Ill. Federal Judge Confirms Final Arbitration Award in Defense Costs Dispute

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge has granted Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co.’s motion to confirm a final arbitration award in its reinsurance dispute with Allstate Insurance Co., ruling that it expressly supersedes a previous interim final award issued by the arbitration panel and is “final” in every respect.

In a March 25 order, Judge Jorge Alonso of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois agreed with Amerisure that the “facts demonstrate beyond any reasonable doubt that the arbitrators did not consider the interim award to be final in any respect, but that only their final award was …