Reinsurance Contract Wordings and Disputes, Bermuda

Course overview

In reinsurance contracts, it is quite common practice for the wordings, which define the obligations of the parties, to be neglected. This results in the contract being unclear about the relationship between the reinsured and the reinsurer. Unfortunately, issues such as these often cause problems between the parties in later years and can lead to costly disputes.

In this conference, leading experts from the USA, Bermuda and the UK, give a step-by-step guide to the world of reinsurance wordings, making this an ideal programme for new lawyers in the reinsurance industry and a useful refresher
for those who are more experienced.

During this conference all the important issues which need to be taken into consideration at the contract negotiation and drafting phase will be highlighted. The programme is designed to be highly practical and plenty of time will be set aside for questions and discussion between the audience and the expert panel of speakers.

THE MOCK DISPUTE

The programme also includes a mock dispute, which is based on a scenario that will be distributed to all delegates. This session features a mock multi-jurisdictional dispute based on contract wording issues and including a hearing on the disclosure of legal advice. Participants from the UK, USA and Bermuda will act as advocates, arbitrators and witnesses.

Who should attend?

• Wordings technicians
• Reinsurance technicians
• Claims managers
• Wordings specialists
• In-house lawyers
• Lawyers in private practice
• Anyone who is involved in the drafting or implementation of reinsurance wordings

The benefits

By attending this conference, you will:
1 MASTER the basic legal principles of reinsurance terms and contract wordings
2 GET-TO-GRIPS with the common clauses and legal considerations
3 GAIN an understanding of claims cooperation clauses
4 LEARN about the complexities of follow and settlement clauses
5 HEAR ABOUT the developments in the London Market with regard to contract certainty
6 GET UP-TO-DATE with latest developments and current practice in choice of law and dispute clauses
7 FIND OUT MORE about loss of rights
8 EXPERIENCE how disputes arising from wordings are dealt with in arbitration

Programme - Day 1

0900 Registration and refreshments

0930 Chair’s introduction
Larry P. Schiffer, Partner, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, New York, USA
Francis O. Mackie, Partner, Dewey & LeBoeuf, London, UK
 

1000 Contract certainty
• Status of contract certainty efforts in the UK
• Contract certainty efforts elsewhere
• The role of the Market Reform Group
• The Model Signing Provisions
Francis O. Mackie, Partner, Dewey & LeBoeuf, London
David N. Kragseth, Vice President and Chief Contracts Officer, Munich Reinsurance America Inc.

1100 Refreshments
 
1115 Follow the settlements/follow-the-fortunes clauses
• General principles – history and purpose of follow clauses
• The classic follow clause
• Construction and effect
• Limitations on duty
• Conflicts with claims cooperation and control clauses
Larry P. Schiffer
John Wasty, Counsel, Appleby, Bermuda
 
 
1215 Question and answer session

1230 Networking Lunch

Sponsored by:

1345 Defining the loss/aggregation clauses
• Meaning of event, occurrence and related terms
• Functions of aggregation
• Key applications of aggregation principles
• Applications of the relevant text for aggregation of loss
• Recent cases on aggregation – lessons learnt
Professor Robert Merkin, Professor of Commercial Law, Southampton University, UK, Consultant to Barlow Lyde & Gilbert
 
1445 Claims cooperation clauses
• What are claims cooperation clauses in the reinsurance context?
• Imposing control via a claims cooperation clause
• ‘Scor’ clauses
• Recent cases and their implications for reinsurers
• Importance of clear words
• Notification of loss under a claims cooperation clause
• The importance of ensuring a claims cooperation clause is a condition precedent
• Lessons to be learnt
Rod Attride-Stirling, Senior Partner, Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki, Bermuda
Carol Ann O’Dea, Senior Vice President and Claims Manager, Partner Re, USA
 
1545 Refreshments
 
1600 Loss of rights
• Conditions, conditions precedent and warranties
• Waiver by affirmation and waiver by estoppel
• The elements and availability of waiver
• Refusal to provide an indemnity – effect on the reinsured’s obligation to cooperate
Professor Robert Merkin
 
1645 Questions

1715 Close of day one

1800 Cocktail reception

Sponsored by:

Programme - Day 2

0900 Introduction
 

0915 Choice of law clauses
• Rules applicable to choice of law clauses – The Rome Convention
• Incorporation of choice of law from insurance to reinsurance
• Floating choice of law clauses
• Choice of law in arbitration
• US/UK/Bermuda comparison
• ‘Most favourable jurisdiction’ language
Kim Wilkerson Outerbridge, Senior VP & Assistant General Counsel, XL Group, Bermuda
Anthony Menzies, Partner, Taylor Wessing, UK
Charlie Fortune, Partner, Day Pitney, USA

1030 Refreshments
 

1045 Disputes clauses
• Court v arbitration
• Speed v cost
• Expert knowledge
• Joining third parties
• Enforcement
• ADR clauses
• Honorable engagement clauses
• Relevant legislation
• Comparative
Narinder Hargun, Partner, Conyers Dill and Pearman, Bermuda
David N. Kragseth, Vice President and Chief Contracts Officer, Munich Reinsurance America Inc.
 

1200 Introduction to the mock dispute
Based on a scenario that will be distributed to delegates, this session features a mock multi-jurisdictional dispute based on contract wording issues and including a hearing on the disclosure of legal advice. Participants from the UK, USA and Bermuda will act as advocates, arbitrators and witnesses.

Counsel:
Larry P. Schiffer
Francis O. Mackie

Panel of arbitrators:
Jens Juul, Certified Arbitrator, Bermuda
Robert Buechel, General Counsel, Imagine Group Holdings Ltd, Bermuda
Jan Woloniecki, Senior Counsel, Head of Litigation, Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki, Bermuda
 

1230 Networking Lunch

Sponsored by:

1330 The mock dispute – Part 1
A hearing before the Arbitration Panel on whether the cedant should be compelled by the panel to disclose legal advice it obtained from its counsel on a coverage issue concerning the construction of the contract.
 

1415 Refreshments
 

1500 The mock dispute – Part 2
A segment from the hearing with a witness on a disputed and ambiguous contract term.
 

1615 Close of conference

The expert faculty

Conference Chairs

Francis O. Mackie is a Partner in the London office of Dewey & LeBoeuf. He joined the firm in 2006 after having formed and built up the Norton Rose Insurance Group since 1993. A highly respected and well-known lawyer in the London insurance market, Francis advises both London Market clients (syndicated and companies) as well as a number of international insurance clients. He is co-chair of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s Insurance/Reinsurance Group. His practice is comprised predominantly of contentious/dispute work involving arbitration, commercial court proceedings, or mediation. Many of his arbitration proceedings are in ‘market’ disputes, usually for reinsurers, and consist of coverage disputes, construction issues, and recision/ cancellation issues.

Larry P. Schiffer is a Partner in the New York office of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP. He previously was a partner with Werner & Kennedy, and was a Law Assistant for the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department. He is a member of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, where he was Chair of the Excess, Reinsurance and Surplus Lines Committee and presently is Vice- Chair, Webmaster and listserv manager of that Committee. He was Chair of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Association Insurance Programs for nine years and is Chair of the ARIAS-US Technology Committee. He is a member of the Law 360 Insurance Editorial Advisory Board and regularly provides reinsurance commentaries for IRMI.com. Larry practices in the areas of commercial, insurance and reinsurance litigation, arbitration and mediation. He also serves as a mediator for the mandatory commercial mediation program of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and for the New York Supreme Court Commercial Division, Alternative Dispute Resolution Programme.

Conference Speakers

Rod Attride-Stirling is Senior Partner of Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki in Bermuda. He specializes in complex civil litigation, corporate and commercial arbitration, insurance and reinsurance. His experience includes: litigating and arbitrating controversial claims, including claims involving insurance companies (including captives, retrocessionaires, managers, and brokers; litigating substantial telecoms company disputes, including disputes arising in transnational insolvency proceedings; advising in relation to policy wording for insurance and reinsurance companies. Rod is listed in the Euromoney Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers.

Robert Buechel is General Counsel, Head of Legal and Compliance and Corporate Secretary of Imagine Group Holdings Limited, based in Hamilton, Bermuda. Imagine is a privately held holding company for a worldwide group of insurers and reinsurers with companies in Dublin, Barbados, Gibraltar, Luxembourg, London, USA and Bermuda and approximately $1.7 billion in assets. Prior to joining Imagine’s senior management team in 2007, Rob spent 6 years with Chubb Atlantic Indemnity Limited (a subsidiary of The Chubb Corporation, NYSE: CB) in Bermuda where he was Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. He was in private practice as a corporate/regulatory insurance attorney with the firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Green & MacRae LLP (now Dewey & Leboeuf) for the preceding 14 years. He is admitted to the California Bar and is a certified arbitrator for the AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society.

Charlie Fortune is a Partner at Day Pitney LLP where he advises insurance companies, reinsurers, brokers, and policyholders with respect to a variety of insurance-related matters. He has represented insurance carriers and reinsurers in diverse and complex disputes. He has assisted insurance companies with the development of new policies and forms and he has led reviews of underwriting and claims handling operations. Charlie’s extensive experience in the field of insurance includes seven years in commercial casualty-property underwriting and six months’ reinsurance claim experience in the London market.

Narinder Hargun is a Partner and head of litigation at Conyers Dill & Pearman in Bermuda. For the last 20 years, he has practiced all aspects of commercial litigation and arbitration in Bermuda focusing, in particular, on company, commercial and reinsurance disputes. He has been involved in most of the significant commercial cases before the Bermuda Courts in the last 20 years.

David N. Kragseth is a Vice President and the Chief Contracts Officer for Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. (MRAm) in Princeton, New Jersey. An attorney having over 17 years of private and corporate experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry, David has spent the last twelve years specializing in reinsurance contracts. Following a federal judicial clerkship and private practice in Minneapolis, Minnesota, David began his professional reinsurance career at Everest Reinsurance Company followed by a position at Zurich Reinsurance (North America),Inc. Currently, David manages a 28 person Contracts Department that provides drafting, reviewing, training, and other support services to the various underwriting operations at MRAm.

Jens Juul is based in Bermuda where he is Honorary Consul of Sweden, Bermuda, and a Certified Arbitrator (ARIAS-US). From 1986 he was Managing Director of GTE Re Bermuda, which he left in 1988 to found Scandinavian Re, the pioneering finite risk reinsurer where he was Founding President and CEO until 2002. Since then Jens has been actively involved with a number of reinsurance dispute resolutions and has sat on six reinsurance arbitration panels and has provided expert testimony to the US Federal Court.

Anthony Menzies is a Partner in the Commercial Disputes Practice Group of Taylor Wessing in London and a member of the firm’s insurance group. He advises on direct and reinsurance claims and coverage disputes, often with an international element, particularly involving insureds, insurers or reinsurers in the US, Bermuda and the Caribbean. Anthony has acted in some of the highest profile disputes in the insurance market in recent years, as well as numerous claims conducted by way of confidential arbitration. He also advises on the drafting of policy wordings and on settlements and commutations.

Robert Merkin is a Professor of Commercial Law at Southampton University, UK, and a consultant at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert. He has written many books on a variety of subjects but is best know for his books and articles on insurance, reinsurance and related matters. Professor Merkin is a member of the presidential council of AIDA and serves as secretary to the AIDA Reinsurance Working Party. He is a past member of the Law Society’s Insurance Law sub-committee and of the executive committee of the British Insurance Law Association.

Carol Ann O’Dea is Senior Vice President and Claims Manager for PartnerRe U.S. She has been with PartnerRe since August of 2001 and has over 20 years of insurance and law experience having worked in private practice representing insurance companies and later as a Claims Attorney with Executive Risk Management Associates. Carole has been working exclusively in the reinsurance industry for the last 13 years, before joining PartnerRe five years ago, she was with XL Reinsurance America. As Claims Manager for PartnerRe, she is responsible for the day to day operations of the PartnerRe Claims Department.

John Wasty is Counsel and the Group Team Leader of the Insurance and Reinsurance Dispute Resolution Team in the Bermuda office of Appleby. He has extensive experience in international insurance and reinsurance, and professional indemnity (particularly directors & officers, and accountants) dispute resolution, including insurance and reinsurance insolvency issues. He also advises on policy wordings. He has represented insurers and reinsurers in a wide variety of disputes in the London Market, the US, Europe and Asia. He also practices in the areas of commercial litigation, insolvency litigation and funds litigation.

Kim Wilkerson-Outbridge is Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at XL Capital Ltd. Her role includes litigation/ arbitration management, contract drafting and regulatory advice to XL’s principle operating companies in Bermuda, XL Insurance (Bermuda) Ltd and XL Re Ltd. Kim is a Barrister and Attorney of the Supreme Court of Bermuda and the Bar of England and Wales and is a contributing author to the 2nd edition of The Law of Reinsurance (O’Neill & Woloniecki) Kim holds the Chartered Property & Casualty (CPCU) designation and is also an associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Jan Woloniecki is Senior Counsel and Head of Litigation at Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki in Bermuda where he specializes in complex civil litigation and international commercial arbitration, private international law, insurance, reinsurance and insolvency, banking law and telecommunications law. He has appeared as counsel before the Supreme Court of Bermuda and Court of Appeal for Bermuda in over 40 cases. In addition to his practice as an advocate before the Bermuda courts, he has an extensive international arbitration practice, and has accepted appointments as an arbitrator in international arbitrations (ICC/LCIA) and domestic (Bermudian) arbitrations. As counsel and arbitrator he has participated in arbitrations held in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bermuda and the United States. He acted as an expert witness (on Bermudian and English law) in numerous cases before United States courts and arbitration tribunals.

The Fairmont Hamilton Princess

Hamilton, HM CX Bermuda
Tel: +1 441 295 3000 • Fax +1 441 295 2616
Web: Fairmont Hamilton Princess

Among the hibiscus and oleander, on the shores of a picturesque natural harbor, The Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel, is an elegant tribute to the old world splendor that is Bermuda. Take a dip in your choice of fresh or saltwater pool or catch the complimentary ferry over to our private Fairmont Beach Club in Southampton.

Accommodation

Falconbury have arranged a preferential rate with the Fairmont Hamilton Princess. In order to take advantage of this please contact the Fairmont Hamilton Princess on +1 441 295 3000, quoting Falconbury and the Reinsurance Contract Wordings and Disputes conference at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.

Past delegates’ comments

Excellent speakers, really clear on what they are talking about. Very good presentations which allow us to better understand some wordings issues

Audrey Lecarpentier, Legal Advisor, AXA CESSIONS

This was an opportunity to listen to and question quality speakers

Dean Dasley, Contract Specialist, Swiss Re

Speakers were very confident and knowledgeable

Simon Pond, Reinsurance Technician, Enstar EU Ltd

Excellent level of detail, v. Knowledgeable presenters, good documentation.

Christina Ouerfelli, Senior Underwriter, Partner Reinsurance Europe Ltd

A good course with quality speakers.

Merlin Godwin, SCOR Switzerland Ltd

Main sponsor and advisor

Headquartered in New York, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP is a full-service law firm providing counsel throughout the United States, Europe, Russia/CIS, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. With more than 1,300 lawyers in major financial and commercial centers, the firm represents national and global corporations, financial institutions and government agencies in their most complex legal matters. Dewey & LeBoeuf is known for its pre-eminence in the insurance and reinsurance industry. The firm has distinguished itself through market-leading practice groups in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, complex litigation, intellectual property litigation, white collar and government investigations, international trade, capital markets, structured finance and private equity and tax. The firm has been named “Best Law Firm” for seven consecutive years by the readers of Reactions magazine, as well as “No. 1 in Insurance Transactional and Regulatory in New York” by Chambers USA for the past four years.

For additional information, please visit www.dl.com.

Sponsors

We are a highly specialised corporate and commercial law firm based in Bermuda. Our barristers and attorneys have extensive and wide ranging experience in the legal services market of a number of jurisdictions, both onshore and offshore, including at the Bar in England and at leading law firms in New York, London, Frankfurt, and of course, Bermuda.

A number of our partners and senior counsel hold or have held very senior positions within the Bermuda Government and the Bermuda Monetary Authority. We have the largest commercial litigation practice in Bermuda and are widely considered to be pre-eminent with respect to our insurance and reinsurance expertise. Three of the firm’s lawyers (Rod S. Attride-Stirling, Jan W. Woloniecki and Bala Nadarajah) are listed among the world’s leading insurance and re-insurance lawyers in the Euromoney Legal Media Group’s guides.

The firm’s practice is divided into three departments: Corporate, Insolvency and Litigation.

Veris Consulting, LLC serves a diverse clientele throughout the United States, as well as clients in Europe and the Caribbean. Services are provided from regional offices in Metropolitan Washington, DC; Metropolitan New York; and Columbus, Ohio. Professionals at Veris have, for several years, played a leadership role in the evolution of accounting principles and the development of guidance to preparers of financial statements. The quality of our professionals and our expertise is demonstrated by the nature of some of the expert services we have provided, which have ranged from
Enron matters to finite reinsurance investigations to service for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice. Understanding the accounting, financial reporting and internal control issues emerging from the subprime mortgage crisis requires the level of expertise our professionals have consistently demonstrated over the past few decades in the financial services industry, including litigation resulting from the savings and loan crisis and similar issues involving some of the largest insurance insolvencies on record. Separate from these consulting services, we have provided expert assistance and testimony in a multitude of circumstances involving reinsurance disputes.

Our reinsurance services include:
• Providing expert assistance and testimony involving reinsurance disputes
• Internal investigations and consulting with respect to the accounting for complex reinsurance arrangements
• Claim audits including an independent determination of the applicability of coverage and verification of the amounts of the claims

For more information, please contact us at +1 703-654-1400 or visit
www.verisconsulting.com.

You might also be interested in...

Delegates who attended this course also went on the following courses:

Reinsurance Claims Management 18 May 2010 An intensive day focusing on both the perennial and developing issues in the claims management arena

Reinsurance Contract Wordings and Disputes 7-8 Jun 2010 A step-by-step guide to the world of reinsurance wordings for lawyers and executives who are new to the industry or would like to refresh their knowledge and skills.

Finance for Managers in Insurance and Reinsurance A 2-day guide to the essentials of effective financial and commercials skills for non-financial managers working within the insurance and reinsurance sectors.

Current Issues in Insurance Exit Strategies A practical one-day seminar addressing the key challenges facing exit strategies including run-off and other schemes.