Plaintiff, the assignee of remaining reinsurance claims possessed by the estate of the insolvent insurer, originally brought an action against the defendants in state court, but the defendants removed to federal district court by alleging that the New York Convention (the “Convention”) and the Federal Arbitration Act governed the arbitration clauses in the excess-of-loss reinsurance contracts. Plaintiff then moved to remand and defendants moved to stay the action and compel arbitration. In granting the defendants’ motion, the district court ruled that the parties’ dispute was encompassed by the arbitration clauses and thus fell under the Convention, the liquidator’s right not to be compelled to arbitrate was not assigned to the plaintiff, and the service-of-suit clauses in the reinsurance contracts did not constitute a waiver of the defendants’ right to removal. B.D. Cooke & Partners Ltd. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyds, London, Case No. 08-3435 (USDC S.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2009).
This post written by Dan Crisp.