A new section has been added to the sidebar of Reinsurance Focus, providing quick access to selected Internet links described in various posts. There are three parts to the links section: Blogs; Organizations; and Topics. The Blogs section contains links to other blogs related to reinsurance, arbitration or insurance matters. The Organizations section contains links to such organizations as ARIAS, RAA and the NAIC's Reinsurance Task Force. The Topics section contains links to the NAIC's Finite Reinsurance resources and alternative risk transfer resources. Additional links will be added to these sections. I hope that this section will be useful in helping you find other helpful content on the Internet.
Court holds that Petition challenging arbitration does not have to be filed in District in which contract states that arbitration shall be held
Argonaut Insurance and Century Indemnity had 19 disputes encompassing multiple reinsurance agreements, which contained different arbitration site provisions. Argonaut filed a Petition in Century's home District challenging, inter alia, Century's attempt to force consolidated arbitration of the disputes. The Court has held that venue for the Petition was appropriate under the general venue statute, 28 U.S.C. section 1392, in the District in which Century maintains its home office, despite a provision in the applicable reinsurance agreement providing that arbitration of disputes under that particular reinsurance agreement should occur in New York City. Argonaut Insur. Co. v. Century Indemnity Co., Case No. 05-5355 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 28, 2006). Century contended that under section 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. section 4, venue for the action should have been in New York City.
Claims against interpleaded policy limits not subject to arbitration provision
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has held that the arbitration provision in two fiduciary liability insurance policies issued to Enron Corporation did not apply to require arbitration of competing claims asserted by multiple insureds to the limits of two policies that were interpleaded by the insurers. Tittle v. Enron Corp., Case No. 05-20380 (5th Cir. Sept. 1, 2006).
Court of Appeals affirms decision as to number of occurrences for World Trade Center coverage
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has affirmed the District Court's decision with respect to coverage for the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers. The District Court held that the attack consituted a single occurrence with respect to some of the insurance, and two occurrences with respect to other insurance. SR International Business Insur. Co. v. World Trade Center Properties, LLC, Case No. 04-4500 (2nd Cir. Oct. 18, 2006).
NAIC collateral proposal proceeds towards a vote
The NAIC's Reinsurance Task Force is proceeding towards an anticipated final vote in early 2007 on a proposal to change the indirect regulation of non-admitted reinsurers, which currently allows U.S. reinsureds to take statutory credit on their balance sheet for reinsurance only if such reinsurance obligations are 100% collateralized. The Task Force's web page contains the current red-lined version of the U.S. Reinsurance Collateral White Paper and Rating Proposal: an alternative procedure to grant credit for ceded reinsurance.