25 Wash. 140 | Wash. | 1901
In the year 1892 the Burrows Bay Improvement Company, a corporation, constructed a steam railway from the main line of the Seattle & Northern Railway Company, in the town of Anacortes, Skagit county, to Shannon’s Point, in said county. In the exercise of the taxing power, the authorities of Skagit county undertook to assess and levy taxes upon said property for the years 1893, 1894, 1895 and 1896. On the 23d day of September, 1896, the appellant, in an action in the superior court of King county, recovered judgment against said company for the sum of $6,270 and costs; and thereafter he caused an execution to issue, and a levy was made thereunder upon the unballasted railway track of said company. A sale was made under the execution by the sheriff of Skagit county, and appellant was the purchaser of the property. By reason of Skagit county’s claim for taxes
The written agreement to submit this controversy to arbitration contains the following provision:
“And the plaintiff and defendant do mutually covenant and agree to and with each other that the award to be made by said arbitrator shall in all things by us, and each of us, be well and faithfully kept and observed
It seems to us clear that the parties intended by the above clause of the agreement to bind themselves to abide by the award of the arbitrator. This agreement must be . treated as any other contract, in determining the rights of the respective parties thereunder. This court, in Van Home v. Watrous, 10 Wash. 525, 527 (39 Pac. 136), has said:
“Courts will enforce contracts’ to arbitrate disputes and make the decision of arbitrators final where the parties to a contract make it clearly to appear that such was their intention.”
Presumably, the purpose of disputants in adopting this method of settling differences is to avoid the ordinary expense, delay, and more intricate practice attending suits
The judgment is affirmed.