We recently critiqued ReliaStar Life Ins. Co. v. EMC National Life Co., ___ F.3d ___ (2009) (Raggi, J.), in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that an arbitration panel was authorized to award under the bad faith exception to the American Rule attorney and arbitrator fees to a ceding company in a case where the parties had agreed that each “shall bear the expense of its own arbitrator. . . and related outside attorneys’ fees, and shall jointly and equally bear with the other party the expenses of the third arbitrator.” We believe that the majority opinion did not faithfully apply New York’s strict rules of contract interpretation and construction, which the parties expressly agreed would apply. You can find our critique here, and a report on the case here. Continue Reading »
Archive for the ‘Life Reinsurance’ Category
Coming Soon: Guest Blogging, Some Interesting Posts, and Arbitration Fairness Day
April 26th, 2009 General, Legislative Developments, Life Reinsurance, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Comments Off on Coming Soon: Guest Blogging, Some Interesting Posts, and Arbitration Fairness DayFrom time-to-time the Loree Reinsurance and Arbitration Law Forum will be featuring guest bloggers. We are honored that Victoria Van Buren of Disputing has accepted our invitation to guest blog, and expect within the next week or so to feature her post concerning Fifth Circuit standards of review under Section 10(a)(4) of the Federal Arbitration Act in the wake of Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. v. Bacon, ___ F.3d ___ (5th Cir. 2009), in which the Court held that manifest disregard of the law is no longer an independent ground for vacatur under the Federal Arbitration Act. We expect that Victoria will be submitting other guest blog posts in the future, and look forward to featuring them. We shall also be inviting others to guest blog here at the Forum. Continue Reading »