Coverage & Claims

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President Obama’s ordered investigation of the BP disaster seems to lend support to BP’s own conclusions about the disaster and challenges congressional claims – as well as those made by others – that BP, Transocean and Halliburton made decisions that sacrificed safety to cut costs. …
Read More Federal BP Spill Panel: No Evidence that Money Trumped Safety in Deepwater Horizon Disaster

In Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines v Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) Limited [2010] EWHC 2661 (Comm) the Commercial Court had to assess the impact of the Financial Restrictions (Iran) Order 2009 (the Order), and a licence made under it (the Licence), on the provision of marine protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance. …
Read More UK: English Commercial Court Considers the Effect of Sanctions on a P&I Club

Underwriters can be ordered to disclose documents related to an application against them for a third party costs order under the Senior Courts Act s.51(3). In Owners and/or Demises Charterers of the Dredger Kamal XXIV v Owners of the Ship Ariela and Ors [2010] EWHC 2531 (Comm), the underwriters had been used by the insured as part of the mechanism for achieving fraud and under the circumstances it was held that a disclosure order was appropriate. …
Read More UK: Underwriters Obliged to Disclose Confidential Documents Following Fraud by Third Party

In Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. v. Insurance Co. of North America, Nos. 06-4100, 06-4101 and 08-1032 (2010), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the District Court’s decision holding that a cedent’s settlement allocation was reasonable and binding on the reinsurer, except for the portion of the allocation that was based upon annualized per-occurrence limits for multi-year policies. …
Read More Third Circuit Rules that Follow the Fortunes Doctrine Binds Reinsurer to Part, But Not All, of a Cedent’s Post-Settlement Allocation

We previously blogged about the District of Connecticut’s decision in Arrowood Surplus Lines Ins. Co. v. Westport Ins. Corp., No. 08-cv-1393 (D. Conn. 2010), in which the court held that a reinsurer had no duty to honor the portion of a cedent’s loss that was outside the scope of the reinsurance agreement at issue.  In that case, Equity Residential argued that a policy issued to it by Arrowood Surplus Lines Insurance Company had a three-year period and sought coverage for losses that occurred from December 15, 1999 to December 15, 2002.
Read More Second Circuit Finds that Portion of Cedent’s Loss is Outside the Scope of the Reinsurance Agreement, Relieving Reinsurer of any Obligation to Follow the Fortunes

Garnat Trading & Shipping (Singapore) PTE LTD (Garnat) and Vung Tau Shipbuilding Industry Joint-Stock Company (Vung Tau) v Baominh Insurance Corporation (Baominh) [2010] EWHC 2578 (Comm), concerned the loss of a floating dock (carrying a floating workshop) which sank in the course of being towed on a voyage from Vladivostok in Russia to Vung Tau in Vietnam. …
Read More UK: Marine Insurance – Non-Disclosure and Seaworthiness