National Casualty, Wausau and Swiss Re reinsured OneBeacon under a multiple line excess cover program. When disputes arose OneBeacon arbitrated with Swiss Re, and lost. OneBeacon then demanded arbitration with National Casualty and Wausau with respect to the same reinsurance program, but that proceeding broke down over disputes concerning the selection of an umpire to complete a three arbitrator panel. National Casualty and Wausau then filed a lawsuit against OneBeacon, seeking a declaration that the prior arbitration award and the doctrine of collateral estoppel barred OneBeacon’s second arbitration, and seeking the court’s assistance in the appointment of the umpire. The court granted OneBeacon’s motion to dismiss the preclusion claim on the basis that the preclusive effect of a prior arbitration in a subsequent arbitration should be decided by the arbitrator and not by the court.
The reinsurers had put forth a senior official of Swiss Re as their umpire candidate, to which OneBeacon objected, on the basis that the candidate was not impartial and was not qualified to serve. The court found OneBeacon’s challenge to the as yet unselected umpire candidate premature under the terms of the Federal Arbitration Act, which provides that challenges to arbitrators should be entertained by courts only after the issuance of an arbitration award. National Cas. Co. v. OneBeacon American Ins. Co., Case No. 12-11874 (USDC D. Mass. July 1, 2013).
This post written by Brian Perryman.
See our disclaimer.