Munich Re Prevails in Alabama Reinsurance Dispute

A federal court recently agreed with Munich Re that it was not obligated to reimburse an insurer for losses and fees the insurer incurred in litigation with its professional liability carrier regarding a bad faith claim stemming from a personal injury suit subject to the reinsurance treaty.

Alabama Municipal Insurance Corp. (AMIC) issued a commercial automobile insurance policy to the town of Woodland, Alabama. A Woodland employee driving a Woodland vehicle was subsequently involved in an accident in which two passengers were seriously injured. The passengers sued Woodland. AMIC defended Woodland against those claims. The passengers obtained jury awards that exceeded AMIC’s applicable policy limits.

The passengers then sued AMIC claiming AMIC acted in bad faith when it failed to settle within policy limits. AMIC tendered the bad faith claim to Scottsdale Insurance Co., which had issued a professional liability errors and omissions policy to AMIC. Scottsdale and AMIC settled the bad faith suit, but Scottsdale then filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a declaration that it had not been obligated to pay any part of the settlement. AMIC counterclaimed for breach of contract and bad faith. Scottsdale prevailed in the declaratory judgment action, AMIC lost on its counterclaims, and Scottsdale obtained its costs and fees.

AMIC requested partial reimbursement for all of this litigation from its reinsurer, Munich Re. Munich Re reimbursed most of the requested sum but concluded that it was not required to reimburse AMIC for AMIC’s costs and fees and Scottsdale’s costs and fees, which AMIC had been ordered to pay, in AMIC’s litigation with Scottsdale (the declaratory judgment action). AMIC sued, claiming that Munich Re was required to reimburse it for those sums as well.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama disagreed with AMIC and held that Munich Re did not owe AMIC any money for AMIC’s losses to Scottsdale.

The district court analyzed the applicable treaties and concluded that Munich Re was “not generally liable for costs that AMIC decided to pay above and beyond its obligations to its insured clients (in this case, Woodland).” AMIC nevertheless maintained that the treaties “obligated AMIC to pursue any other reinsurances or insurances that might inure to Munich [Re]’s benefit, and that this obligation, in turn, further obligated Munich [Re] to reimburse AMIC for th[at] pursuit.” The district court disagreed, noting that the treaty language did not establish any such obligation. Moreover, although “AMIC would have been obligated to reimburse Munich [Re] for any amount of the Woodland settlement that it was able to recover from Scottsdale,” it did not follow (as AMIC claimed) that Munich Re was “obligated to reimburse AMIC for the money it spent while attempting to secure such a recovery.” The treaty did not support that.

This decision was one of several pending disputes between AMIC and Munich Re.

Alabama Municipal Insurance Corp. v. Munich Reinsurance America, Inc., No. 2:20-cv-00300 (M.D. Ala. Aug. 30, 2023).