Commentary on insurance and reinsurance disputes and related issues and the website of Schiffer Law & Consulting PLLC
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”
Welcome back to the Washington State federal court. For those who regularly read this blog you will remember the case where the court granted a motion to compel arbitration against one reinsurer and not the other. That arbitration concluded, which allowed the litigation to continue against the remaining reinsurer. The cedent moved to amend the complaint and the reinsurer move for judgment on the pleadings.
Continue reading “Risk Pool’s Motion to Amend Complaint Granted”
It is not the usual case where a reinsurer seeks to compel a policyholder to resolve a dispute in arbitration based on the reinsurance contract’s arbitration provision, but sometimes that makes the most sense. Whether a court will allow it depends on the facts. In a case decided earlier this year, a state intermediate appellate court affirmed the motion court’s denial of the reinsurer’s motion to dismiss or stay in favor of arbitration.
Continue reading “Non-Signatory? No Arbitration”
Many arbitration clauses, especially those that reference arbitration rules, provide for a party to go to the court where there is an impasse in appointing the arbitrator or umpire. In a case decided earlier in 2023, an insurance coverage dispute subject to arbitration landed in court to resolve a dispute over selection of the umpire.
Continue reading “Court Appoints Umpire in Coverage Dispute”
Attempting to remove an arbitrator at the early stages of arbitration for alleged bias is difficult to do. The ability to make the challenge depends on the law of the jurisdiction governing procedural issues in the arbitration. Nevertheless, even if entertained, a petition to remove an arbitrator for bias is an uphill battle. In a recent case, the petitioner lost the battle, at least in the New York federal court.
Continue reading “Bias Challenge to Arbitrator Fails”
As we have said before, it is hard for a policyholder to make a case against its insurer’s reinsurer. That proved to be true again in the Third Circuit.
Continue reading “Third Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Insured’s Claims Against Reinsurer”
Since the 1970s cedents and reinsurers have been battling over long-term environmental pollution damage. Disputes have arisen over the number of retentions that the cedent should take, the manner in which settlement with the insured should be allocated and other issues. In a recent case, a reinsurer sought summary judgment on a cedent’s breach of contract claim over a specific pollution claim. Unsurprisingly, disputed facts got in the way.
Continue reading “Pesky Facts Result in a Denial of Summary Judgment in a Post-Settlement Allocation Case”
