Mont. Federal Judge Sends $2.65 Million Reinsurance Dispute to Arbitration

MISSOULA, Mont. — A Montana federal judge has sent a $2.65 million reinsurance action between Certain Underwriters at Lloyds London and a joint risk pool to arbitration, ruling that the reinsurance agreement’s service-of-suit clause does not override the contract’s arbitration provision.

On Oct. 22, Judge Dana L. Christensen of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana rejected the Montana Association of Counties Property and Casualty Trust (MACo)’s argument that the agreement’s service-of-suit clause invalidates the arbitration provision, explaining that the contract must be read as a whole.

MACo represents a group of Montana counties which formed a joint …