Reinsurance Communications Not Discoverable, Tenn. Federal Judge Rules

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Reinsurance communications are not discoverable if it can be established that they relate only to the “insurers’ business decisions to spread risk,” a Tennessee federal magistrate judge has ruled in denying a policyholder’s motion to compel such communications in a coverage dispute.

In an Oct. 5 order, Chief Magistrate Judge Diane K. Vescovo of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee further clarified that if the reinsurance at issue is treaty insurance, under which the reinsurer agrees to accept an entire block of business, then the communications are not relevant to a claim of …