Opinion ID: 1436064
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Construing the Retrocessional Agreements Under Pennsylvania Law

Text: There can be no question that the terms of the written, signed retrocessional agreements are quite definite. See Blair, 283 F.3d at 603. There is no dispute that the reinsurance treaties and the retrocessional agreements are valid contracts and that they are mutually supported by consideration. Id. (When both parties have agreed to be bound by arbitration, adequate consideration exists and the arbitration agreement should be enforced.). Our task, therefore, is to construe the contracts to determine the effect of the parties' inclusion of the incorporation-by-reference provision solely by examining the agreements' contents. The question is limited to contract construction: does the retrocessional agreements' incorporation language result in an agreement between the parties to arbitrate their disputes? See Appellant's opening br. at 15; Appellee's br. at 16. Lloyd's emphasizes the retrocessional agreements' expansive incorporation clause and argues that we should construe the retrocessional agreements to have incorporated all of the reinsurance treaties' provisions, including the arbitration clause, because that is precisely what the incorporation clause says. On the other hand, Century emphasizes the phrasing of the reinsurance treaties' arbitration clause and argues that we should not construe the retrocessional agreements to have incorporated the arbitration agreement because the incorporated arbitration clause specifies that it applies only to Century and Argonaut, see Progressive Casualty, 991 F.2d at 45-48, and the purpose of the incorporation was to clarify the parties' obligations under the reinsurance agreements, not to agree to a procedure for the resolution of disputes. See AgGrow Oils, L.L.C. v. Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co., 242 F.3d 777, 780-82 (8th Cir.2001). We address each position in turn.