The First Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the New York Convention applies to an insurance arbitration dispute between a Puerto Rican company and Lloyd’s of London and that the convention preempts a Puerto Rican law...more
In this episode, partners Chris Valente and Jackie Celender, along with associates Michael Creta and Peter Ayers, discuss the impact that state anti-arbitration insurance statutes have on the enforceability of international...more
In opposing a motion to compel arbitration, Nueces County made two procedural arguments: first, that the carrier waived its right to arbitrate by virtue of the policy’s service-of-suit clause....more
In a case involving an arbitration agreement between foreign nationals and U.S. citizens, which is governed by the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and its implementing legislation,...more
The District Court of Puerto Rico upheld a prior judgment ordering Integrand Assurance Co. to arbitrate its claims against its various reinsurers, rather than remand the case to the court overseeing Integrand’s receivership,...more
Battles persist concerning the enforceability of insurance policy arbitration clauses due to the conflict between (a) the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause (Art. VI, cl. 2), which gives federal laws and international...more
Defendants, Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s and its third-party claims administrator, CJW & Associates, sought to enforce a mandatory arbitration clause in a Lloyd’s policy issued to the plaintiffs. ...more
There were no significant changes in Vermont’s leadership team during the last election cycle. Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, was re-elected in November 2018 for another two-year term. Michael Pieciak, the Commissioner...more
The United States Constitution, a U.S. treaty, two federal statutes, a state statute, and a commercial contract walk into a bar. The federal statutes are arguing. The Constitution, the treaty, one of the federal statutes, and...more
A district court judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana has issued an order attempting to resolve the apparent tension created by Louisiana law barring compulsory arbitration provisions in...more
In this episode of OnRisk, Carolyn Branthoover and Sarah Turpin talk about the increasing frequency of arbitration clauses in insurance policies, the enforceability of arbitration agreements in both the U.S. and in the UK,...more
The receiver for Gramercy Insurance Company sought to avoid arbitration of a reinsurance dispute with Contractor’s Bonding, Ltd., by arguing the FAA was reverse preempted under the McCarran-Ferguson Act....more
Finding Montana law was inapplicable to the subject insurance policy under both federal maritime choice-of-law principles and the policy language, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that an arbitration clause was...more
In a case involving a reinsurance participation agreement (RPA), a California trial court has examined the interplay between two seemingly irreconcilable contract provisions: one that provided for the arbitration of any...more
The background of this case is as follows. State Insurance Commissioner Brian Maynard, acting as liquidator of the failed Kentucky Health Cooperative (“KYHC”), filed suit in Kentucky state court against CGI Technologies and...more
A recent ruling by the New York State Court of Appeals underscores the Federal Arbitration Act’s(“FAA”) strong policy favoring enforcement of arbitration agreements—even in the insurance industry and despite federal policy...more
As we reported in this space late last year, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S.Ct. 1740, 1745 (2011), tilted the scales toward federal power in the field of arbitration, preempting...more
In a bout before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, two heavyweight federal statutes squared off, with coverage for hundreds of long-tail, asbestos-related personal injury lawsuits on the line. In one corner:...more
The Washington Supreme Court has ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not preempt a state statute that prohibits binding arbitration agreements in insurance contracts....more