IRB-Brasil and National Indemnity Company recently filed cross petitions concerning the ongoing arbitration between the parties. The arbitration arises out of a dispute over reinsurance policies issued by NICO to IRB. IRB sought to stay the arbitration, to disqualify NICO’s appointed arbitrator, and to appoint one in his place. It sought further to consolidate the two arbitration proceedings pending between the parties. In the alternative, IRB sought to form an arbitration panel to determine whether the arbitrations should be consolidated. NICO, for its part, sought to designate a neutral third-party arbitrator in one of the pending arbitrations. The court denied all petitions, concluding that under the Federal Arbitration Act it was not authorized to disqualify an arbitrator chosen in accordance with the parties agreement to arbitrate. The agreement specified only that the arbitrators be “active or retired officers of insurance or reinsurance companies,” a criterion that had been fulfilled. All other decisions before the Court stemmed from this conclusion and the petitions were accordingly denied. IRB-Brasil Resseguros v. National Indem. Co., No. 11-1965 (USDC S.D.N.Y. Oct. 6, 2011).
This post written by John Black.