Insurer Waived Right to Contest Personal Jurisdiction, S.C. Federal Judge Rules

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A North Carolina federal judge has refused to dismiss or transfer an insurance coverage action, ruling that the policy’s “service-of-suit” provision required the insurer to consent to the court of the policyholder’s choosing and that the insurer waived its right to contest personal jurisdiction.

In a Feb. 12 order, Judge David Norton of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina ruled that the clause is a “consent-to-jurisdiction” provision, under which the contracting party, by consenting to the jurisdiction of a particular court or state, authorizes that court or state to act against him.

C3NC …