Ahdout

INTRODUCTION

Appellants Majid Hekmatjah, also known as Michael Braum (Braum), Hekmatjah Family Limited Partnership (Hekmatjah), and Braum Investment & Development, Inc. (BIDI) appeal from a superior court order vacating an award issued in their arbitration with plaintiff and respondent Mouris Ahdout. The arbitrators had rejected Ahdout’s contention that BIDI, which acted as the general contractor on the parties’ joint construction project, was not licensed and thus was required to disgorge all compensation Ahdout paid for its contracting services pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 7031 (section 7031).1 The superior court ultimately granted Ahdout’s petition to vacate the arbitration award under Code of Civil Procedure section 1286.2,2 on the ground that the arbitrators exceeded their powers by failing to apply and enforce the provisions of section 7031, which constituted an explicit legislative expression of public policy. On appeal, appellants do not challenge the trial court’s conclusion that the underlying arbitration award violated public policy as to the arbitrated claims that implicated section 7031. Rather, they contend that the trial court erred in vacating…