JACK R. LORRAINE AND, BEVERLY MACK, Plaintiffs v. MARKEL AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendants, 241 F.R.D. 534

Summary

The basis of the suit was the scope of the arbitration agreement and whether the arbitrator exceeded his authority by assigning a value to the damages attributable to the lightning strike less than the amount claimed by the insureds. The court found that the language of the arbitration agreement was ambiguous, which required interpretation under standard rules of contract interpretation. However, the court was unable to resolve this matter based on the summary judgment submissions because none of the parties' documentary evidence was authenticated by affidavit or otherwise, as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e). In particular, most of the facts relevant to the contract negotiations were established by copies of E-mail, which were not authenticated, but attached to the parties' motions as exhibits. Because neither party complied with the Rule 56(e) requirement that the motions be supported with admissible evidence, the court dismissed both motions without prejudice to re-submission with ...