Reliance Liquidator Properly Construed Guaranty Association’s Claim as ‘Reinsurance,’ Pa. Court Rules

PHILADELPHIA — The liquidator of Reliance Insurance Co. did not err in assigning a lower priority level to a claim submitted to the estate by the Alabama Insurance Guaranty Association (AIGA), because the claim was one for reinsurance rather than direct insurance, a Pennsylvania court has ruled.

In an opinion authored by Judge Bonnie B. Leadbetter of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, a majority of the court held that although the Alabama Supreme Court construed the claim as one for direct insurance, Pennsylvania courts are not bound by that ruling.

The Association of General Contractors Self-Insurer's Fund (AGCSF) is a …