Major hurricane losses in Puerto Rico as well as in the United States usually involve insurers having reinsurance treaties reimbursing the carriers for their Hurricane losses. This was a major topic of conversation at our Merlin Law Group holiday party in San Juan where the picture above was taken. That Saturday night party in San Juan was a lot of fun.
Continue Reading Reinsurance and Federal Arbitration Statute at Issue in Puerto Rico Hurricane Losses
In the Olin Corp. case,1 one of Olin Corporation’s (“Olin”) three carriers admitted only a small amount of liability and the other two delayed making a coverage decision. So, Olin filed suit in federal court against all three, seeking entry of a declaratory judgment that it was entitled to coverage.
Continue Reading Reinsurance Discoverable – Dynamite Discovery Decisions, Part 5
Insurance coverage litigation is a grueling race and winners are usually measured by their stamina and endurance through the discovery process. Courts are reluctant to get involved in discovery disputes, but they are intolerant to parties who try to smokescreen the truth. Reinsurance and underwriting documents are typical battlefields in the fight for information. Insurers closely guard this information, but courts do not protect reinsurance and underwriting information if fraud and misrepresentation defenses are at issue in the coverage litigation.
As I travelled with Chip Merlin to beautiful, but hot, Philadelphia for yesterday’s deposition in a case involving an Arizona fire loss, we discussed many of the documents that had been produced by the insurance company. The insurance company redacted hundreds of pages to conceal reinsurance information. While reinsurance information may not seem relevant to the actual issue of the case – whether the policy provided additional coverage for the loss that occurred – we agreed that this information is well worth obtaining.
Continue Reading Reinsurance Information Can Prove Quite Useful
Peter Thomas is one of those people that have the unique ability to think deeply about a wide variety of subjects, figure out how they interplay and then how that information impacts various people and entities in the future so he can make money in his business. It is no wonder he has been long successful in reinsurance and is a Managing Director of Willis Re. He was our moderator for the panel discussion, "The Legal Threats," I mentioned in my post yesterday, Insurance Insolvency & Reinsurance Roundtable Annual Seminar.
Continue Reading Thoughts Following the Insurance Insolvency & Reinsurance Roundtable
The 17th Annual Insurance Insolvency & Reinsurance Roundtable invited me to participate on a panel discussion today in Scottsdale, Arizona. The panel is advertised to discuss "The Legal Threats." I suppose I am on the panel, which usually consists of insurance company attorneys, because somebody has to be the token policyholder attorney who actually files the lawsuits that may impose reinsurance demands or insolvency. While I am hopeful that the clients who trust their insurance disputes to the Merlin Law Group may have claims against carriers that have reinsurance, insolvency is the last thing we ever wish for an insurer. It’s bad for everybody’s business.
Continue Reading Insurance Insolvency & Reinsurance Roundtable Annual Seminar