New England Property Services Group, LLC v. Vermont Mutual Insurance Company, 331 A.3d 730

The dispute arises from a homeowners' insurance claim for wind damage to a property in Rhode Island.
The insureds assigned their insurance claim to New England Property Services Group, LLC (plaintiff), who performed repairs and disputed the insurer Vermont Mutual Insurance Company's (defendant) loss estimate.
The parties invoked an appraisal process as required under the insurance contract after failing to agree on the amount of loss.
The plaintiff's appointed appraiser, who had a financial interest in the outcome, and the defendant's appraiser could not agree on an umpire; the court appointed one.
The appraisal award (signed by plaintiff's appraiser and the umpire) was challenged; defendant moved to vacate the award due to partiality.
The Superior Court vacated the award and denied confirmation, leading to plaintiff's motion to reconsider and subsequent appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Superior Court jurisdiction over appraisal award	Lacked jurisdiction as policy did not require disinterested appraiser; not arbitration	Appraisal is arbitration; court can confirm/vacate under Arbitration Act	Superior Court had jurisdiction; amount in controversy exceeded threshold
Characterization as arbitration	Appraisal clause isn't arbitration due to absence of "disinterested" requirement	Provisions like this are arbitration per precedent, regardless of adjective	Appraisal process is arbitration; omission of word is not dispositive
Waiver and estoppel	Defendant waived arbitration standards by accepting premiums and benefiting from policy	Subject-matter jurisdiction can't be waived; § 27-5-3 irrelevant	Subject-matter jurisdiction can't be waived; prior use of act estops contrary claim
Timing/Objection to process	Plaintiff argued after-the-fact that process was not arbitration	Plaintiff promoted proceedings as arbitration throughout	Objection raised too late; must object before or during, not after unfavourable award

Grady v. Home Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 27 R.I. 435 (R.I. 1906) (equated policy appraisal procedures with arbitration)
Waradzin v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 570 A.2d 649 (R.I. 1990) (characterization of appraisals as arbitrations; timing of objections)