N.Y. Federal Judge Hears Oral Argument on Arbitrability Issue in $3.85 Million Reinsurance Dispute

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has heard oral argument on the question of whether arbitrators, not the court, should decide whether the members of a reinsurance pool must participate in an arbitration of a $3.85 million dispute involving underlying workers’ compensation losses.

On May 19, Judge Valerie Caproni of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York heard National Union Fire Insurance’s argument that the court should decide what involvement, if any, Pinehurst Accident Reinsurance Group (PARG) should have in the arbitration. Federal Insurance Co. countered that the issue falls within the broad arbitration …