Opinion ID: 1436064
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Choice of Law: Pennsylvania Law Applies

Text: The question whether the parties agreed to arbitrate certain disputes raises a choice-of-law issue. Though neither party explicitly states that Pennsylvania law applies to the question whether there is a valid arbitration agreement, they seem to agree that Pennsylvania law does apply, because, apart from federal cases, each predominantly cites Pennsylvania state court cases on the issues in this case. Moreover, the retrocessional agreements' service-of-suit clause contains a choice-of-law provision stating that all matters arising [from disputes brought pursuant to the service-of-suit clause] shall be determined in accordance with the law and practice of [the] Court where the action is brought. App. at 32. This provision suggests that to the extent that federal law does not control this action, we should resolve this dispute over payments under the retrocessional agreements in accordance with the substantive law of Pennsylvania, the state in which Century filed suit. Moreover, under that law the law of the state in which an insurance contract is made governs the contract. Crawford v. Manhattan Life Ins. Co., 208 Pa.Super. 150, 221 A.2d 877, 880 (1966). The retrocessional agreements were signed in duplicate in Pennsylvania and in England. So even if the provision dictated only that Pennsylvania's choice-of-law rules applied, under those rules Pennsylvania substantive law still would govern. [17]