A United States District Court in Texas has held that whether compliance with a statute of limitation is a condition precedent to the commencement of arbitration should be decided by arbitrators, not the court. Vesta Fire Insur. Corp. v. ERC, case no. 05-2404 (N.D. Tex. May 31, 2006).
UK scheme of arrangement binding on non-UK insurers
A UK judge has ruled that he has jurisdiction over non-UK insurance companies to administrer and complete the runoff of a Willis Group-managed insurance/reinsurance pool under the UK's scheme of arrangement process. In re Sovereign Marine, [2006] EWHC 1335 (High Court Chancery Division June 9, 2006).
RICO claims against GenRe dismissed
A United States District Judge dismissed RICO claims asserted against GenRe by the Insurance Commissioners of Tennessee and Virginia in an MDL action relating to the liquidation of Reciprocal of America and various risk retention groups, due to the failure to adequately plead reliance. In re Reciprocal of America Sales Practices Litigation, case no., MDL 04-1551 (June 12, 2006). The claims alleged that GenRe provided illusory reinsurance, under which it did not assume substantial risk.
SPECIAL FOCUS: introduction
SPECIAL FOCUS entries are longer entries that address a topic that has been the subject of a number of court opinions, or which are otherwise of special interest. SPECIAL FOCUS entries treat multiple cases or news items in a single entry. We hope that you find these special items to be interesting and informative.
Court clarifies relationship between two arbitration awards
In The Burlington Ins. Co. v. Trygg-Hansa Ins. Co., Case no. 1:99cv00334, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina (May 16, 2006), the Court was asked to clarify the relationship between two arbitration awards. The Court found, after asking the arbitration panel for the second award for clarification, that the first award had been factored into and setoff within the second award.