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Painesville Twp. Local School Dist v. Natl. Energy Mgt. Inst.8/26/1996
CHRISTLEY, Judge.
This is an accelerated calendar appeal, stemming from a final judgment of the Lake County Court of Common Pleas. Appellants, National Energy Management Institute ("NEMI") and NEMI Services Corporation ("NSC"), seek the reversal of the trial court's decision, which denied their joint motion to stay the trial proceedings pending arbitration.
In August 1992, NEMI entered into an agreement with appellee, Painesville Township Local School District, to provide certain energy management services. As part of this agreement, NEMI promised to conduct a preliminary assessment of the energy consumption "characteristics" of appellee's buildings, and to design a plan under which the buildings would be made more energy efficient. NEMI further agreed to oversee the installation of energy efficient equipment in the buildings.
As part of the preliminary assessment, NEMI was obligated to give appellee a statement of the amount of funds it would save in energy costs if the proposed plan were followed. In conjunction with this particular obligation, NEMI "warranted" that appellee would save the specified amount.
In addition to the foregoing warranty, the agreement contained a provision which gave appellee the option of purchasing a second warranty covering the specified amount of energy savings. Under this second warranty, which would be issued by a separate company, appellee would be entitled to recover the difference between the projected savings and the actual savings in any given year.
Besides the foregoing provisions, the agreement between NEMI and appellee had an arbitration provision. This provision stated, in part:
"Any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or in connection with or relating to this Agreement or any breach or alleged breach hereof, shall, upon request of either party (and without regard to whether or not any provision of this Agreement expressly provides for arbitration), be submitted to and settled by arbitration in the county where the Premises are situated in conformance with rules of the American Arbitration Association then in effect (or at any other place or under any other form of arbitration mutually acceptable to the parties)."
After NEMI had conducted the preliminary assessment and had given appellee the statement of the projected energy savings, appellee hired two contractors to install the new equipment. These contractors were approved by NEMI. In addition, at some point after the preliminary assessment had been completed, appellee decided to purchase the second warranty. This warranty was issued to appellee by NSC.
Approximately thirty months after the primary agreement between NEMI and appellee had been executed, a dispute developed concerning whether appellee's actual energy savings during the first year had been equal to the projected amount. When this dispute could not be settled amicably, appellee brought the instant action in November 1995. In its complaint, appellee named NEMI, NSC, and the two contractors, Roth Brothers, Inc., and Traditional Building Systems, Inc., as the defendants in this action.
Appellee's complaint contained thirteen separate causes of action, nine of which were applicable to both NEMI and NSC. These nine causes of action set forth claims which sounded in breach of warranty, breach of contract, conversion, fraud, wrongful termination, and unjust enrichment.
Prior to answering the complaint, NEMI and NSC moved to stay the proceedings on the basis that the entire action should be submitted to arbitration. The two contractors also joined in this motion. In support of this motion, NEMI an
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