Pa. Federal Judge Declines to Apply First-Filed Rule, Dismisses Reinsurance Action

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Excalibur Reinsurance Corp. in favor of an identical action initiated by Select Insurance Co. in Connecticut, ruling that the Pennsylvania action constitutes “an improper first filing.”

On July 7, Judge Juan R. Sanchez of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found the first-filed rule does not apply because the timing of Excalibur’s filing indicated an attempt to circumvent Connecticut’s pre-pleading security statute.

Excalibur was one of several reinsurers who entered into an “Errors and Omissions Liability Cessions Treaty” reinsurance agreement with Travelers and its …