Wasa v. Lexington: the War Between England and the Colonies Has Ended

Robert E. Wilder is a partner and Sarah E. Rouse is an associate at Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass. Ms. Rouse is a licensed solicitor of England and Wales. Both of their practices focus on reinsurance disputes in the U.S. and London Markets.

In a decision with potentially major ramifications for reinsurers, the English Court of Appeal recently made it clear that, London Market reinsurers providing reinsurance to American cedents on substantially the same terms as the underlying insurance will be expected to take 'unsatisfactory' decisions of U.S. courts respecting coverage for asbestos and pollution claims 'on the chin.'¹ Indeed, …