Arbitrator Must Decide Preclusive Effect of Arbitration Awards, Ill. Federal Judge Rules

CHICAGO — Arbitrators, not the court, should determine the preclusive effect of earlier arbitration awards that have been confirmed by a court, an Illinois federal judge has ruled in a reinsurance action.

In a Nov. 15 order, Judge Lindsay Jenkins of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied two reinsurers’ motion to bar an insurer from arbitrating a reinsurance billing dispute and ordered arbitration of the preclusion issue.

CNA entered into three reinsurance agreements with reinsurers National Casualty Co. and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., which were in effect at different times between Jan. 1, 1969, and …