Arbitrators Must Decide Preclusive Effect of Arbitration Award, Mass. Federal Judge Rules

BOSTON — An arbitration panel will decide whether a prior arbitration award issued in a dispute over reinsurance billings for sexual molestation claims filed against Boy Scouts of America (BSA) applies to a second set of reinsurance billings that did not follow the same allocation method as the first set of billings.

In a March 6 order, Judge Denise Casper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts concluded that “the preclusive effect of an arbitration award is an arbitrable issue that is not for the court to resolve.”

Century Indemnity Co. issued insurance policies to BSA …