Pa. Federal Judge Grants R&Q’s Request to Dismiss St. Paul’s ‘Second-Filed’ Reinsurance Action

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge has granted R&Q Reinsurance Co.’s request to dismiss a reinsurance action filed in Pennsylvania federal court by St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co., thereby allowing the parties to proceed in a duplicative “first-filed” action that had been transferred to Pennsylvania from Illinois.

On June 2, Judge Joel Slomsky of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found no reason to depart from the first-filed rule, rejecting St. Paul’s allegations that in filing the first action, R&Q engaged in blatant “forum shopping” and that the first-filed case constituted an “anticipatory filing.”

On …