The Standard Formula Podcast | Solvency II Back to Basics: Technical Provisions
The Standard Formula Podcast | Investment Rules for Insurers and Reinsurers
The Standard Formula Podcast | Solvency II Back to Basics: Third Country Branches and Cross-Border Provision of Services
Standard Formula Podcast | Reinsurance and Risk Transfer: Risk Mitigation Under the Solvency II Regime
NOWOTNY KNOWS SQUAT! Part 2 Using PPLI and PPVA Annuities to Raise Assets Under Management and Sell More Life Insurance
In Johnson v. Lowe’s Home Centers LLC, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court order granting defendant Lowe’s motion to compel arbitration of plaintiff Maria Johnson’s individual claims brought under...more
The English Court has, for the first time, considered the meaning of a “catastrophe”, as well as how Hours Clauses work in the context of non-damage business interruption losses claimed under two Property Catastrophe Excess...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
Concluding that the arbitrator did not manifestly disregard contract law or overstep his authority, the Georgia Court of Appeals confirmed the arbitrator’s award and remanded the matter for consideration of an award of...more
Arbitration awards may only be vacated in certain limited circumstances. A recent decision by the Supreme Court of Georgia is a reminder of the standard required to overturn an arbitration award. In Adventure...more
Concerns about bias and prejudice from multiple repeat appointments have plagued party-appointed arbitrators for years. This is true of international arbitration, commercial arbitration and, of course, insurance and...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
Umpire selection is one of the most important aspects of a reinsurance (or any other) arbitration because it can have a significant impact on the outcome of your case. Traditionally, parties have utilized the “strike and...more
Having served as a commercial mediator for the Southern District of New York mediation program for 28 years, I have some thoughts about the use of mediation to resolve insurance and reinsurance disputes. My perspective is...more
Perhaps Snoop Dogg should stick to gin n’ juice, as the rapper’s foray into promoting cognac and brandy products caused him to become the subject of a decade-long arbitral dispute, which was finally resolved last month. On...more
People often agree to arbitrate their disputes because they presume that, unlike litigation, the proceedings will be confidential. An increasing number of court decisions suggest that this presumption may be unwarranted....more
Interstate National Dealer Services, Inc. (“INDS”) challenged an arbitration award pursuant to OCGA § 9-9-13(b)(3), alleging the arbitrators overstepped their authority, and (5) the arbitrator’s manifest disregard of the law....more
The Southern District of New York declared that plaintiff Monjasa A/S was not bound by an arbitration agreement to which neither it nor the defendant was a party. The case stems from a fuel delivery contract between two...more
PB Life and Annuity Co. Ltd. brought this action seeking a declaratory judgment that a breach of contract dispute with Universal Life Insurance Co. was not subject to arbitration and must be litigated in federal or state...more
Plaintiffs filed a putative class action against Norwegian Cruise Lines claiming that Norwegian failed to disclose profits it earned when the plaintiffs elected to purchase travel insurance during the cruise booking process....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
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina has compelled arbitration over a party’s objection that the dispute at issue was not within the scope of the arbitration clause and that arbitration was...more
The Eighth Circuit reversed a district court decision vacating an arbitration award relating to a federal crop insurance policy issued through a standard reinsurance agreement with the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC). The...more
A Puerto Rico district court dismissed a third-party action by defendant-policyholder Puma Energy Caribe LLC against the reinsurers of an insurance policy issued by plaintiff Integrand Assurance Co. Puma claimed that the...more
Everest Reinsurance Co. appealed from two district court orders. It claimed that this dispute with Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co. was the same as a prior dispute that Penn National had arbitrated with two...more
As an update to our April 1, 2019 Reinsurance Alert, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania’s holding in Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty...more
The case involved a “second layer special casualty excess agreement of reinsurance” under which reinsurers General Reinsurance Corp. and SCOR Reinsurance Co. agreed to cover a certain amount in excess of Chicago Insurance...more
A federal court in New York recently held that an arbitration panel retained the right to resolve any dispute arising out of an arbitration award. In Chicago Insurance Company v. General Reinsurance Corporation et al., no....more
As late as the 1980s, the vast majority of U.S. reinsurance arbitrations were handled in-house. An in-house lawyer from the cedent and reinsurer presented their respective cases at a day-long hearing before a panel of...more
A Pennsylvania federal district court granted a motion to compel arbitration pursuant to 9 U.S.C. § 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act, over objection by the defendant on severability grounds. The defendant argued that its...more