NHIC Estopped from Moving to Compel Reinsurance Arbitration with Magellan Re, Court Affirms

FORT WORTH, Texas — New Hampshire Insurance Co. is judicially estopped from compelling arbitration of a reinsurance contract dispute with Magellan Reinsurance Company Ltd. because it successfully argued against arbitration in previous, related proceedings, a Texas appellate court has affirmed.

On May 2, the Texas 2nd Court of Appeal found that “while the essence of the underlying dispute between NHIC and Magellan has remained unchanged since the inception of the litigation, NHIC's opinion about the arbitrability of the disputed matters has not.”

In 1997, NHIC and Magellan, a reinsurer chartered in the Turks and Caicos Islands, entered into a "Contractual …