The Second Circuit has found that an aggregate liability limit in excess insurance policies applied to facultative reinsurance certificates which contained a “follow the form” clause. The parties had a dispute as to how the aggregate limit should be interpreted for purposes of the reinsurance. The Court affirmed a District Court Order ruling that the clear definition of the aggregate limit in the underlying policy controlled, as a matter of contract interpretation. Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. v. ACE American Reinsurance Co., Case No. 05-6189 (2nd Cir. Oct. 18, 2006).
Re Risk blog provides news and commentary on the London markets
Readers of this blog may be interested in exploring Re Risk, a blog relating to reinsurance maintained by Jolyon Patten, a solicitor specializing in reinsurance and insurance law with the UK Halliwells law firm. Re Risk aims to be a rolling and relatively informal round-up of news and commentary about the London insurance and reinsurance market. It provides a great variety of information and opinions relating to the London markets in an entertaining and informative format.
Links added to sidebar
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).