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Insurance – Arbitration

By: Derek Hawkins//October 25, 2016//

Insurance – Arbitration

By: Derek Hawkins//October 25, 2016//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: State of Wisconsin Local Government Property Insurance Fund v. Lexington Insurance Company, et al

Case No.: 15-1973

Officials: MANION and ROVNER, Circuit Judges, and BLAKEY, District Judge

Focus: Insurance – Arbitration

This dispute arises from the 2013 fire at the Milwaukee County Courthouse (the “Court‐ house”). Milwaukee County (the “County”) maintained its primary insurance policy covering the Courthouse with the State of Wisconsin Local Government Property Insurance Fund (the “Fund”). The Fund in turn engaged defendant Lexington Insurance Company (“Lexington”) as either its reinsurer or excess insurer (the parties disagree). The County also maintained a separate insurance policy with The Cincinnati Insurance Company (“Cincinnati”) that covered machinery and equipment at the Courthouse. Shortly after the fire, the County filed a claim with the Fund. The Fund paid all but a small portion of the County’s claimed losses. The Fund insisted that the remaining unpaid portion of the County’s claim should be paid by Cincinnati. Pursuant to separate Joint Loss Agreements in the County’s policies with the Fund and Cincinnati, the Fund and Cincinnati agreed to arbitrate their dispute.   This appeal concerns Lexington’s attempt to insert itself in that arbitration between the Fund and Cincinnati. The district court denied Lexington’s motion to compel arbitration after concluding that Lexington’s participation was not contemplated by the plain language of the Joint Loss Agreements. Lexington appealed. For the reasons explained below, we AFFIRM.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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