Sentry Insurance Asserts $4.5 Million in Counterclaims Against R&Q

CHICAGO — R&Q Reinsurance Co. has breached two reinsurance contracts by failing to pay a total of $4.5 million in billings for underlying asbestos- and fire-related losses, Sentry Insurance Co. has asserted.

In its Oct. 3 amended counterclaims, Sentry asserts that its purported delay in advising R&Q of the underlying claims brought against its policyholders did not prejudice the reinsurer.

According to the complaint, R&Q’s predecessor, INA Reinsurance Co., issued Sentry a facultative certificate effective Jan. 1, 1978, to Jan. 1, 1979, which covered a Sentry umbrella policy issued to Reilly Benton Company Inc. The facultative certificate originally provided …