Fla. Judge Denies Costa Rican Insurer’s Request to Assert Punitive Damage Claims Against Reinsurance Brokers

MIAMI — A Florida judge has denied a Costa Rican insurer’s request to add punitive damages claims against Howden Insurance Brokers Ltd. and Hemispheric Reinsurance Group Inc. in a suit accusing the brokers of overcharging commission.

In a one-page order issued May 15, Judge Beth Bloom of the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court denied Instituto Nacional de Seguros’s motion, which asserted the brokers’ practice of “grossing up” and their failure to disclose the facts surrounding this practice “constituted a conscious disregard or indifference” of INS’s rights.

INS, a Costa Rican state-owned insurer, provides property damage and business interruption coverage to …