Second District, Division 3 Remands for Reconsideration of Fee Issues.
Tenzera, Inc. v. Osterman, Case No. B211656 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Jan. 21, 2010) (unpublished) involved a hefty arbitration award of $426,047.72 in favor of homeowners and against contractor (a corporate entity) and against contractor’s principals (father and son), as well as an $181,000 fee award against the contractor (because principals were not parties to the contract with the fees clause). The arbitrator had added the contractor’s principals to the arbitration proceeding, which the trial court found to be error and vacated the entire arbitration award. Homeowners appealed.
The appellate panel found that the trial court erroneously vacated the entire award, because only the part against the contractor’s principals should have been vacated. This meant that the award against contractor stood up on appeal.
What about the fees award? The Court of Appeal determined that the trial court’s across-the-board decision to vacate did not allow consideration of contractor’s challenge to the fee award. On remand, contractor could renew his fee challenges before the trial court in the case of the partially vacated arbitration award.