345 N.E.2d 428 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1975
Plaintiff has filed a motion to dismiss this appeal, contending that it is not from a final appealable order. The order appealed from sustains plaintiff's motion for a stay pursuant to R. C.
This court recently held that an order refusing to stay proceedings pending arbitration is not an appealable order, in the case of Pewter Mug v. M. U. G. Enterprises,
The order herein, however, does not merely stay proceedings but in effect grants specific performance of the agreement to submit to arbitration and orders that the matter be submitted to arbitration and, thus, is essentially "an order summarily directing the parties to proceed with the arbitraton" pursuant to R. C.
The question of whether an order is a final appealable order cannot be determined solely from the general nature of the order but must be determined by the effect the order has upon the pending actions; that is, whether the order "in effect determines the action and prevents a judgment." SeeSchindler v. The Standard Oil Co. (1956),
The order appealed from requires the parties to submit "the matter" to arbitration. Thus, all issues raised by the Complaint and Cross-Complaint are ordered submitted to arbitration, and there can be no judgment predicated upon either the Complaint or Cross-Complant. In other words, *97 there can hereafter be no effective judgment rendered in this action by the trial court predicated upon the pleadings, so the order compelling arbitraton does in effect determine the action and prevent a judgment.
Any subsequent action would be predicated not on the pleadings but, rather, upon either a new and independent application to the Court of Common Pleas for an order confirming the arbitration award pursuant to R. C.
An order staying proceedings in a pending action and ordering that part of the issues raised be submitted to arbitration may well be interlocutory and not appealable, since there will eventually be a judgment upon the remaining issues. However, where the order requires that the entire case and all issues raised therein be submitted to arbitration, the order is a final appealable order since it in effect determines the action and prevents a judgment. Accordingly, the motion to dismiss is overruled.
Motion overruled.
STRAUSBAUGH, P. J., and HOLMES, J., concur.