modified to vacate the separate and unauthorized provisions thereof.

Our review of the entire matter, the briefs and evidentiary materials filed, and the arguments of counsel lead us to the conclusion that what was submitted to the Arbitrator was essentially a request for a finding of declaratory relief on the question of liability between the two parties for payment of a disputed tax liability when and if that liability would be finally determined in a tax proceeding which is still pending.

The Court finds that the Arbitrator exceeded the authority granted him in the submission in respect to all provisions of Par. B of the award.

Par. B(l) would require Botany to make an immediate cash payment to Swift of $6,000,000 which the Arbitrator found to be the total maximum amount which might ultimately be assessed in the tax controversy in question. This is beyond the Arbitrator’s powers. No provision in the Reorganization Agreement or the Submission authorized the Arbitrator to determine the amount of the losses or liabilities incurred or suffered.

The amount of such liability is still an open question to be determined by pending proceedings before the United States [579]*579Tax Court and any appeal therefrom. No loss would be suffered until Plaintiff were required to pay such liability.

The Arbitrator apparently drew the conclusion that the amount of liability was determined from the Statutory Notice of Deficiency (commonly called a “90 day letter”). Such notice is not a deficiency, it is the government’s claim. It is not an assessment of liability; in fact no assessment of such liability can be made during the pendency of the 90 day period, and none can be made thereafter if an appeal is taken to the appropriate court until that appeal is finally determined. The 90 day letter is not a deficiency, it is the proposed deficiency which the government intends to assess after 90 days if no objection is taken.

In this case the appeal has been taken and no amount of deficiency has been finally determined. Nowhere in the Reorganization Agreement or the Submission is the Arbitrator authorized to determine the amount of Botany’s liability.

Par. B(2) of the Arbitrator’s Award appears to recognize this absence of a final determination of the amount of liability by a competent authority. The Arbitrator provided in the alternative that Botany deliver a surety bond guaranteeing the payment to Swift of “all liability as finally determined”, and all counsel fees and expenses incurred. Not only is this a recognition that the provisions of Par. B(l) of the Award rest upon no final determination, but furthermore it imposes a condition of security for such liability upon Botany that was not contained in the Reorganization Agreement which the Arbitrator was construing. The Reorganization Agreement called for payment by Botany to Swift in cash of the liability as determined.

It appears that in making an award in a definite sum and then alternatively allowing Botany to guarantee payment of any sum which might ultimately be determined to be due by a surety bond, the Arbitrator was attempting to fashion some form of equitable relief to fit the factual situation. The Arbitrator in Par. B(l) imposed an award calling for an immediate cash payment to Swift for the total maximum amount of all possible liability, which we have determined that he was without authority to do, and then apparently recognizing his lack of authority to frame an award in this fashion attempted to modify this requirement of immediate cash payment by permitting the substitution of an open-end surety bond for all liability which might eventually be determined. An Arbitrator has no authority to substitute his own brand of justice. United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 597, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 [1960].

Finally, we find nothing in the Reorganization Agreement or the Submission authorizing the Arbitrator to substitute a secured liability for an ultimate liability to pay cash when the amount of that liability is determined.

We, therefore, conclude that the provisions of Par. B of the Arbitrator’s award are invalid.

We find that the determinations of Par. B of the award are separate from the provisions of Paragraphs A and C and do not affect their validity. Therefore, we may reject the invalid part and sustain the valid part. Moyer v. Van-Dye-Way Corp., 126 F.2d 339 [3rd Cir., 1942].

We determine that the finding of Par. A of the Arbitrator’s Award was within the scope of the Reorganization Agreement and the Submission and that the Arbitrator’s determination of the question of liability is final and binding.

With respect to Par. C of the award we are of the opinion that it was within the scope of the Submission. The claim for relief sought was that Botany undertake the defense of the proceedings in connection with the asserted tax deficiency and pay all costs and expenses of doing so. The Arbitrator included in his award not only the direct legal expenses of defense of the tax [580]*580claim but the legal expense of the proceeding to enforce this obligation. We believe that it was within the Arbitrator’s authority to determine what were properly expenses attributable to the tax litigation, and including the secondary expenses of the court and arbitration proceedings was a matter properly within the scope of the submission.

ON MOTION TO AMEND AND SUPPLEMENT OPINION

Swift Industries, Inc., the petitioner here, moves the Court under Fed.R. of Civ.P. 52(b) and 59(e) to Amend and Supplement the Opinion Order and Judgment entered in this case on January 21, 1971.

Fed.R. of Civ.P. 52(b) provides that a Court, upon motion of a party made within ten days after entry of judgment, may amend its judgment or make additional findings.

Fed.R. of Civ.P. 59(e) provides that a motion to alter or amend judgment be made within ten days.

Petitioner seeks to have the Court amend findings or make additional findings and in consequence thereof, amend the judgment.

Paragraph 1 of the present motion seeks to have the Court amend its Findings of Fact relative to a “Submission”. We find that there is no substantial disagreement between the parties as to the manner in which the within dispute was submitted to arbitration and that the Court, in its Opinion of January 21, 1971, used the word “submission” loosely and without regard to the distinction drawn between the provisions of Sec. 7 and Sec. 9 of the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association.

Sec.

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

Related

Patton v. J.C. Penney Insurance
665 A.2d 510 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)
Hannah Furniture Co. v. Workbench, Inc.
561 F. Supp. 1243 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1983)
Mellon v. Travelers Insurance
406 A.2d 759 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1979)
Marlborough Firefighters, Local 1714, I.A.F.F., AFL-CIO v. City of Marlborough
378 N.E.2d 437 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
325 F. Supp. 577, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14961, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swift-industries-inc-v-botany-industries-inc-pawd-1971.