The UK Court of Appeal has held that a Llloyd's underwriter who returned to their insured's broker all of the documents shown to them in the placing of reinsurance and making claims have a right to view those documents when needed, despite the lack of contractual privity between them. Goshawk Dedicated Ltd. v. Tsyler & Co., [2006] EWCA Civ 54 (Feb. 7, 2006).
UK – Duty to disclose, misrepresentation and avoidance of reinsurance
The London Personal Accident Reinsurance market experienced underwriting difficulties and spirals in the latter half of the 1990s. In an extensive opinion, a UK Commercial Court judge found that problems in this market were caused largely by undisclosed gross loss making underwriting, in which the reinsurance brokers had a prominent role. Sphere Drake Insurance Limited v. Euro International Underwriting Limited, Stirling Cooke Brown Reinsurance Brokers Limited, et al., 2003 EWHC 1636 (High Court of Justice, Queens Bench Division Commercial Court July 8, 2003).
UK – Duty of disclosure and avoidance of reinsurance
Appeal of decision with respect to attempted avoidance of reinsurance, with an extensive discussion of the duties of disclosure and the underwriting process. Court of Appeals held that a reinsured under an excess of loss reinsurance agreement did not owe its reinsurers an implied duty of care to underwrite ceded risks in a prudent manner. Available at Bonner & Ors v. Cox & Ors, 2005 EWCA Civ 1512 (Court of Appeal Civil Division December 8, 2005).
Annual summary of developments in the law of reinsurance
Recent Developments in Excess Insurance, Suplus Lines Insurance, and Reinsurance Law, 40 Tort Trial & Insurance Prac. L. J. 397 (2005). Article covering development during 2005 in excess insurance, surplus lines insurance and reinsurance. The reinsurance portion of this article covers three broad issues, coverage, arbitration and litigation, with the following subparts: Coverage – following liability, utmost good faith, aggregation and annualization, late notice, extracontractual obligations, privity and cut-through and terrorism; Arbitration – arbitrability, stay of litigation or arbitration proceedings, panel composition, consolidation, confirmation/vacation of awards, discovery and confidentiality of award; Litigation – in personam jurisdiction and indispensable parties, subject matter jurisdiction, forum non conveniens/improper forum, discovery and insolvency. Available on WESTLAW at 40 TTIPLJ 397.
Welcome to the Carlton Fields Reinsurance Blog – Reinsurance Focus
This blog has been created and is maintained by the Reinsurance Industry Group of Carlton Fields LLP, a national law firm with a unique focus on financial services and a national reputation in high stakes litigation, financial regulation and product counseling. For more information on the firm and our practice, visit our firm's web site. We have offices in Miami, Florida, Simsbury, Connecticut and Washington, DC. Separate entries in this category of the blog provide additional information about our firm and its reinsurance practice.
This blog does not provide legal advice, but instead provides information for its readers about items of interest to those in the reinsurance industry or providing services to the reinsurance industry. It covers recent court decisions relating to reinsurance from US and UK courts, regulatory developments and selected news items relating to the reinsurance industry. In addition, due to the importance of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) to reinsurance dispute resolution, we cover court decisions of interest relating to the FAA, even though they do not relate to reinsurance disputes. Occasionally, we will add a slightly more extensive entry as a Special Focus for a topic of particular interest. Two postings each week are selected as the “most interesting” ones of the week, and in addition to the normal substantive categories, are placed in the category titled Week's Best Posts.
Reinsurance Focus was created by, and is maintained by, attorneys active in our reinsurance practice, including:
- Roland C. Goss – A partner resident in our Washington, DC office, active in our reinsurance dispute resolution practice, Chair of our Reinsurance Industry Group, blog administrator and a blog contributor
- Sheila Carpenter – A partner resident in our Washington, DC office, active in our reinsurance dispute resolution practice, a certified arbitrator and a blog contributor
- Lynn Hawkins – An associate resident in our Washington, DC office, active in our reinsurance dispute resolution practice, a contributor and the blog's assistant adminsistrator