Insurance/Reinsurance: Bermuda Form Arbitration Clause

A recent Commercial Court decision, C v D, demonstrates that the English courts will make parties adhere to the Bermuda form arbitration clause in an insurance policy and will not sanction the challenge to an English arbitration award by the New York courts under New York law.

The attitude of the English Court in upholding arbitration clauses generally - as exemplified by this decision - will be of interest to any party engaged in cross-border disputes, as considered in our recent law-now.

Of particular interest to the insurance market is that the decision was based on an arbitration clause particularly prevalent in certain sectors of the market - the Bermuda form. The decision is a reminder of why the combination of English arbitration and New York law - which might at first blush seem an unusual combination - is regarded by many parties to insurance contracts as embodying the best of both worlds. The advantages of the Bermuda form include: