Court of Appeal rules on Qualification to be a Reinsurance Arbitrator
When does an arbitrator have ten years’ experience of insurance and reinsurance?
In Allianz Insurance Plc v Tonicstar [2018] EWCA Civ 434 the Court of Appeal (Sir Brian Leveson, Underhill and Leggatt LJJ) rejected an earlier authority on the interpretation of the commonly used JELC reinsurance arbitration clause. They held that “ten years’ experience of insurance and reinsurance” did not indicate a trade arbitration and did not restrict the way in which the experience could be acquired. 10 years’ experience did not need to be gained from working in the insurance and reinsurance industry, but could be gained from providing legal or other professional services to the insurance industry. Therefore a commercial QC was qualified to be an arbitrator in a reinsurance arbitration about whether 10,000 respiratory claims arising from the 9/11 World Trade Center attack should be aggregated under the reinsurance policy.
To read the case note by Andrew Burns QC, who appeared for the reinsured, click here.
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