Utica Moves for Judgment in Reinsurance Trial, Says Allocation of Asbestos Settlement Reasonable

UTICA, N.Y. — Utica Mutual Insurance Co. has moved for judgment as a matter of law in a reinsurance trial, arguing that Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. has failed to prove that Utica’s allocation of an underlying asbestos claims settlement to its reinsurers was unreasonable.

In a Dec. 12 motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Utica further maintains that FFIC has failed to present sufficient evidence that Utica’s July 2008 notice to FFIC breached the reinsurance contracts’ prompt notice provisions. The undisputed facts show that Utica did not know of the reinsurance contracts …