U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Dispute Concerning Preemptive Effect of New York Convention on State Law Barring Arbitration

In a case we have been following on www.insurereinsure.com, Louisiana Safety Association of Timbermen – Self Insured Fund v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari to hear a dispute between an insurance pool and its reinsurer concerning whether the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”) preempts a Louisiana statute that bars enforcement of arbitration agreements in insurance or reinsurance contracts.  Therefore, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Lousiana Safety — which held that the New York Convention preempts and supersedes the Louisiana state law precluding the enforcement of arbitration agreements in insurance contracts  — remains good law.