Special Master Recommends Against Bifurcation in $1 Million Reinsurance Case

DETROIT — A special master has recommended against bifurcation of proceedings in a case in which Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co. seeks nearly $1 million in reinsurance coverage for asbestos claims, concluding that resolution of the contractual issues will not resolve the threshold issue of uberrima fides.

In a Nov. 29 recommendation filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Special Master Michael G. Costello concluded that bifurcation would not be efficient, because it would leave unresolved the question of whether Transatlantic Reinsurance Co. was misled during the underwriting of the reinsurance certificates.

Amerisure’s predecessor, Michigan Mutual …