INA Reinsurance recently moved to dismiss or to stay an action initiated by Utica Mutual Insurance arising out of the alleged breach of three confidentiality agreements, including one entered as an order in the parties’ pending reinsurance arbitration. Utica alleged that INA breached the confidentiality agreement put in place in the reinsurance arbitration by improperly disclosing confidential information in a separate lawsuit against a third party. The federal district court denied INA’s motion to dismiss or to stay, finding that the Supreme Court’s Colorado River abstention doctrine inapplicable because the defendants in the two lawsuits were unrelated and the claims were significantly different. Further, the district court concluded that Utica was not required to pursue its claims for breach of the confidentiality agreements in the pending arbitration because there exists clear language in the confidentiality agreements authorizing Utica to pursue claims for breach in a judicial forum. Utica Mutual Insurance Co. v. INA Reinsurance Co., No. 12-cv-00194 (USDC N.D.N.Y. Apr. 24, 2012).
This post written by John Black.
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