Inryco, Inc. v. Parsons & Whittemore Contractors Corp.
Inryco, Inc. v. Parsons & Whittemore Contractors Corp.
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OF THE COURT
Memorandum.
The order of the Appellate Division, insofar as appealed from, should be reversed, with costs, and the application for a stay of arbitration denied.
There can be no dispute that the parties chose the arbitration forum for resolution of their disputes. In. each of the five written contracts, the parties agreed that “[a]ll disputes arising out of this Contract, its interpretation, performance or breach, shall be submitted to arbitration”. These broad provisions encompass all disputes arising out of the contracts, including those relating to subsequent agreements concerning obligations under the original contracts. Indeed, this court only recently made clear that “[o]nce the parties to a broad arbitration clause have made a valid choice of forum, as here, all questions with respect to the validity and effect of subsequent documents purporting to work a modification or termination of the substantive provisions of their original agreement are to be resolved by the arbitrator” (Matter of Schlaifer v Sedlow, 51 NY2d 181, 185; cf. Matter of Black & Pola [Manes Organization], 50 NY2d 821). Thus there is no basis for staying arbitration of the parties’ dispute concerning the alleged March 21 agreement. Of course, whether evidence concerning the negotiations of March 21,1979 will be admissible is a question for the arbitrator to determine. Finally, public policy is not offended by submission of this dispute to arbitration.
Chief Judge Cooke and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones, Wachtler, Fuchsberg and Meyer concur in memorandum.
Order, insofar as appealed from, reversed, etc.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Inryco, Inc. v. Parsons & Whittemore Contractors Corporation
- Cited By
- 10 cases
- Status
- Published