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
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 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
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
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
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has found that Kentucky’s Insurers Rehabilitation and Liquidation Law (IRLL) did not reverse-preempt the Federal Arbitration Act so as to prohibit the arbitration of a dispute when that...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
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
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
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
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
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