SINGLEY, J., delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case raises the question of the limitations imposed upon judicial review of an arbitrator's award under the Maryland Uniform Arbitration Act (the Act), now Maryland Code (1974), Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article § 3-223 and § 3-224. The sections respectively set out conditions upon which an arbitrator's award may be corrected or modified and the grounds upon which it may be vacated. Because the issues are primarily procedural, we need summarize only the relevant facts.
On 17 May 1971, Nick-George Limited Partnership (Nick-George) entered into a contract with Ames-Ennis, Inc. (Ames-Ennis) under the terms of which Ames-Ennis agreed to construct a 184-unit apartment project in Perryman, Maryland for Nick-George. The contract provided that work was to commence within 30 days and that the project was to be completed by 17 May 1972.
Ames-Ennis did not commence work on 16 June 1971, and the work had not been completed by December, 1972, when Nick-George apparently defaulted in payments on the mortgage on the project, allegedly because of the delayed completion.
On 26 December 1972, Nick-George terminated its contract with Ames-Ennis, and in April, 1973, filed with American Arbitration Association, in accordance with the terms of its contract with Ames-Ennis, a demand for arbitration, and asserted a claim of $300,000.00. No answer was filed by Ames-Ennis. Hearings were held before an arbitrator for six days during June and July, 1973. While the hearings were in progress, Nick-George increased its claim to $615,286.00. At the conclusion of the hearings, Ames-Ennis filed its counterclaim for $197,324.26. On 18 September 1973, the arbitrator submitted his award to the parties and to American Arbitration Association. The award directed that Nick-George pay $60,855.00 to Ames-Ennis.
The second claim for relief was based on the Act, Code (1957) Art. 7, § 13, now Code (1974), Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article § 3-223, and sought a decree modifying the arbitrator's award.
Ames-Ennis filed a motion ne recipiatur to that part of the bill of complaint which sought declaratory relief, and an answer to that part of the bill which sought a modification of the award. Bifurcated hearings were held, in which orders were entered granting the motion ne recipiatur and dismissing the portion of the bill which sought a modification of the award under § 3-223 of the Act. An appeal was taken to the Court of Special Appeals. We granted certiorari before the case came on for hearing in that court.
We regard the result reached below as eminently correct. The declaratory action sought to have the award vacated, an action which could have been maintained under the Act, had suit been instituted within 30 days of the delivery of the award. Section 3-224 provides:
We recall the purple passage which appeared in the opinion written for the Court of Special Appeals by Judge (now Chief Judge) Gilbert in Security Construction Co. v. Maietta, 25 Md.App. 303, 308, 334 A.2d 133, 136 (1975):
Section 3-224 of the Act permits the filing of a petition to vacate an award within 30 days after the delivery of the award or within 30 days after corruption, fraud or other undue means is known or should have become known to the petitioner. Relief under this section is limited to instances where the award was procured by corruption, fraud or undue means; where there was evident partiality, corruption or misconduct by the arbitrator; where the arbitrator exceeded his powers, where there was a refusal to grant a postponement when sufficient cause was shown, a refusal to hear material evidence, or where the hearing was conducted in a manner which substantially prejudiced the rights of a party.
The bill of complaint filed by Nick-George was not timely filed under § 3-224. The General Assembly has restrictively defined the grounds upon which and the condition under which a court may vacate an award and has expressly proscribed any possibility of substitution of a reviewing court's judgment for that of the arbitrator, O-S Corp. v. Samuel A. Kroll, Inc., 29 Md.App. 406, 407-08, 348 A.2d 870, 871-72 (1975), cert. denied 13 April 1976; Security Construction Co. v. Maietta, supra, 25 Md. App. at 308, 334 A.2d at 136. There is simply no way that the time limit imposed by the Act can be circumvented by the filing of an action for declaratory relief.
We turn now to the relief sought under § 3-223 of the Act. The Court of Special Appeals, in a scholarly opinion in Bel Pre Medical Center v. Frederick Contractors, 21 Md.App. 307, 320 A.2d 558 (1974), rev'd on other grounds, 274 Md. 307, 334 A.2d 526 (1975), traced the history of arbitration in this country which culminated in this state with the enactment of the Act, Chapter 231 of the Laws of 1965. Section 3-223 provides:
Thus, the limits of judicial review are narrow. Here the award was delivered on 18 September 1973. Nick-George could have filed a petition with the arbitrator for correction or modification within 20 days under § 3-222 (a), but did not.
The lower court correctly found that modification of an award under § 3-223 was permissible under three conditions:
The court concluded that the lump sum award of $60,855.00 was described by the arbitrator as being in full settlement of all claims submitted. It is obvious that neither condition (1) nor condition (3) is applicable to the award. The court further found that no evidence had been offered to support the contention that the award dealt with the Ames-Ennis counterclaim, a matter not submitted to the arbitrator, since it was apparent from the commencement of the hearings before the arbitrator that Ames-Ennis intended to submit a counterclaim.
There being no proof sufficient to meet the conditions of § 3-223, Nick-George's petition to modify or correct the award was denied, and the award was confirmed. We do not regard the facts as found by the chancellor in support of this result as clearly erroneous, Maryland Rule 886, and shall affirm his order.
Orders affirmed, costs to be paid by appellant.
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