Hoso Foods, Inc. v. Columbus Club, Inc.

Defendant and appellant Columbus Club, Inc., entered into an agreement to lease an assembly hall to plaintiff and respondent Hoso Foods, Inc. (Hoso). When Hoso learned that city ordinances precluded it from *884 using the hall for catered events as it had intended, it filed a complaint against appellant alleging claims including breach of contract and fraud. According to Hoso, appellant knew about the restrictive ordinances, did not disclose them to Hoso and made affirmative representations that contradicted the ordinances. The parties agreed to arbitrate their claims and the arbitrator found in favor of Hoso, awarding it over $1.2 million. The trial court confirmed the award, rejecting appellant’s arguments that the arbitrator exceeded his authority in making the award and conducting the arbitration.

We reverse. The award must be vacated pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1286.2, subdivision (a)(4), because the arbitrator exceeded his powers by limiting appellant’s representation at the arbitration to an individual who had been sued personally, was not appellant’s choice of representative, was not involved in significant aspects of the transaction and was…

I dissent.

The majority concludes that the arbitrator exceeded his authority by precluding appellant from having an independent representative present during the arbitration hearing as the basis for reversing the trial court’s order confirming the arbitration and the order denying the request to vacate that award. I disagree with the majority both in the inferences drawn from the limited record and in their determination that those inferences are sufficient to support their conclusion.

As the majority correctly notes, ordinarily errors of fact or law made by an arbitrator are not reviewable and a court may not vacate an award that it disagrees with or believes is erroneous. (Gueyffier v. Ann Summers, Ltd. (2008) 43 Cal.4th 1179, 1184 [ 77 Cal.Rptr.3d 613 , 184 P.3d 739 ].) While they conclude that here the arbitrator exceeded his authority, in my view the exclusion of all representatives of appellant, other than Daniel Rodela, from the arbitration hearing is at most an error of law which does not rise to the level of an act in excess of the power of the arbitrator, and is more likely not an error at all.

There is no dispute that at the time of the arbitration hearing, Rodela…