Nationwide Asks Court to Compel Arbitration of Reinsurance Dispute Over Access to Records

BOSTON — Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. has asked a federal court to compel Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. to arbitrate a reinsurance dispute concerning access to records, asserting that Liberty has refused to proceed with the umpire selection process.

In a Nov. 13 petition filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Nationwide asserts the parties’ dispute concerning the reinsurance treaties’ access-to-records clause is arbitrable under the treaties’ arbitration provision.

Nationwide and Liberty entered into a series of excess of loss reinsurance contracts between 1972 and 1983. The treaties include an arbitration clause requiring arbitration of “any …