Opinion ID: 2831475
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The “Scope” of Arbitration

Text: First, the Other Defendants contend that Sapphire’s claims against them fall within the scope of the general contract’s arbitration agreement because the scope includes “[a]ny Claim arising out of or related to the Contract,” and Sapphire expressly agreed that the arbitration could include parties other than G.T. Leach. Specifically, the Other Defendants rely on a provision of the general contract in which Sapphire and G.T. Leach agreed that “[a]ny arbitration may include, by consolidation or joinder or any other manner, parties other than the Owner, Contractor, a Subcontractor, a separate contractor . . . and other persons substantially involved in a common question of fact or law whose presence is required if complete relief is to be accorded in arbitration.” The Other Defendants argue that, through this “joinder provision,” Sapphire agreed that the scope of the arbitration would include Sapphire’s claims against the Other Defendants because those claims “arise out of or relate to” the general contract, those claims and Sapphire’s claims 27 against G.T. Leach involve common questions of law or fact, and the Other Defendants’ presence is “required” for complete relief to be accorded in the arbitration. We conclude that the Other Defendants’ reliance on the scope of the agreement between Sapphire and G.T. Leach to establish the existence and enforceability of an agreement between Sapphire and the Other Defendants is misplaced. As we have explained, a party seeking to compel arbitration must establish both (1) the existence of a valid enforceable agreement to arbitrate and (2) that the claims at issue fall within the scope of that agreement. TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 171.021(a); FirstMerit Bank, 52 S.W.3d at 753. The Other Defendants’ argument that Sapphire agreed that they, as non-signatories, could enforce the arbitration agreement addresses the first issue, not the second. Although Sapphire’s claims may fall within the scope of the agreement, the scope of the arbitration clause “does not answer whether [Sapphire] must arbitrate” with the Other Defendants. Kellogg Brown & Root, 166 S.W.3d at 739–40.