Opinion ID: 706102
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Separate Agreements

Text: 10 Critical to the determination of this appeal is whether the arbitration clause in the April agreement encompasses any subsequent contract, including the July agreement or, rather, whether the two agreements are separate, each subject to individual interpretation. 1 If the July agreement is a discrete agreement, the lack of an arbitration clause means disputes over the agreement are not subject to arbitration. On the other hand, if the two agreements are merely interrelated contracts in an ongoing series of transactions, as Archexpo contends, Ambassador should have submitted its claim under the July agreement to the Moscow arbitration, and the district court would have lacked jurisdiction to consider the SLI suit. 11 There is substantial evidence that the April and July agreements are independent and that the arbitration clause in the April agreement does not control the separate agreements of the parties. The agreements concern two separate types of tours and completely different groups of tourists. The July agreement contains no arbitration clause, indicating an intent to treat it differently than the April agreement. Moreover, the proof necessary to establish Archexpo's Moscow arbitration claims under the April agreement has nothing to do with the dispute under the July agreement. 12 Archexpo argues that Ambassador's claims under the July agreement were involved in the Moscow arbitration and, specifically, that several arbitration documents make reference to the claims. Mentioned they were, but principally because Ambassador quite specifically reserved the claims for the United States litigation it alerted the Moscow arbitrators it planned to pursue. We hold, therefore, that the July agreement is separate and independent from the April agreement, and that the arbitration clause does not apply to the July agreement. The district court erred when it vacated Ambassador's judgment for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(4).