Company’s Production Of Signature Page, But Not The Remainder Of The Contract, Was Insufficient To Prove The Existence Of An Agreement To Arbitrate

As with other matters where a company may seek to enforce contractual rights, arbitration agreements require a party to be able to prove the existence of the agreement.

In CSAA Affinity Insurance Co. v. AmeriGas Propane LP, the U.S. District Court in Arizona was asked to compel arbitration of an insurance claim for water loss and damage. The insurer was unable to produce a fully executed agreement containing the arbitration provision its regional director testified was included in the agreement. Instead, the director testified that the company’s files contained only the signature page of the agreement. The court rejected this evidence as insufficient, holding that “Defendants have not met their burden of establishing that the Insureds entered into an agreement containing an arbitration clause. Although Defendants assert that the terms of service sent to the Insureds, and which [the movant’s predecessor company] accepted, contained an arbitration clause per their usual practice, they have not established that the specific agreement accepted by the Insureds contained an arbitration clause.”