Opinion ID: 1436064
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Whether the Retrocessional Agreements' Incorporation-by-Reference Language Effected a Valid Agreement to Arbitrate Between Century and Lloyd's

Text: With these general principles in mind, we turn to the first of the two determinations necessary to decide whether the District Court properly compelled arbitration: is there a valid agreement between Century and Lloyd's to arbitrate their disputes? See Kirleis, 560 F.3d at 160. As we have indicated, Lloyd's does not rely on the retrocessional agreements alone as a basis for contending that there was an agreement to arbitrate for it could not do so inasmuch as those agreements do not include arbitration clauses. Instead, Lloyd's asserts that Century is bound to arbitrate under an incorporation-by-reference theory, a common device in layered contracts likely to be in use in construction projects in which there are contractors, subcontractors, and sureties and, as here, when insurance companies spread risk among themselves. According to Lloyd's, even though it was not a signatory to the original reinsurance treaties, it still may seek to compel Century to arbitrate based on the reinsurance treaties' arbitration clauses because the retrocessional agreements incorporated all of the provisions of the reinsurance treaties, including their arbitration clauses, thereby creating a valid agreement between Century and Lloyd's to arbitrate disputes arising from the retrocessional agreements.