Iowa Judge Orders Carrier to Produce Reinsurance Communications in D&O Coverage Dispute

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — An Iowa federal judge has upheld a magistrate judge’s order requiring Everest Reinsurance Co. and Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. to produce reinsurance communications in a coverage dispute on the basis that the information is not protected by the work product doctrine.

On Oct. 3, Judge Mark A. Bennett of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa further agreed with Magistrate Judge Leonard T. Strand that the common interest doctrine does not preserve attorney-client privilege because the relationship between Progressive and its reinsurers is not legal, but rather commercial and financial in nature.