Drews Distributing, Incorporated,plaintiff-Appellee v. Silicon Gaming, Incorporated

OPINION

DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ, Circuit Judge:

This appeal arises from a dispute over the purchase of video gambling machines. We must determine the scope of an arbitration provision in a distribution contract between the manufacturer and distributor of the machines. That provision requires the parties to arbitrate “any controversy or claim” that is “related to” the distribution contract. The district court held the present dispute not arbitrable because it grew out of an earlier agreement between the parties that was expressly excluded from the reach of the distribution contract’s merger clause.'…