Court Affirms Arbitration Award Arising from Forged Contract
This case illustrates what a friend calls the "black cloud" theory of construction litigation -- certain projects seem cursed from the get-go and invariably plunge into dispute and disarray. Nothing seems to go right.
Nominally, this case is about whether to vacate an arbitration award rendered in favor of Sellen arising from a tenant improvement project. As is often the case, this challenge to the award failed to meet the stringent test in RCW 7.04.
The path to conflict in this case included the following mis-steps and misdeeds:
- Sellen's project manager forged the company president's signature on the construction contract.
- The same project manager was charged with felony theft for transferring costs to other Sellen projects to make it look as if this project was on budget.
- Neither Sellen nor the owner adhered to the contract's change provisions, leading the Arbitrator to find the parties had abandoned the contract.
The only interesting legal nugget in this mess is the Court's holding that, even though the PM forged the contract, Sellen had effectively ratified the contract by performance and therefore the arbitration clause in the contract was enforceable.