Ruch v. York

Citations

• 233 Pa. 36
• 81 A. 891
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 463

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Building contract — Arbitration clause — Scope of arbitration clause — Nonfulfillment.</p> <p>1. The parties to a building or construction contract may legally provide therein that disputes arising out of the contract shall be submitted for decision to the architect or engineer, and that his conclusion or judgment shall be a final adjudication of the questions submitted. Such submission may include the power to determine the right of the parties to liquidated damages under the terms of the contract.</p> <p>2. The right of trial by jury, however, is not to be taken away by implication, and in order to oust the jurisdiction of the courts it must clearly appear that the subject-matter of the controversy was within the prospective submission.</p> <p>3. An agreement of submission is not to be extended by implication beyond its plain words, and a provision therein to submit questions that may arise as to the fulfillment of a contract does not give the right to pass on a claim for damages for nonfulfillment.</p> <p>4. Where a sewer contract provides that the engineer “shall in all cases determine the amount, quality, acceptability and fitness of the several amounts of work and material, and shall decide all questions which may arise as to the measurement of quantities and the fulfillment of this contract .... and shall determine all questions respecting the true construction or meaning of the plans and specifications,” and the contract contemplates extra work, whether additional sewers and removing and relaying paving on the streets in which they were laid, and the depth of excavations for house connections were “work not otherwise provided for” in the contract and to be paid for as extra work are questions for the engineer to determine.</p> <p>5. The decision of an engineer in such case may be erroneous and not in accord with the true intent of the contract, but that does not invalidate it unless it is tainted with fraud or misconduct to which the city was a