In Mosser Constr. Inc. v. Travelers Indem. Co., Civil Action No. 3:08CV2363 (N.D. Ohio Oct. 26, 2009) (Zouhary, J.), an Ohio District Court was confronted with the question of whether a company that supplied crushed stone backfill to a general contractor is a “subcontractor” within the meaning of the insurance policy, or merely a “material supplier.” 

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Read More Ohio District Court Holds Supplier of Defective Materials is Not a Subcontractor For Purposes of Exception to “Your Work” Exclusion

The Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China recently issued a letter on 30 December 2009 to all Higher People’s Courts in mainland China confirming that ad hoc arbitral awards made in Hong Kong and those arbitral awards made in Hong Kong by the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce and other foreign arbitration institutions are enforceable in mainland China in accordance with the Arrangement concerning Mutual Enforcement of Arbitral Awards between mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region signed in 1999 (the “Arrangement”). 

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Read More HK: Enforceability of Hong Kong Arbitral Awards in Mainland China

Scottish Lion appealed against a judgment delivered by Lord Glennie in which the petition for the proposed scheme of arrangement was dismissed. 

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Read More UK: Scottish Court of Session reverses Lord Glennie’s controversial judgment in the Scottish Lion case

Healthcare reform efforts remained in flux last week, as President Obama sought to repackage his party’s priorities in the wake of the shocking Republican victory in Massachusetts on January 19. 

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Read More Last Week in DC: The Healthcare Reform Debate – February 1, 2010

Join the U.S. Reinsurance Under 40s Group’s at their next event, “Preserving Liquid Assets” Lecture and Wine Tasting, on February 10 at the offices of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge in New York. 

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Read More REMINDER: Re Under 40s Next Event — “Preserving Liquid Assets” Lecture and Wine Tasting

In a significant ruling with potentially wide-reaching implications, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the Securities Act of 1933 causes of action (Sections 11, 12, and 15) against McGraw Hill and Moody’s (the “Rating Agencies”) in In re: Lehman Brother Mortgage Backed Securities Litigation. …
Read More Rating Agencies Dismissed from Section 11 Mortgage-Backed Securities Class Action

Habas Sinai Ve Tibbi Gazlar Isthisal Endustri As (“Habas”) v Sometal S.A.L. [2010] EWHC 29 (Comm) concerned an application to set aside an interim final award on jurisdiction and costs made by an arbitral tribunal by which the tribunal accepted jurisdiction to entertain a claim made by Sometal S.A.L. for breach of contract. …
Read More UK: Incorporation of Arbitration Clauses by General Words

In Global Process Systems Inc & Anor v Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad [2009] EWCA Civ 1398, the Court of Appeal overturned the first instance judgment of the Commercial Court (previously reported here), and found that the cause of the loss was not ‘inherent vice’ (a risk excluded under the claimant insured’s ‘all risks’ policy) but ‘perils of the sea’, a covered risk. …
Read More UK: Court of Appeal Overturns Recent Judgment on ‘Inherent Vice’