Carlton Fields (JD Supra United Kingdom)

After paying out more than $21 million in settlements for its mishandling of a collective investment scheme that collapsed in 2009, financial services group ABSA filed suit in South Africa against its reinsurers to enforce reinsurance contracts that purportedly provided compensation for the settlement of lawsuits and arbitration.

A London Court of Appeal recently vacated and remanded a High Court’s decision precluding the approval of a deal to transfer approximately 370,000 annuities after concluding that the High Court made several errors in its analysis of the relevant factors in play.

Where the parties to a private arbitration in the United Kingdom disagreed as to whether the arbitration panel is a “foreign or international tribunal” for purposes of obtaining testimony from residents in South Carolina pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782, the Fourth Circuit determined that the panel was a “foreign tribunal” for purposes of the statute.

The High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts of England & Wales refused to sanction a scheme proposed by Prudential Assurance Co. and Rothesay Life PLC to transfer approximately 370,000 annuity policies from Prudential to Rothesay. The scheme was proposed under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

In a closely watched case, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales has given reinsurers a win with respect to reinsurance claims related to mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.

If Brexit happens, it will impact the entire European Union (EU) in various ways, and not just economically. For instance, what about the expatriates from an EU country residing in the U.K. pursuant to the current EU immigration rules or the 1.4 to 1.8 million U.K. nationals living in an EU country...

In a dispute involving a complex, multilayered excess insurance policy, the Commercial Court of the Queen’s Bench Division enjoined Weyerhaeuser, a Washington company, from suing Catlin Syndicate Limited, a London-based insurer, in Washington based on the parties’ agreement to arbitrate in London.

This case relates to a dispute between Eastern European Engineering Ltd. (“EEEL”) and Vijay Construction (Proprietary) Ltd. (“VCL”), both of which are incorporated in the Seychelles, arising out of the construction of a hotel resort and spa.

On December 11, 2018, the Secretary of the Treasury and the United States Trade Representative sent the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Senate Committee on Finance, the House Committee on Financial Services...

A court in the United Kingdom has issued a ruling considering the intersection of a clause in an insurance agreement meant to protect the insurer from obligations that would violate international sanctions regimes and the rapidly changing realities of US sanctions against Iran.

This English court case involved arguments by Dreymoor Fertilisers Overseas Pte. Ltd. (“Dreymoor”), a Singapore trading company, to prevent EuroChem Trading GmbH, a Swiss company, and JSC MCC EuroChem, Russia’s largest fertilizer company (collectively, EuroChem”)...

The underlying case concerned the 2010 explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, when a well which was in the process of being plugged and temporarily abandoned, experienced a blow out.

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has rejected a challenge to an arbitration award issued by the China International Trade Arbitration Commission (the “Tribunal”) against RBRG Trading (UK) Limited in favor of Sinocore International Co. Ltd., despite an argument from RBRG that the award was contrary to public policy.

The U.K. Court of Appeal has held that an arbitration clause commonly found in London market excess of loss reinsurance treaties does not prohibit the appointment of insurance or reinsurance lawyers to an arbitration panel. The clause at issue provides that, “[u]nless the parties otherwise agree, the arbitration tribunal shall consist of persons with not less than ten years’ experience of...

The Queen’s Bench Division of the U.K.’s High Court of Justice has reversed a partial award by a tribunal of the London Court of International Arbitration (“LCIA”), which held that an arbitration respondent lost its right to challenge the validity of a request for arbitration by failing to object until after serving its Response and shortly before its Statement of Defence was due.

In a proceeding seeking an order for disclosure of documents from Barclays Bank, the English High Court of Justice considered the scope of the agency involved in a run-off agreement between a reinsurance broker and another entity (“SMP”) in connection with collecting and transmitting of premiums under an Excess of Loss reinsurance policy issued by a Lloyd’s consortium.

Claimant’s application under s. 68(2)(d) of the Arbitration Act 1996 alleged serious irregularity in the award of an arbitral tribunal alleging the tribunal failed to deal with all the issues that were put before it, and requested that the Court set aside or vary the award rather than remit it to the tribunal, as one of the arbitrators had acted inappropriately.

The British High Court of Justice recently decided not to enforce an arbitral award in a dispute over the calculation of the purchase price of a Russian metallurgical company where a Russian court set aside that award and Russian appellate courts affirmed the decision.

The Queen’s Bench Division of the U.K.’s High Court of Justice recently approved a scheme proposed by Scottish Equitable Plc to transfer its liabilities as to over 185,000 insurance policies to Rothesay Life Plc. The scheme was backed by roughly £7 billion in assets paid to Rothesay under a series of annuity reinsurance and business transfer agreements executed in April 2016.

A court in London recently upheld an arbitral award in the face of claims that the arbitral panel failed to consider several coverage defenses one party asserted during the proceedings. The arbitration arose from a dispute between contractors relating to the construction of a power station in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The New Hampshire liquidation court approved the commutation, settlement, and release agreement between The Home Insurance Company (liquidating) and OIC Run-Off Limited (formerly known as The Orion Insurance Company) (OIC) and The London Overseas Insurance Company Limited (formerly known as The London and Overseas Insurance Company Plc) (L&O).

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales approved the judgment of the trial court in a reinsurance dispute between Axa and Arab Insurance Group (Arig) related to certain insured energy construction risks. The trial court had ruled in favor of Arig finding that, notwithstanding that an “unfair presentation of the risk” was made to Axa by Arig by failing to disclose past loss statistics, the latter

As a condition to challenging enforcement or recognition of an arbitration award, the UK Supreme Court overturned a Court of Appeal decision which imposed a $100 Million security obligation on a New York Convention arbitral award debtor pursuant to Section 103(5) of the Arbitration Act 1996 (the “Act”).

A court in the United Kingdom refused to remove an arbitrator for perceived bias where the arbitrator was appointed to arbitrate multiple disputes arising from the same underlying incident triggering insurance coverage. A company (“H”) was adjudged in a US proceeding to be liable and subsequently settled the claims before judgment.

This case considers an appeal against an arbitration award concerning whether health claims from persons involved in cleaning up the 9/11 World Trade Center site should be considered to be multiple claims or should be aggregated as losses or liabilities arising from the terrorist event. The underlying health claims were submitted by workers who became ill after they were not provided respirators...

On September 21, the United Kingdom's financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), released a "Feedback Statement" after completing a review of insurance industry responses to its November 2015 "Call for Inputs" on insurers' use of Big Data. The Feedback Statement addresses two areas of concern identified by the FCA regarding insurers' use of Big Data, the FCA's next steps, and...

The UK has voted to leave the EU, but what happens next is undecided. For now, nothing changes. The June 23 referendum was advisory, and the actual processes and mechanisms that will determine the UK’s exit from the EU will take years to negotiate and implement. After all, the integration of the UK and the EU has been a gradual and ongoing process over several decades, and will require similar...

A dispute arose over a project in Iraq between a British Virgin Island claimant and a Malaysian defendant with a sole Canadian QC arbitrator. The claimant’s challenge of the arbitrator’s award was based upon bias because of the arbitrator’s purported conflict of interest. The basis of the conflict was that members of the arbitrator’s firm regularly represented the claimant’s affiliate, deriving...

On November 24, the United Kingdom's financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), issued a "Call for Inputs" regarding insurers' use of Big Data. The FCA asked for views, supported by examples and evidence, of how the use of Big Data affects consumers and competition. It also expressed interest in learning more about how insurers' use of Big Data may permit consumers with...

The Commercial Court (a subdivision of the Queen’s Bench Division of the U.K.’s High Court of Justice), recently held that an underwriter could not avoid the reinsurance contracts it had underwritten because it failed to convince the court that it would not have underwritten those contracts. In a case involving nondisclosure of loss statistics, the court determined that plaintiff reinsurer, Axa,...