Grill

Defendant Howell T. Hunt appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of plaintiffs Michael Grill and Heidi Kelley (collectively Grill) and from the underlying order vacating an arbitration award in his favor. He contends, among other things, that there was no basis to vacate the award and that it should have been confirmed instead. We agree and reverse.

Factual and Procedural Background

Hunt owned two adjoining unimproved lots in Fallbrook, California. He sold the first lot to John and Teresa Hayes (collectively Hayes) in May 1983. Eleven months later he sold the second lot to Grill. Each lot was certified by county authorities for construction of a three-bedroom single-family residence with a standard septic tank system. Both Hayes and Grill made down payments and monthly payments to Hunt on notes secured by respective deeds of trust.

The contracts provided that the buyers were to make no improvements to the property until it was paid for in full. Despite this provision, Grill removed trees and graded his lot in preparation for construction of a house. In May 1986, Grill received an engineering report indicating problems with some of the data on which the county…