Old Saucelito Land & Dry Dock Co. v. Commercial Union Assurance Co.

Citations

• 66 Cal. 253
• 5 P. 232
• 1884 Cal. LEXIS 750

Syllabus

<p>Arbitration—J urisdiction of Courts.—A general provision that all disputes which may arise in the execution of a contract shall be decided by arbitrators, does not deprive the courts of jurisdiction; but the parties to a contract may fix on any mode they think fit to liquidate damages in their nature unliquidated, and in such case no recovery can be had in the courts until the prescribed method has been pursued, or some valid excuse exists for not pursuing it.</p> <p>Id.—Fire Insurance—Construction of Poeicy—Condition Precedent.— Where a fire insurance policy contained a stipulation “that in case of difference of opinion as to the amount of loss or damage, such difference should be submitted to the judgment of two disinterested and competent men, mutually chosen, who, in case of disagreement, shall select a third, whose award shall be conclusive and binding on the parties,” held, that the submission to arbitration is a condition precedent, and that until such submission is made, or a fair effort on the part of the insured to obtain it, no cause of action arises.</p>