Templo Calvario Spanish Assembly of God v. Gardner Construction Corp.

INTRODUCTION

Appellant Templo Calvario Spanish Assembly of God (Templo) and respondent Gardner Construction Corporation (Gardner) entered into a contract in 2008 for Gardner to construct a church. The parties had a dispute, *513 Templo petitioned for arbitration, but before the petition was ruled upon, the parties agreed to submit the matter to arbitration under the terms of an arbitration provision in the contract. Because Gardner was unlicensed, the arbitrator ruled that Gardner must disgorge the entire $160,213 Templo had paid to Gardner. Templo petitioned the superior court to confirm the arbitration award. Gardner followed with a petition to vacate the arbitration award. Based on the 1949 California Supreme Court holding in Loving & Evans v. Blick (1949) 33 Cal.2d 603 [ 204 P.2d 23 ] (Loving & Evans), the court granted Gardner’s petition to vacate the award. The superior court ruled: “[T]he . . . contract was illegal and void because Gardner Corporation was an unlicensed contractor. . . . Since the contract is illegal and void, so is the arbitration provision in the contract. Since the arbitration provision fails, the arbitrator was without authority to render a…