Many reinsurance disputes are arbitrated, giving rise to issues such as effective selection of arbitrators, understanding of industry custom and practice and procedural disputes respecting arbitration panel authority. Having arbitrated hundreds of reinsurance disputes, under both treaties and facultative contracts, in the U.S., UK and Bermuda, we offer clients a comprehensive understanding of the principles, customs and practices unique to the reinsurance industry and reinsurance arbitration. Our lawyers also know the reinsurance arbitration community well, through both hands-on arbitration experience and active participation in reinsurance arbitration workshops and conferences.
We have extensive experience with the procedural disputes typical in reinsurance arbitrations, including pre-hearing security, consolidation, challenges to arbitrators and arbitrator subpoena power.
Our lawyers are well acquainted with the reinsurance disputes that have arisen from long-tail casualty business such as asbestos and pollution claims, including the cession of declaratory judgment expenses, the single occurrence presentation of mass tort losses, aggregation of losses, ECO/XPL coverage and the allocation of settlement payments. We are also well-versed in the more recently publicized problems associated with workers’ compensation carve-out, accident and health business, finite reinsurance contracts and other structured products. Our lawyers have helped shape the law on fundamental substantive issues applicable to all types of reinsurance business, such as the follow-the-fortunes doctrine, the duty of utmost good faith, rescission and late notice. We have ample experience in cross-border disputes requiring U.S. and UK lawyers to work together to solve our clients’ problems.