In Guangzhou Dockyards Co Ltd v ENE Aegialii [2010] EWHC 2826 (Comm), the High Court recently upheld the well-established principle that under English law, appeals against arbitral awards cannot be made on issues of fact. The case did, however, present the novel argument that it would be permissible to bring such an appeal either under the Arbitration Act 1996 (the Act) or under the inherent jurisdiction of the court where there was an agreement between the parties that an appeal could be made on “any issue arising out of any award”. …
Read More The Decision is Final: English High Court Rules That There Can Be No Appeal Against Arbitration Awards on Issues of Fact

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently issued a unanimous opinion in reversing a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to hold that a party-appointed arbitrator’s involvement in an earlier arbitration between the same parties did not disqualify him or render him incapable of serving in a subsequent arbitration involving related issues. …
Read More Seventh Circuit Reverses Decision that Disqualified Reinsurance Arbitrator Based on Service in Related Arbitration

It is not uncommon for ceding companies and their reinsurers to become embroiled in disputes on the manner in which a claim or settlement payment is allocated, whether a loss falls within the scope of coverage provided by the reinsurance contract, or whether a cedent’s claims-related decisions were reasonable and made in good faith. …
Read More Follow the Fortunes: Decisions and Trends in 2010

As previously reported here, Senior United States District Judge Roger Vinson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida declared the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) void in a summary judgment decision in the case of State of Florida, et al. v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, et al. …
Read More Federal Government Appeals Florida Case Deeming PPACA Unconstitutional

In Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines v Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) Limited [2010] EWHC 2661 (Comm), the English Commercial Court was asked to consider the effect on a contract of insurance of an order made by the UK Government for the purposes of preventing nuclear proliferation. …
Read More English Commercial Court Considers Application of Sanctions Order to Contract of Insurance

The New York State Insurance Department (NYID) recently promulgated a Tenth Amendment to New York Regulations 17, 20 and 20-A (11 NYCRR 125) (the Amendment), effective January 1, 2011, which authorizes the NYID Superintendent (the Superintendent) to reduce the amount of collateral required for domestic insurers to receive full financial statement credit for reinsurance ceded to unauthorized reinsurers satisfying the requirements detailed below. …
Read More New York Amends Credit for Reinsurance Regulation, Relaxing Unauthorized Reinsurer Collateral Requirements

Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge’s Insurance and Reinsurance Department recently published its latest Newsletter, Insurance & Reinsurance Review – March 2011, which contains nine articles about various topics in the insurance and reinsurance industry. …
Read More Insurance & Reinsurance Review – March 2011

Representative Michael Burgess (R-TX) recently reintroduced the Medical Justice Act (H.R. 896) (the “Act”) to the House Judiciary Committee. …
Read More Bill Proposing Caps on Medical Malpractice Awards Reintroduced in Congress

Representative Biggert (R-IL) is set to unveil draft legislation to overhaul the U.S. National Flood Insurance Program (the “NFIP”).  The NFIP provides coverage to over 5 million homes for flood damage.  It is sold through more than 90 companies that collect premiums on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) for a fee.  The premiums go to FEMA and are used to pay for claims. …
Read More Overhaul for National Flood Insurance Program on the Horizon

As part of the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) steps to strengthen the regime relating to client asset protection, in October 2010 it produced Policy Statement 10/16, which set out its policy on Client Money and Asset Returns (CMAR).  The policy requires all UK-authorised firms who hold client money or client assets to provide returns to the FSA on a regular basis (dependent on the size of the firm), showing what client assets are held and how they are held. …
Read More UK: FSA issues Consultation Paper on Implementation of Client Money and Asset Return Policy