Policyholder’s Affiliates Bound by Contracts’ Arbitration Provision, N.Y. Federal Judge Rules

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has granted an insurer’s motion to compel its policyholder’s affiliates to participate in an arbitration concerning payment of loss adjustment expenses, ruling that the affiliates are signatories to the contracts at issue and are bound by the arbitration clauses in those contracts.

However, in the Aug. 24 order, Judge Allison Nathan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied the policyholder’s third-party petition to compel its insurance brokers to participate in the arbitration, noting that the brokers are not signatories to the contracts and not bound by …