Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

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CONSTRUCTION — MODIFICATION OF AWARD — ABUSES OF DISCRETION

A court order which modified an arbitrator's award to first subcontractor to provide for judgment against second subcontractor in the
amount of the arbitrator's award was not merely a modification of form but was a modification which affected substantive rights of the parties and was thus an abuse of discretion. Lange-Finn Construction Co., Inc. V. C. R. Joyce & Sons, Inc., 375 N.Y.S.2d 458 (App. Div., 3rd Dept. 1975).


SALES — ARBITRATION CLAUSE — ABANDONMENT

The court held that an arbitration clause which provided that in the event of any dispute as to the performance of the agreement, the controversy would be submitted to arbitration was sufficiently broad to include the issue of whether the contract had been abandoned. The court stated that the clause in this case was not a narrow one and it was not a broad one in the sense that it did not cover any and all controversies. However, the clause was broad enough to encompass the dispute in question. The question of whether the contract had been abandoned related to performance of the terms of the contract. Also, the issue of whether or not the contract required a minimum purchase also fell within the arbitration clause. R. H. Macy & Co., Inc. v. National Sleep Products, Inc., 39 N.Y.2d 268, 383 N.Y.S.2d 562, 347 N.E.2d 887 (1976).