Opinion
September 22, 1997
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (McCarty, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, the provision granting prearbitration award interest is deleted, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Nassau County, for entry of an appropriate amended judgment.
The court lacked the power to award pre-arbitration award interest ( see, e.g, Matter of Aetna Cas. Sur. Co. v. Rosen, 233 A.D.2d 499). Bernstein v. Allstate Ins. Co. ( 199 A.D.2d 358), relied upon by the respondents, is inapposite, since the parties stipulated in that case to resolve their dispute in the courts rather than by arbitration. Therefore, the power of the court to award pre-arbitration award interest was never in issue in that case.
O'Brien, J.P., Sullivan, Goldstein and Luciano, JJ., concur.