Amended settlement can extinguish an earlier arbitration clause when parties finally settle claims and renounce further arbitration.

Where parties execute a later amendment or settlement agreement that records revised terms, treats the amended arrangement as part of the original contract, and declares final settlement with no further claims or arbitration, the earlier arbitration agreement does not survive unless the later agreement preserves it. The absence of an express reworking of the arbitration machinery does not revive a substantive right to arbitrate that has been consciously given up by the amended bargain. On that basis, the arbitration clause in the original contract was treated as extinguished and the arbitration petition was held not maintainable.

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Issues: Whether the amendment agreement executed between the parties had the effect of superseding the earlier contract and extinguishing the arbitration agreement contained therein.

Analysis: The parties had executed an amendment agreement that recorded revised rates, treated the amended arrangement as part of the original agreement, and declared that pending claims stood buried, no further claims would be raised, and there would be no arbitration for settlement of claims. The earlier arbitration arrangement could not survive once the parties had consciously substituted the original contractual arrangement with a new one and agreed to a final settlement of claims. The mere absence of an express amendment to the clause referring to arbitration machinery did not revive a substantive arbitration right that had already been given up by the amended bargain.

Conclusion: The arbitration agreement did not subsist on the date of filing of the petition and the petition invoking arbitration was not maintainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where parties substitute or alter the original contract by a later agreement that records final settlement and disclaims further claims and arbitration, the arbitration clause in the earlier contract perishes with it unless the later agreement preserves that right.

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