Reinsurance & Arbitration Focus

An insurer has prevailed on its claim that the government violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by issuing a bulletin designed to put it out of business.

Brisk Insurance Services LLC supplies specialized software through approved insurance ...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that courts may consider a defendant’s pre-class certification conduct to determine whether that conduct is inconsistent with and therefore waives any right the defendant may have to compel arbitration.

Club ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has provided additional guidance on the interplay between the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s (FSIA) arbitration exception and traditional personal jurisdictional rules and related doctrines, including the forum ...

The U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont denied a motion to vacate an arbitration award after it concluded that the party seeking vacatur had failed to identify information it claimed made the arbitrator evidently partial and then failed to ask the ...

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas recently compelled arbitration under equitable estoppel principles in a dispute between a group of hospitals and a medical insurer.

A group of hospitals, collectively known as Medical City, filed suit ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that arbitrators’ decisions that an arbitration clause is unenforceable may not be used to preclude arbitration in cases involving other plaintiffs in the same putative class action subject to the same arbitration ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the inadvertent failure to record arbitration proceedings did not warrant vacating the arbitration award. The court thus affirmed confirmation of the award.

Salah Uddin and TD Ameritrade Inc. arbitrated a ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the partial denial of a motion to compel arbitration after concluding that the arbitration agreement did not clearly and unmistakably evidence an intent to delegate the question of arbitrability to the arbitrator ...

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently rejected a party’s efforts to avoid arbitration and granted the opposing party’s motion to compel.

Everins Group LLC and Nova Casualty Co. entered into a program management agreement ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded that a dispute about what fees each party to an ongoing arbitration is required to pay is a matter for the arbitrator, not a court, to determine.

Twitter Inc., now known as X Corp., fired several of its employees ...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s order compelling arbitration after concluding that the defendants’ actions in twice seeking an immediate and total victory in court by asking the district court to reject the plaintiff’s ...

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana rejected an effort to avoid arbitration based on Louisiana law. The court held that federal law applied and required arbitration of claims against both domestic and foreign insurers because the ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a challenge to a confirmation of an arbitration award upholding the nonrenewal of a master franchise agreement for Subway restaurants.

Beginning in the 1990s, Subway International B.V. entered into a series of ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a challenge to a FINRA arbitration award after concluding that federal courts lacked jurisdiction over the matter.

Versel Green filed an action seeking to vacate a FINRA arbitration award in favor ...

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed a district court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration, concluding that the contract between the parties evinced an intent to arbitrate even if the purported arbitral forum chosen by the parties no ...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently concluded that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Coinbase Inc. v. Bielski is not limited to interlocutory appeals involving arbitration.

In Coinbase, which involved an interlocutory appeal from an ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently vacated a decision holding that a union could not compel arbitration of a grievance related to an expired collective bargaining agreement.

Xerox Corp. entered into a series of collective bargaining agreements with ...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently rejected challenges to a district court’s decision to confirm a Hong Kong arbitration award, including arguments that confirming the award violated public policy and international comity because it was ...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that it lacked jurisdiction over a petition to vacate an arbitration award.

Petitioners Stanley and Gail Friedler and several other individuals opened brokerage accounts with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. The ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently rejected an attempt to vacate an arbitration award related to a maritime contract.

Spliethoff Transport B.V. initiated arbitration against Phyto-Charter Inc. related to an alleged breach of a maritime contract ...

The Southern District of New York recently modified an arbitrator’s award regarding post-judgment interest and declined to award fees and costs related to the prevailing party’s motion to confirm the arbitration award.

Negocios y Telefonia Nedetel S.A ...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently refused to invalidate an arbitration award in a breach of contract case involving patent royalties based on purported violations of public policy.

Dr. John Insall patented various knee replacement devices and ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed the denial of a motion to compel arbitration after concluding, contrary to the district court’s decision, that a “sign-in wrap agreement” provided conspicuous notice of terms and that an arbitration ...

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has rejected an argument that opting out of arbitration clauses precluded arbitration under prior arbitration agreements in a dispute between Uber drivers and Uber.

A group of Illinois Uber drivers ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed a district court’s decision to deny a motion to compel arbitration in a case involving a request to refund the cost of airline tickets after a cancellation.

Winifredo and Macaria Herrera purchased airline ...

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas recently dismissed certain claims brought by a reinsurer related to its efforts to audit an insurer’s broker.

Antares Reinsurance Co. reinsured United Specialty Insurance Co. United Specialty ...

The U.S. Tax Court recently upheld a determination by the IRS that premium payments to certain microcaptives could not be deducted for tax purposes because the premium payments were not actually for “insurance.”

Dr. Sunil S. Patel, who operated an eye ...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a district court lacked jurisdiction to confirm an arbitration award because the court did not have an independent basis for jurisdiction on the face of the application and could not “look through” to see ...

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a district court’s decision to vacate and remand an arbitration decision in a case concerning companies’ withdrawal from a retirement fund.

For many years, various companies made contributions on behalf ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a decision compelling arbitration based on an arbitration provision in website “terms of use,” even though those terms were in a hyperlink.

In Patrick v. Running Warehouse LLC, a group of consumers brought ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a district court’s refusal to enjoin arbitration was immediately appealable because the arbitration agreement was governed by state law rather than the Federal Arbitration Act. The Second Circuit went ...

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana recently refused to compel arbitration on the ground that the arbitral forum had ceased to exist and that a purported replacement forum was not the same forum and that a party could thus not be compelled ...

The Supreme Court of Tennessee has approved a trial court’s consideration of extrinsic evidence regarding whether an individual with Down syndrome had the capacity to execute a durable power of attorney that his brother used to enter an arbitration agreement ...

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 ...

The Nevada Supreme Court recently reversed the denial of a motion to compel arbitration, explaining that the plaintiff’s arguments that the contract at issue was illegal were not a valid basis to deny arbitration because those arguments did not challenge the ...

The Southern District of New York recently dismissed a petition to confirm a $145 million arbitration award rendered in Hong Kong based on lack of personal jurisdiction.

Zhongzhi Hi-Tech Overseas Investment Ltd. obtained a $145 million arbitration award in ...

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has again allowed creditors of Venezuela to attach assets belonging to Venezuela’s national oil company to satisfy arbitration awards against Venezuela. The Third Circuit rejected Venezuela’s arguments that it was ...

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the New York Convention applies to an insurance arbitration dispute between a Puerto Rican company and Lloyd’s of London and that the convention preempts a Puerto Rican law seemingly banning arbitration in ...

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has followed up on its recent jurisprudence outlining the standards for the Federal Arbitration Act’s “transportation worker exception,” as we previously posted, by applying its recently delineated standards to hold ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently clarified its process for determining whether a court can apply a presumption of arbitrability. The court noted that its traditional process for making that determination does not comport with the U.S. Supreme ...

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has overruled long-standing precedent and joined the Second, Third, Fifth, and Seventh Circuits to hold that the grounds for vacatur of an arbitral award are set out in domestic law (specifically Chapter 1 of the Federal ...

The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently clarified the standards for invoking the “transportation worker” exception to the Federal Arbitration Act. The court noted that fact-finding on that exception should focus on the frequency with which workers ...

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently rejected a claim that an arbitration award should be vacated by holding that the challenging party’s arguments improperly asked the court to review the merits of the arbitration panel’s decision and noting that ...

The Court of Appeals of Maryland recently held that the question of arbitrability was for a court, not an arbitrator, to decide where the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had fraudulently induced them to enter agreements they did not understand contained ...

The Tenth Circuit recently affirmed a district court’s decision not to vacate a confirmation award even though the underlying arbitration award had been annulled by a Bolivian court following the confirmation. The Tenth Circuit agreed that public policy ...

The Supreme Court of Wyoming recently rejected claims by a party that had largely prevailed in arbitration, but asserted that it should have received its fees, and that the arbitrator incorrectly decided several issues.

Fork Road, LLC owned part of a building ...

The Fifth Circuit affirmed judgments confirming an arbitration award despite concluding that the lower courts should have considered one of the party’s claims that a dispute decided by the arbitrator was beyond the scope of arbitration.

Attorney Jon ...

The D.C. Circuit affirmed the denial of a stay regarding the enforcement of an international arbitration award under the New York Convention.

In 2010, the country of Moldova allegedly failed to pay energy bills to Energoalliance, a Ukrainian company. LLC SPC ...

The Sixth Circuit recently rejected a challenge to a Rule 12(c) judgment compelling arbitration in a dispute between a Kroger subsidiary and a union that represented its employees.

Kroger Limited Partnership I (KLPI), which is part of The Kroger Company, had a ...

The Supreme Court of Arkansas recently refused to consider the portion of an appeal involving a motion to compel arbitration because the lower court had not ruled on the motion and the court therefore concluded it did not have jurisdiction to consider the appeal.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a summons is not required to initiate proceedings to compel a foreign arbitration award against a foreign instrumentality. The court also confirmed the arbitration award at issue but vacated the district ...

A court recently confirmed an arbitration award totaling nearly $23 million after rejecting the losing party’s arguments that the arbitrator exceeded his authority, improperly calculated damages, and violated an American Arbitration Association rule.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently vacated and remanded an order concluding that a party was not bound by an arbitration award after concluding that the district court failed to consider whether that party may have consented to arbitration through its ...

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a district court should have granted a motion to compel arbitration even though there was a dispute about the legality of an assignment of a loan agreement that contained the arbitration clause at issue. The ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently concluded that a claim to recover on defaulted bonds issued by a foreign sovereign was untimely under New York’s six-year statute of limitation.

Bainbridge Fund Ltd. owned several bonds issued by the Republic of ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently partially refused to enforce a foreign arbitration award on the ground that it was required to give comity to a foreign court decision concerning that award.

Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd. entered into a ...

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the tax court’s decision that a captive insurance arrangement that reinsured a number of other captive insurers did not qualify for a tax exemption.

Reserve Mechanical Corp. issued a number of insurance ...

The D.C. Circuit recently affirmed a judgment in favor of reinsurers in a suit brought by an insured after concluding that the insured could not assert breach of contract and related claims against the reinsurers because the insured had no direct relationship ...

A divided panel of the Second Circuit recently held that independent distributors who distribute bakery products were not transportation workers and therefore were not exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The Second Circuit therefore concluded ...

The Southern District of New York has held that a petitioner did not show that it diligently pursued its rights or that extraordinary circumstances existed to equitably toll the three-year statute of limitation to confirm a foreign arbitration award. The court ...

On March 23, 2022, a New York federal court confirmed an award in an arbitration before a tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) between Olin Holdings Ltd. and the state of Libya under a bilateral investment treaty. In the underlying ICC ...

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals recently concluded that whether an arbitration agreement could be enforced against a non-signatory who was allegedly a third-party beneficiary of the arbitration agreement was for the arbitrator, not the court, to determine ...

The D.C. Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a suit against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that sought to modify or vacate an arbitration award after concluding that the IMF did not waive its immunity from judicial process in the agreement that ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently concluded that the Federal Arbitration Act’s exemption for “workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce” applied to drivers and precluded their employer from compelling arbitration because, even ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed a district court’s decision granting a motion to compel arbitration filed by a non-signatory to the agreement containing the arbitration clause. The non-signatory argued that it was a third-party ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently invalidated an arbitrator's procedure for determining whether New York City Department of Education employees would receive religious accommodations to a vaccine mandate after finding that the arbitrator's ...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently concluded that a grievance by a Kroger union was included within the scope of an arbitration clause in a collective bargaining agreement.

Kroger and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local Union No. 413 ...

The Second Circuit recently affirmed the confirmation of an arbitrator’s decision dismissing claims on statute of limitations grounds against a claim that the arbitrator had no authority to consider such a defense and affirmed an order by the district court ...

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals recently declined to hear an appeal or grant a writ of mandamus seeking review of a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to institute inter partes review proceedings even though those proceedings were allegedly ...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently concluded that an arbitration clause that prohibited claimants from seeking or receiving any remedy that provided additional retirement benefits or other relief was unenforceable because it prospectively ...

The Second Circuit recently affirmed the denial of motions to compel arbitration filed by, inter alia, the Trump Corp. and a nonparty from whom the plaintiffs sought discovery.

Several anonymous plaintiffs filed a putative class action against the Trump Corp ...

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently refused to vacate an arbitration award stemming from a workplace personal injury after the arbitrator concluded that the employee was primarily responsible for his own injuries.

Daniel ...

The Eleventh Circuit recently declined a rental car company’s attempt to invoke an arbitration clause in Orbitz.com’s terms of use in a lawsuit brought by a disgruntled customer who booked his rental car through Orbitz despite the seemingly broad language ...

A federal district court recently confirmed an arbitration decision concluding that a disgruntled former employee’s discrimination and retaliation claims under Title VII were time-barred because the former employee did not initiate arbitration in a ...

The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently concluded that an app user had sufficient notice of and was bound by an arbitration clause in the app’s terms and conditions. The court rejected the user’s arguments that, among other things, she was not bound by the ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a decision confirming a decision by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) that applied the law of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Cessna Finance Corp. leased several private jets to startup Prestige ...

The Sixth Circuit recently reversed a district court’s decision to award attorneys’ fees after the Circuit concluded that the claim on which the fees were awarded was subject to mandatory arbitration, and noted that the arbitrator had not awarded any fees ...

The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama recently predicted that the Alabama Supreme Court would refuse to recognize bad faith claims in the context of reinsurance disputes if it was presented with the question. The district court ...

Aflac recently avoided an attempt by several former employees to invalidate an arbitration agreement on the ground that it constituted an impermissible prospective waiver of the employees’ statutory rights by waiving the purportedly problematic ...

An employer was able to enforce an arbitration agreement without an employee’s signature and even though one of the parties in the lawsuit was also a non-signatory to the agreement.

Elizabeth Trujillo was an employee of Volt Management Corp., an employee ...

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently held that Uber's notification of its "terms and conditions" during the registration process for its app did not provide "reasonable notice" to users of Uber's terms, that there was therefore no valid contract ...

A London Court of Appeal recently vacated and remanded a High Court's decision precluding the approval of a deal to transfer approximately 370,000 annuities after concluding that the High Court made several errors in its analysis of the relevant factors in play.

The Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently compelled arbitration involving a claim by a plaintiff who had not signed a Comcast subscriber agreement on the ground that the plaintiff had used benefits under the agreement and exercised control over the Comcast ...

A federal court recently refused to compel arbitration after it concluded that there had been no refusal to arbitrate. The court also refused to appoint arbitrators for the parties.

Linda L. Allen claimed Horter Investment Management, LLC’s ...

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected a reinsurer’s denial of a claim. The court disagreed with the reinsurer’s position than exhaustion language had not been satisfied, and found the exhaustion language ambiguous ...

The Ninth Circuit recently concluded that a consumer was not bound by updated terms merely because she accessed a website that contained new terms in a “browse-wrap” agreement on the website. The court also concluded that an arbitration clause in the ...

A court recently granted a temporary restraining order enjoining a FINRA arbitration from proceeding after the court concluded that there was a serious question regarding arbitrability.

Barry Horowitz, an estate planning attorney who had a relationship with ...

The Fourth Circuit recently vacated and remanded an order denying a motion to stay proceedings pending arbitration after concluding that the district court erroneously failed to consider evidence beyond the pleadings because the motion to stay was part of a ...

The Eastern District of California recently granted partial summary judgment to a class of plaintiffs suing a reinsurer and related entities with respect to a reinsurance arrangement regarding private mortgage insurance that allegedly involved illicit ...

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Puerto Rico recently rejected a defendant's arguments that a clause in a Private Purchase and Sale Agreement of Shares and Other Matters was invalid under Supreme Court case law but nevertheless agreed with ...

The Supreme Court of Mississippi has reversed and remanded a trial court's refusal to enforce an arbitration agreement after rejecting the plaintiff's arguments against arbitration. The Court also instructed the trial court to try to determine which ...

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals recently rejected a claimant's effort to vacate the dismissal of his FINRA claim following his repeated failure to comply with various deadlines.

Zane Piston initiated a FINRA arbitration against his former employer ...

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to enforce an arbitration agreement because it impermissibly limited claims to those available under tribal law at the expense of federal statutory claims. The court also concluded that the relevant clause could ...

The First Circuit vacated an order compelling arbitration after finding that the arbitrator selection clause was unconscionable. The court nevertheless remanded the case to the district court to determine if the selection clause was severable from the ...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently declined to compel arbitration in a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class action with respect to more than 70 employees for whom the defendant employer could not produce signed arbitration agreements due to apparent ...

The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently rejected a party's argument that an arbitration agreement was unenforceable because the contract containing the arbitration clause had been allegedly terminated and superseded. The court explained that ...

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas recently compelled arbitration against insurers but not brokers related to a commercial insurance dispute.

After Hurricane Harvey decimated Houston, an insured sought coverage under its commercial ...

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that equitable estoppel doctrines can be invoked by non-signatories seeking to compel arbitration under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.

ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA contracted with ...

The Fifth Circuit has rejected challenges under Article V of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards to a Swedish arbitration award.

In 1994, Carpatsky Petroleum Corp., at the time a Texas company, entered into a joint ...

The Fifth Circuit has suggested that the question of class arbitrability was for the arbitrator, not the court, based on the language of the arbitration clause at issue. The court ultimately concluded, however, that it did not need to reach that issue because the ...