Reinsurance Focus

We previously reported on the en banc decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit holding that the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (also known as the New York Convention), prevailed over a state law that prohibited arbitration provisions in insurance policies. The Second and Fifth Circuits are now in conflict on this important arbitration issue. We offer a Special Focus view of this decision.

This post written by Rollie Goss.

On October 26, 2009 we posted a brief item on Telenor Mobile Communications AS v. Altimo Holdings & Investments Limited, 07-4974 (2d Cir. Oct. 8, 2009), in which the Third Circuit held that: (1) the district court did not err in not holding a trial to determine whether a dispute before it was arbitrable based upon a dispute as to whether the person who signed the contract containing an arbitration provision had apparent authority to sign the document on behalf of a corporate party, when the factual record clearly demonstrated that the signer had apparent authority to do so; and (2) the district court did not act in manifest disregard of law by confirming an arbitration award that failed to give preclusive effect to a collusive judgment of a Ukrainian court adjudicating an issue before the arbitration panel. Blogmaster Rollie Goss submits a more detailed SPECIAL FOCUS post on this interesting case.

This post written by Rollie Goss.

Last month we posted a short item on the progress of the NAIC’s reinsurance regulation proposal at its Fall Meetings. We now present a Special Focus feature, providing additional context and detail with respect to the NAIC’s actions.

This post written by Rollie Goss.

Blogmaster Roland Goss is now a regular contributing editor to Harris Martin's Reinsurance publication, contributing articles on arbitration-related issues. We publish his first contribution to Reinsurance here, which is an expanded look at the Supreme Court's decision in Arthur Andersen v. Carlisle, which we previously posted on. The article describes the Circuit conflict that gave rise to this opinion as well as the Court's holding that a non-party to an arbitration agreement may appeal the denial of a motion to stay pending arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act.

This post written by Rollie Goss.

Special Focus editor John Pitblado writes about the circumstances under which it is appropriate to seal court documents, including business-related documents filed with a court. While the principles involved are fairly clear, their application varies from case to case.

This post written by John Pitblado.

The NAIC's Reinsurance Regulatory Modernization Act was supposed to be the solution for the problems surrounding the regulation of reinsurance and the role of collateral in reinsurance transactions. SPECIAL FOCUS Editor John Pitblado describes the critical comments received to the exposure draft of the proposed federal legislation, the consitutional issues involved and the current status of this initiative, in Constitutional Concerns with the Reinsurance Regulatory Modernization Act.

This post written by John Pitblado.

The NAIC's Reinsurance Regulatory Modernization Act was supposed to be the solution for the problems surrounding the regulation of reinsurance and the role of collateral in reinsurance transactions. SPECIAL FOCUS Editor John Pitblado describes the critical comments received to the exposure draft of the proposed federal legislation, the consitutional issues involved and the current status of this initiative, in Constitutional Concerns with the Reinsurance Regulatory Modernization Act.

This post written by John Pitblado.

There have been a number of court opinions during the past year or so addressing the circumstances under which agreements to waive class claims in arbitration may be unconscionable. Special Focus Editor John Pitblado takes a closer look at some recent federal Court of Appeals decisions in this area.

This post written by John Pitblado.

There have been many proposals floated for the “modernization” of the regulation of various sectors of the financial services industry. What are the implications of such proposals for the reinsurance industry? In a SPECIAL FOCUS feature, Rollie Goss, blogmaster and chair of a Task Force formed by Jorden Burt to monitor federal regulatory proposals which may affect its clients, discusses generally the major proposals to date which may affect the reinsurance industry. Many of the proposals made to date remain in a fairly conceptual stage, but a few now are progressing to the stage of proposed Congressional bills. The documents discussed in this short paper include:

• a Treasury Department Blueprint for a Modernized Federal Regulatory Structure;
• a draft bill prepared by the NAIC and exposed for comment;
• a draft bill from the Treasury Department titled the Resolution Authority for Systematically Significant Financial Companies Act of 2009; and
• a recently introduced bill, HR 1880 (bill text and bill summary).

For additional Special Focus items, see the new sidebar box with quick links to selected Special Focus items.

This post written by Rollie Goss.

The NAIC's Financial Condition (E Committee) has approved the pending Reinsurance Regulatory Modernization Framework proposal. For a complete description of this action, as well as an update on the status of similar actions in Florida and New York, see the attached memorandum

This post written by Rollie Goss.