Commentary on insurance and reinsurance disputes and related issues and the website of Schiffer Law & Consulting PLLC
A retrocessionaire is two steps away from the policy issuing company and the insured so it is a pretty rare day when a retrocessionaire is allowed to pursue a recovery against a law firm that defended an underlying personal injury claim that went south.
Continue reading “Retrocessionaire Given the Green Light to Pursue Equitable Subrogation Claim Against Law Firm”
Reinsurance arbitrations are typically cloaked in confidentiality, often through a written confidentiality agreement or order. Some arbitration agreements include confidentiality provisions as well. In recent years, parties have gone to court to confirm reinsurance arbitration awards, sometimes as an end-around the confidentiality agreement. In 2023, the Second Circuit, in a non-reinsurance case, rejected an attempt to do an end-around an arbitration confidentiality provision.
Continue reading “Second Circuit Rejects Attempted End-Around Arbitration Confidentiality Provision”
Public reinsurance companies periodically find themselves defending securities fraud claims based on a drop in stock price or losses that affect the company’s bottom line. In a recent case, a fraud claim was based on the failure to disclose historical loss ratios when reporting the reinsurer’s performance.
Continue reading “Securities Fraud Claims Against Reinsurer Based on Loss Reserve Analysis Dismissed”
In 2023, arbitrability and who must arbitrate continued to be litigated issues, with courts often sending the parties to arbitration consistent with public policy. Courts also addressed arbitrator bias, allocation, discovery of reinsurance information issues, jurisdiction, and direct right of action. And in one case, the court addressed a lost policy issue.
Continue reading “A Brief Review of Reinsurance Trends in 2023”
Below are the Top 5 Posts from Schiffer on Re-Insurance in 2023:
When Claims-Made Primary and Occurrence Excess Policies Clash
Cedent Prevails on Back-to-Back Reinsurance Recovery
Pesky Facts Result in a Denial of Summary Judgment in a Post-Settlement Allocation Case
Court Appoints Umpire in Coverage Dispute
Court Finds No Personal Jurisdiction in Reinsurance Dispute and Dismisses Case
Let me know your favorite post. Tell your friends and colleagues to register to receive new blog posts. Some Schiffer on Re-Insurance Blog Posts are available as Podcasts on Spotify via Anchor. Thank you for reading and I hope you continue to read in 2024. I am happy to entertain topic ideas. I hope you find my blog helpful. Let us all have a happy and safe and healthy 2024.
When a party receives and arbitration demand and there is a dispute about whether there is an agreement to arbitrate between the parties, participating in the early stages of the arbitration may be problematic for a subsequent effort to dispute arbitrability. This issue can arise when there has been an assignment or transfer of a reinsurance agreement or the right to the reinsurance receivables to an assignee who seeks to arbitrate against the original counterparty. In a recent case, a New York state court had to address these issues.
Continue reading “Participation In Early Stages of Arbitration Dooms Petition to Stay Arbitration”
IRMI.com has published my latest Expert Commentary on Reinsurance. This commentary focuses on the preclusive effect of a prior arbitration award and who gets to decide whether the prior arbitration award in a reinsurance dispute has any preclusive effect on a subsequent dispute. You can read the commentary here.
Does a missing reinsurance agreement preclude a counterclaim for breach of that missing reinsurance contract? Not at the pleadings stage according to a Hawaii federal court.
Continue reading “Counterclaim for Breach of Reinsurance Contract Survives Even Though No Reinsurance Contract Has Been Found”
In nearly every insurance coverage, bad faith or defense counsel legal malpractice case the insurance company is asked to produce reinsurance information and communications related to the underlying claim. This information is requested for the possibility that the insurance company has revealed something to the reinsurers that might help the policyholder or other counterparty. Whether reinsurance information is ever really helpful is a discussion for another day but what we do see from the courts is a clear trend toward compelling discovery of reinsurance information.
Continue reading “Reinsurance Information Is Hard to Withhold”
Recently, I wrote about a Texas intermediate appellate court’s affirmation of the denial of a reinsurer’s motion to dismiss a claim brought by an insured school district. Travelers Indem. Co. v. Grapeland Indep. Sch. Dist., No. 12-22-00311-CV, 2023 WL 3371072, at *3 (Tex. App. May 10, 2023). The main legal issue in the case was whether the concept of direct benefit estoppel applied. Well, the reinsurer tried again in Connecticut federal court.
Continue reading “Second Time Is No Charm: Motion to Compel Arbitration Denied”
