Mealey's Reinsurance
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August 31, 2021
Reinsurer Suggests 2nd Circuit Deadline In Test Of Environmental Settlement Spat
NEW YORK — Following the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ lift of a stay, a reinsurer in an Aug. 27 letter requested a Nov. 19 deadline for its appellant brief challenging a ruling ordering it to pay an umbrella insurer $8,484,722.81 in a dispute over responsibility for an environmental claims settlement.
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August 31, 2021
Reinsurer Shouldn’t Get New Trial Or Stay Of $10.9M Judgment, Insurer Tells Court
ALBANY, N.Y. — A jury’s $10,901,005 judgment in an insurer’s favor was proper and each of a reinsurer’s contrary arguments “is mistaken,” the insurer told a federal judge in New York on Aug. 26 in a dispute over defense costs paid for asbestos liabilities, filing opposition to a reinsurer’s motions to stay and to amend the judgment or to hold a new trial.
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August 30, 2021
Reverse Judgment On Exhaustion Requirement, Reinsurer Urges 2nd Circuit
NEW YORK — Seeking reversal of an asbestos billing judgment in an excess insurer’s favor that was based on a ruling that an exhaustion requirement was ambiguous, a reinsurer says in its Aug. 19 appellant brief before the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the insurer has successfully argued in separate proceedings that the same language is unambiguous; the reinsurer also says the insurer should be judicially estopped from arguing that the language is ambiguous.
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August 27, 2021
Georgia High Court Hears Oral Arguments On Reversed Arbitration Award
ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court on Aug. 26 heard oral arguments on an appeals court’s decision reversing confirmation of a $462,781 arbitration award in a dispute between a car dealership and a reinsurer.
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August 27, 2021
Arbitration Award Resolving Catholic Fund Dispute With Reinsurers Confirmed
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on Aug. 25 entered judgment confirming a final award executed by a panel of arbitrators to resolve a dispute between Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America and three reinsurers over sexual misconduct claim coverage.
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August 26, 2021
Insurance Regulators: Conservatorship Test Rightly Tossed Under Doctrine
PASADENA, Calif. — Allegations that they violated constitutional rights and acted in bad faith by filing a conservatorship against a workers’ compensation insurer were properly dismissed under the prior exclusive jurisdiction doctrine, the California insurance commissioner and his deputies tell the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in their Aug. 25 appellees’ brief, arguing that a federal judge in California correctly considered the gravamen of the action; they also urge affirmation of the judge’s alternative finding that abstention under Younger v. Harris applies.
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August 26, 2021
Insurer’s Successor Asks 9th Circuit To Reverse Dismissal Of Conservatorship Case
SAN FRANCISCO — Neither the prior exclusive jurisdiction rule nor abstention under Younger v. Harris applies to allegations that state regulators abused their authority in obtaining a conservatorship against a workers’ compensation insurance carrier, the insurer’s successor in interest argues in an Aug. 16 appellant brief before the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking reversal and remand following a trial court’s dismissal of the case.
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August 25, 2021
7th Circuit Upholds Arbitral Orders For Reinsurer Under Honorable Engagement
CHICAGO — Arbitrators did not exceed their authority under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in issuing an interim order that “clarified how its primary award applied to certain future billings” or in denying reconsideration of that order, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 23, rejecting an attempt to overturn the decision by a federal judge in Illinois in favor of a reinsurer.
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August 25, 2021
Panel Denies Government’s Request To Rehear Appeal Seeking To Vacate $24.5M ACA Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 20 denied the U.S. government’s petition for a panel rehearing of its appeal seeking to vacate a $24.5 million award for an insolvent insurer’s liquidator, rejecting the government’s challenge to the court’s finding that it does not have a right to offset Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) obligations during the insolvency proceeding and that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ money judgment was proper.
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August 24, 2021
$8.4M In Prejudgment Interest Would Be Improper Windfall, Reinsurer Argues
ALBANY, N.Y. — The $8,444,834 in prejudgment interest that an insurer seeks would constitute an improper windfall under New York law, a reinsurer on Aug. 19 told a federal judge in New York in a dispute over defense costs paid for asbestos liabilities, opposing an insurer’s motion to correct or amend a $10,901,005 judgment in the insurer’s favor to include prejudgment interest.
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August 24, 2021
Reinsurer To 11th Circuit: Affirm No Coverage Ruling For Wrongful Acts Defense
ATLANTA — A federal judge in Florida correctly entered summary judgment in its favor because the defense costs at issue fell under a different coverage agreement, a reinsurer asserts in its Aug. 19 appellant brief in a breach of contract dispute, urging the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm the ruling that it does not owe reimbursement to a self-insured intergovernmental risk management association.
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August 19, 2021
Jury Trial Date In Reinsurance Billings Suit Reset On COVID-19 Travel Concerns
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge on Aug. 17 rescheduled a jury trial in a reinsurance billings dispute over the allocation of a $120 million environmental claims settlement to Feb. 28, 2022; the dispute involves an English reinsurer, and electronic clerk’s notes in the docket say, “Due to the current travel ban in the UK, many of the witnesses who reside there will be unable to travel for the trial.”
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August 19, 2021
Judge Allows Distribution Of Funds To Insolvent Insurers In ACA Risk-Corridor Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge said on Aug. 12 that a claims administrator may distribute 95% of funds recently recovered by two subclasses of insolvent insurers in a lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that the U.S. government owes the insurers millions of dollars under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) risk-corridor program, indicating that the remaining 5% will remain in escrow until resolution of class counsel’s motions for attorney fees.
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August 19, 2021
Panel Affirms Ruling In Favor Of Crop Insurer On Arbitration, Preemption
FRESNO, Calif. —A dispute over a federally reinsured crop insurance policy is subject to arbitration, a ranch’s failure to initiate arbitration under the policy’s terms precludes judicial review of the arbitration award and federal law preempts claims for negligence and unfair insurance practices, a California appellate panel ruled Aug. 16 in an unpublished opinion, affirming a lower court’s judgment in favor of the insurer and related parties.
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August 19, 2021
Reinsurers’ Unredacted 4th Amended Complaint Permanently Sealed By Court
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge on Aug. 11 permanently sealed a fourth amended complaint filed by reinsurers in a dispute over indemnification for asbestos bodily injury claims after determining that sealing the complaint is warranted because the complaint contains confidential information that entitles the reinsurers’ to protection.
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August 18, 2021
Judge Convenes Status Conference On Trial Date In Reinsurance Billings Suit
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge on Aug. 13 granted a reinsurer’s motion to convene a status conference to schedule a new trial date in a reinsurance billings dispute over the allocation of a $120 million environmental claims settlement after determining that the reinsurer’s concerns regarding the inability of its witnesses to travel from England because of the rise in the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus are valid.
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August 18, 2021
Federal Judge Dismisses Reinsurer’s Suit Seeking Declaration On Rescission
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin federal judge on Aug. 4 dismissed a reinsurer’s suit seeking a declaration that the rescission of an errors and omissions (E&O) policy was warranted based on misrepresentations made to the reinsurer because the misrepresentations about underlying incidents involving the insured did not amount to any claims made against the insured.
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August 18, 2021
2nd Circuit Lifts Stay On Briefing Schedule In Reinsurance Billings Dispute
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 12 lifted a stay of the briefing schedule in a reinsurer’s appeal of a $35 million judgment entered in favor of an excess insurer in an asbestos coverage dispute, ordering the reinsurer to file its principal brief and the joint appendix by Aug. 20.
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August 17, 2021
Trial Date Set For Insurers’ Claims Against Reinsurer’s Parent Companies
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Aug. 3 set a September 2022 trial date for insurers’ claims against a reinsurer’s parent companies of intentional interference with contractual relation and inducing breach of contract.
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August 17, 2021
Reinsurer Moves For New Trial Or Change In $10.9M Judgment For Insurer On Asbestos
ALBANY, N.Y. — Arguing that it is entitled to a new trial or altered or amended judgment, a reinsurer on Aug. 5 filed two notices of motions in a federal court in New York regarding a jury verdict that awarded $10,901,005 to an insurer in a dispute over defense costs paid for asbestos liabilities, citing in part a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision issued after the trial; the reinsurer also challenged a requested award of $8,444,834 in prejudgment interest.