Blue Cross of California v. Jones

In Blue Cross of California v. Jones (1993) 19 Cal. App. 4th 220, a dispute over health care benefits went to arbitration. The arbitrator awarded the policy holders expenses and attorney fees and ordered Blue Cross to pay for 16 hours per day of home nursing care for their disabled son until his 18th birthday or death, whichever occurred first. The trial court granted the motion to confirm the award and denied Blue Cross's motion to vacate the award. On appeal Blue Cross argued the arbitrators rewrote the health care agreements by ordering nursing care that could exceed the policies' financial limits. ( Id. at p. 227.) The court ordered the award corrected to provide the medical benefits would not exceed the $ 4 million limits of the policies. ( Id. at p. 229.) The court found the award could be corrected without affecting the merits of the controversy; the correction merely restored the clear and undisputed financial limits to which the parties agreed. (Ibid.)