Patent Infringement: Successful Litigation Stays the "Course"
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota denying defendant SUNZ Insurance Co.’s motion to compel arbitration of crossclaims asserted by...more
This case arose from an interpleader action in the federal district court in Minnesota. Benchmark Insurance Co. appointed Sunz Insurance Co. to underwrite and issue large-scale deductible workers’ compensation insurance...more
When can you compel arbitration of a putative class action? The law is developing quickly and still doesn’t provide a crystal clear answer. The Ninth Circuit recently weighed in on two cases examining what happens when the...more
The Supreme Court of South Carolina recently determined that non-signatory insureds could not be compelled to arbitrate their claims under an arbitration clause in an agency agreement where the insureds did not obtain a...more
In a recent dispute involving a crop insurance policy, the Texas Supreme Court held that an independent insurance agency could not compel arbitration of certain claims brought against it in state court by an insured (JJ...more
The recent decision of Nielsen Contracting, Inc. v. Applied Underwriters, Inc., 232 Cal.Rptr.3d 282 (Cal. App. 4 Dist. 2018) provides a cautionary tale of the failure to comply with insurance regulatory filing requirements of...more
This case concerned a coverage dispute between Technical Security Integration Inc. and its insurer, Philadelphia Indemnity. The District Court for the District of Oregon denied Philadelphia Indemnity’s motion to compel...more
This case arose from an accident at the General Motors plant in Kansas City, Kansas, where an electrician employed by Capital Electric Construction Company, Inc. was severely injured due to negligence by Solaris Power...more
The case involved a dispute between the parties to a Reinsurance Participation Agreement (RPA). Defendants moved to compel arbitration, citing the Federal Arbitration Act and a provision in the RPA agreeing to resolve “[a]ll...more
In State Farm General Insurance Co. v. Watts Regulator Co. (No. B271236, filed 11/30/17), a California appeals court held that a manufacturer could not compel intercompany arbitration of an insurer’s subrogation claim,...more
In 2011, Top’s Personnel entered into a reinsurance agreement with Applied Underwriters Captive Risk Assurance Company (“AUCRA”), and several years later executed a promissory note (“the Note”) in favor of a related entity,...more
Applying the doctrine of judicial estoppel, a district court refused to compel arbitration finding that the arbitration clause in a reinsurance agreement was unenforceable under a Virginia statute that voided a mandatory...more
A California appellate court has upheld an order denying a motion to compel arbitration due to the possibility of conflicting rules, finding that, when a contract is silent on choice of law, California procedural rules, not...more
A federal district court has required Scottsdale Insurance Company to arbitrate a claim against Kinsale Insurance Company based on an arbitration clause in a contract between Kinsale and its insured – a contract to which...more
National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA provided Seneca Family of Agencies with workers’ compensation and employers’ liability insurance for Seneca’s operations in California from 2004 to 2013. The parties...more
In the most recent decision in an ongoing dispute between MF Global Holdings Ltd. and its (re)insurers, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York ordered Allied World to post a $15 million bond before the...more
A New York court compelled the arbitration of a claim under a reinsurance agreement, rejecting the plaintiff reinsurer’s claim that the reinsurance policy is void because the reinsured issued an underlying insurance policy...more
Under Alabama law, “arbitration may be compelled under the doctrine of ‘intertwining’ where arbitrable and nonarbitrable claims are so closely related that the party to a controversy subject to arbitration is equitably...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
Applied Underwriters Captive Risk Assurance Company appealed from the denial of its motion to compel arbitration in a dispute related to a reinsurance participation contract with South Jersey Sanitation Company. The trial...more
Applying Wisconsin law, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals determined the parties did not have an agreement to arbitrate because, even though their excess/reinsurance agreement contained “follow form” language, and the...more
In order to be arbitrable, a dispute must fall within the scope of the parties’ operative arbitration agreement. Here, a non-signatory to the relevant agreement was seeking to “invoke an arbitration provision that was not...more
In a suit by an auto body company against a captive insurance company for rescission of certain workers compensation reinsurance participation agreements, for disgorgement of $70,000 paid thereunder, and for fraud, breach of...more
National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh brought a petition in a New York federal court, to compel nine related companies to arbitrate a payment dispute relating to certain policies of insurance issued to the...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Vacation of Subdivision Plats: boards of county commissioners have limited authority under Fla. Stat. sec. 177.101(3) to grant or deny platted property owner’s request for vacation of plat; if...more