COURT CONFIRMS $443.5 MILLION ARBITRATION AWARD AND ORDERS $600 MILLION BOND
The California Department of Insurance Conservation and Liquidation Office won a $443.5 million dollar arbitration award in favor of five Superior National Insurance Companies in liquidation. The award was against the United States Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of AIG.
The arbitration arose out of a dispute of a 1998 reinsurance contract between U.S. Life and the five Superior National Companies. In 1999, U.S. Life initiated arbitration proceedings seeking rescission of the reinsurance contract, alleging misrepresentation and nondisclosure. The following year, Superior National, having suffered significant losses from its workers’ compensation business, became insolvent. California’s Insurance Commissioner seized the companies and placed them in conservation.
The arbitration panel denied U.S. Life’s claim for rescission, which was affirmed by the federal district court and Ninth Circuit. The arbitration panel then convened a second phase of arbitration to determine the amount of damages. The Final Arbitration Award ordered U.S. Life to pay the Superior National companies $443,515,724.
Following the district court’s confirmation of the award, the court entered a memorandum opinion requiring that U.S. Life post a $600 million dollar supersedeas bond (Order on bond memorandum decision) to provide adequate security for the judgment pending appeal. United States Life Ins. Co. v. Superior Nat'l. Ins. Co., Case No. 07-850 (USDC C.D. Cal.). This case is a consolidation of two cases.
This post written by Lynn Hawkins.
