Copenbarger

INTRODUCTION

Paul Copenbarger appeals from a judgment confirming an arbitration award in favor of his former business partner, Kent McNaughton. Copenbarger and McNaughton formed a limited liability company to develop a parcel of land in Hawaii. They fell out over whether McNaughton had to buy Copenbarger out and wound up suing each other in Orange County Superior Court. The trial court ordered the case to arbitration, over Copenbarger‟s objection that McNaughton had waived the right to arbitrate. Copenbarger appeals from the order granting the petition to compel arbitration. The subsequent arbitration award was a mixed bag, with Copenbarger prevailing on some of the claims and McNaughton on others. The trial court denied Copenbarger‟s motion to vacate the award, and granted McNaughton‟s petition to confirm it. Copenbarger appeals from one of the arbitrators‟ rulings, which gave both him and McNaughton control over the project, as they had had in their prior business dealings. Copenbarger asserts that the arbitrators exceeded their powers when they rewrote the company‟s operating agreement to restore joint control. The rest of the award, as he recognizes, is not subject to…