Anderson v. Federated Mutual Insurance Co.

KEITH, Chief Justice.

The issue in this case is whether an oral agreement to submit a dispute to arbitration is enforceable in this state when one of the parties refuses to submit the dispute to arbitration. We hold that the oral agreement is not enforceable prior to the actual submission to arbitration.

Cynthia Renae Norman, age 15, was a passenger in the back seat of a car which was being towed out of a ditch in rural Roseau County by a pick-up truck owned and operated by Donald Grahn and O.K. Machine Co., d/b/a Tow Services, Inc. She was accidentally killed when she was hit in the back of…