Two recent decisions from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York highlight the split among circuits on whether state insurance laws that prohibit arbitration of insurance and reinsurance...more
A significant number of states prohibit or restrict the arbitration of disputes between an insurer and its policyholder and/or preclude the inclusion of arbitral provisions in insurance policies.The McCarran-Ferguson Act...more
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
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IN A MINUTE OR LESS - The New York Convention typically requires U.S. courts to enforce written arbitration agreements covering international disputes, including arbitration clauses in contracts with...more
September. Synonymous with back to school, the end of summer, and the start of the NFL season. And while the Cowboys and Bucs kicked off the season this year, another epic battle was brewing out west in the corridors of the...more
Another Circuit Court Holds That the New York Convention Pre-empts State Laws Prohibiting Arbitration of Insurance Disputes - On August 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Article II, Section...more
In a dispute over whether an international insurance policy provided coverage for losses resulting from a fire that destroyed the insured property, the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico determined that the...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
In the wake of the liquidation of Legion Indemnity Co., the Illinois Director of Insurance, as liquidator of Legion, and Catalina Holdings arbitrated claims originating under reinsurance agreements between Legion and a...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
A Cornhusker by birth, I’ve always had a special affinity for Nebraska, and particularly Omaha, where I was raised. My only regret is that I was neither old nor rich enough to participate in Mr.Buffet’s original partnership....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
Monarch Consulting, Inc. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa., __ N.Y.3d __, 2016 WL 633946 (N.Y., Feb. 18, 2016) Case at a Glance - National Union Fire Insurance of Pittsburgh (“National Union...more
In an action to compel arbitration under payment agreements entered into between National Union and its insured, the New York Court of Appeals held the determination of arbitrability was not barred by the McCarran Ferguson...more
The late Justice Antonin Scalia was not the biggest fan of antitrust law. As he famously quipped during his Senate confirmation hearing: “In law school, I never understood [antitrust law]. I later found out, in reading the...more