Couch Investments, LLC v. Peverieri

Under ORS 36.695 an arbitrator can order remedies that the arbitrator considers just and appropriate under the circumstances of the arbitration proceeding.

Landlords appealed the trial court’s judgment that confirmed an arbitration award in favor of Tenant. Landlords argued that the arbitrator exceeded his powers by ordering remedies and that the parties did not agree to submit the entire claim to arbitration. Tenant argued that arbitrators have broad authority to order remedies under ORS 36.695 and that the only way to limit an arbitrator’s power is by waiving the operation of ORS 36.695(3) or varying its effect. The Court interpreted the arbitration agreement by looking to the intent of the Landlord and the Tenant. Landlord contended that the language of the agreement was used to describe a single claim and Tenant contended that the terms of the stipulation could only be understood as submitting an entire claim to the arbitrator for resolution. The Court held that the stipulation to arbitrate was facially ambiguous and the trial court was entitled to consider extrinsic evidence to determine intent. Tenant submitted evidence from which the trial court could find that the Landlord and Tenant intended to submit the entire claim to the arbitrator and did not waive the arbitrator’s statutory authority to order remedies. Affirmed.