R&M Study Shows Reinsurance Claims Subject to Greater Scrutiny

Dublin-based Research and Markets announced the addition of “Reinsurance Claims” to their offering. The work “contains up-to-date commentary and legal cases, and is the first publication to offer a clear view of this elusive aspect of the law,” said the bulletin.

“Reinsurance Claims was written in the shadow of the tragedy of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001,” it continued, noting that the losses were the single greatest claims event for the insurance industry. “The strength of the major reinsurers and their ability to perform and raise capital was tested to the limit. Many smaller reinsurers were forced to withdraw from the reinsurance marketplace.”

As a consequence, R&M indicated that “poor practices and procedures are no longer accepted and every reinsurance claim is subject to close scrutiny. Reinsurers and insurers alike are insisting on best practices and stressing performance.”

It described the new publication as a “user-friendly guide to best practice. It illustrates how best practice can reduce the number of contractual disputes arising from faulty reinsurance underwriting and claims practices. This book is intended to assist insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, vendors, suppliers, financial backers, raters, regulators and their advisors.”

Issues addressed include:
– Asbestos, pollution, health hazard and other multi-year losses
– Class actions, run-away verdicts and punitive damage
– Financial guarantee and contingency losses
– Insolvency and the related estimations of future claims
– Under pricing and under reserving in the 1990s.

R&M said the report was prepared under the direction of Robert W. Hammesfahr, a well-known insurance lawyer with more than 25 years of experience “in litigating and counseling a broad spectrum of clients involved in excess liability, coverage, and reinsurance cases. He has represented insurers and reinsurers in connection with containing major litigation threats and defended against coverage claims arising from mass tort, pollution and latent injury, technology, employment practices and professional indemnity claims. This work has included analysis of a wide variety of insurance policies and reinsurance contracts, advice on denials and reservation of rights and defenses and defense of claims, numerous negotiations of complex liability claims for excess insurers, multi-party coverage disputes for direct insurers and disputes involving reinsurance and retrocessions.”

For more information go to the R&M Website at: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c15135, or contact Laura Wood, Senior Manager Research and Markets press@researchandmarkets.com; Fax: +353 1 4100 980