Ritchey v. Continental Ins. Co.
Plaintiff appeals from an order denying his petition to vacate an arbitration award entered in a dispute with his uninsured motorist insurance carrier, defendant Continental Insurance Company. Plaintiff contends that the court erred when, on the eve of arbitration, it ordered him to pay half of the arbitrator's fee. He further contends that the court erred when it refused to vacate the arbitration award based upon the supposed error in requiring him to pay this fee. Court are unable to reach the merits of plaintiff's contentions because the order directing payment was a collateral order from which an immediate appeal would have lain. As a result, court lack jurisdiction to review it on appeal from the order denying his petition to vacate, and the appeal must be dismissed insofar as it concerns that order. Nor can error in the denial of his petition to vacate be predicated on supposed error in an earlier, appealable order from which no relief was sought by appeal or otherwise. Accordingly, to the extent court have appellate jurisdiction, the orders appealed from affirmed.
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