"Over? Did You Say 'Over'?" Determining the Preclusive Effect of an Earlier Arbitration Award

March 11, 2025 — Daniel Lund III - Lexology
In Nat’l Cas. Co. v. Cont’l Ins. Co., 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 29826 (7th Cir. Nov. 22, 2024), the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that under the Federal Arbitration Act, an arbitrator – and not a court – is to determine the preclusive effect of an arbitrator’s earlier ruling. In the case, insurers engaged in three reinsurance agreements had previously arbitrated concerning one of the insurer’s billing methodologies. When a similar dispute occurred years later, the victors in the first arbitration – rather than pursuing arbitration – filed in federal court in Chicago seeking to have the court declare that the prior arbitration award precluded re-arbitration of the latest dispute. The insurer on the other side of the dispute moved to compel arbitration, a motion granted by the district court. The plaintiff insurers appealed. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Daniel Lund III, Phelps
Mr. Lund may be contacted at daniel.lund@phelps.com