A federal court recently denied a cedent’s motion to transfer a lawsuit commenced by its reinsurer from New York to Connecticut.  The cedent argued that the case should be transferred because the issues involved were related to similar lawsuits commenced by the cedent against other reinsurers in Connecticut, and because the action could have been brought in that forum.  The court, however, held that these factors were not enough to overcome the “significant weight” that must be afforded to a plaintiffs’ choice of forum under U.S.  law.  Moreover, the court noted that the reinsurance agreement at issue had strong connections to New York, despite the cedent’s allegation that the reinsurer filed suit pre-emptively in response to threatened litigation against it.

Click here to review the court’s decision, captioned White Mountains Reinsurance Co. of America v. Travelers Cas. & Sur. Co., No: 11-cv-00390 (2011).