In this insurance contract case before the Rhode Island Supreme Court, the plaintiff, National Refrigeration, appealed from an entry of summary judgment in favor of the defendant after the plaintiff filed a petition to enforce an arbitration clause in the insurance contract. The lower court granted summary judgment on the grounds that the plaintiff initiated its petition for arbitration years after the two-year limitations provision expressly provided for in the contract between the two parties. On appeal, plaintiffs argued that the trial court erred in ruling that plaintiff’s petition for arbitration was time-barred and that defendant’s actions had not tolled the limitations period. The defendant argued that the contract’s two-year limitation for commencing legal action with respect to damages under the policy applied to petitions for arbitration and that, therefore, plaintiff’s petition was not timely. The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s judgment, concluding that a petition for arbitration “fits squarely within the definition of legal action.” The Supreme Court also held that the ongoing settlement negotiations between the parties did not estop the defendant from invoking the time limitation defense. Some other courts have held that the issue of whether arbitration is barred by a limitation agreement is an issue for the arbitrators to decide. See JPD, Inc. v. Chronimed Holdings, Inc., 2008 WL 3876343 (6th Cir. Aug. 22, 2008). Nat’l Refrigeration, Inc. v. Travelers Indemnity Co. of Am., No. 2007-252 (R.I. May 29, 2008).
This post written by Lynn Hawkins.