On May 21, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals heard en banc oral argument on its ruling in Safety National Casualty Corp. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, No. 06-30262 (5th Cir. Sept. 29, 2008) that the New York Convention overrides a Louisiana statute prohibiting arbitration clauses in insurance contracts. 

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Read More Fifth Circuit Hears En Banc Oral Argument on whether New York Convention Is “Reverse Preempted” by Louisiana Statute

The insured, a security firm operating in Iraq under contract with the U.S. government, was sued by former Iraqi detainees and their survivors for allegedly torturing prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison and other detention centers in Iraq.  The insured, in turn, sought defense and indemnity coverage for the lawsuits under its commercial general liability protection policies, which obligated the insurer to defend and indemnify the insured against any suit for covered injuries or damage. 

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Read More Fourth Circuit Holds that Insurer Is Not Obligated to Defend Security Firm in Lawsuits Alleging Torture of Iraqi Prisoners by Its Employees

Certain entities (“Petitioners”) provided Respondents with advice to minimize taxes from the sale of their company.  See Arthur Andersen LLP, et al. v. Carlisle, et al., 129 S.Ct. 1896 (May 4, 2009).  As part of the tax shelter that was ultimately created to accomplish this goal, certain Respondents entered into investment-management agreements with Bricolage Capital LLC, which specified that “[a]ny controversy arising out of or relating to [the agreements] or the breach thereof, shall be settled in arbitration conducted in New York, New York.” 

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Read More U.S. Supreme Court Finds that a Nonsignatory to an Arbitration Agreement May Invoke Section 3 of the FAA to Stay an Action in Favor of Arbitration, and is Entitled to an Interlocutory Appeal of an Order Denying Such a Motion

The American Hospital Association last week submitted a comment letter to the Senate Finance Committee urging the Committee not to reduce hospitals’ Medicare payments to help fund health care reform.  Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had made that suggestion, among others, on May 18 in a health reform policy paper prepared prior to the Committee taking up the matter this month. …
Read More AHA to Senate: Don’t Cut Medicare Payments

A recent report by Families USA, an advocacy group, said that the average family pays $1,000 a year more for health insurance premiums to subsidize the cost of health care for the uninsured.  The average individual pays $370 more per year.  This cost-shifting becomes necessary whenever someone who doesn’t have medical insurance receives care at a hospital emergency room, clinic or physician’s office and then doesn’t pay for the care. …
Read More U.S. Health Insurance Costs Subsidize the Uninsured

Several multinational insurance companies have recently reported growth in their Latin American business, as well as plans for further expansion of their operations in the region. 

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Read More Latin American Update: Companies Report Growth Numbers and Expansion Plans in Latin America

In Hrvatska Elektroprivreda v Slovenia [ICSID Case No ARB/05/24 (6 May 2008)] the defendant, in an arbitration before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investments Disputes (ICSID) waited until one week before a substantive hearing, to disclose to the tribunal and the claimant, a list of lawyers who would be attending. When disclosed, the list included a QC who was a member of the same chambers as the president of the tribunal (which is not unusual in English law proceedings). 

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Read More UK: Questioning the Impartiality of Chambers

(1) Roger Shashoua (2) Rodemadan Holdings Ltd (3) Stancroft Trust Ltd v Mukesh Sharma [2009] EWHC 957 (Comm) involved a dispute over a shareholders agreement governed by Indian law, which contained an arbitration clause providing for an arbitration in London, under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (the ICC). 

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Read More UK: Supranational Arbitrations and the Laws of England

As discussed here, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred in Honduras on May 28, 2009.  According to reports in Central American newspapers, Honduran authorities have now estimated property losses from the earthquake at US$100 million, much of that concentrated in the nation’s largest port in Puerto Cortes, the Empresa Nacional Portuaria. 

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Read More Update: Honduran Earthquake Property Losses Estimated at $100 Million

New York’s highest court recently held that an exclusion for “earth movement” in a property policy did not exclude coverage for damage to the policyholder’s building that resulted when excavation of the adjacent lot caused earth to slide away beneath the insured building. 

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Read More New York Court of Appeals: Earth Movement Exclusion Does Not Apply to Damage Caused by Adjacent Lot Excavation