9th Circ. Moves Needle in Favor of Foreign Insurers
International Arbitration attorney Brian Briz was quoted in a Law360 article about a recent appellate court decision that foreign insurers could arbitrate insurance disputes even if state law said the opposite. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Lloyd's of London in finding that state law prohibiting arbitration of insurance disputes did not trump an international treaty requiring courts to enforce international arbitration agreements. Mr. Briz commented that the court's decision falls in line with a general trend favoring insurers, despite a split on the issue among other courts.
"There is a circuit split right now, but the cases that have held the other way are older cases," he said. "I do think there's a trend where courts seem to be following more recent decisions in that regard."