Large Insureds – Large Risks – Large Problems: How Do You Resolve Them?

The last concern on anybody’s mind when entering into a new deal is how disputes are to be resolved in the event of something going wrong. However, particularly in respect of tailor-made global insurance programmes, the parties have the opportunity of thinking creatively when drafting such programmes so as to avoid unnecessarily adversarial proceedings - if there is a genuine problem.

The two traditional methods of dispute resolution are, of course, litigation and arbitration. Without any choice of dispute resolution then the parties will be reduced to relying upon litigation in any one of the various jurisdictions. This may be more or less attractive, depending upon the reliability of the local judiciary and system. Clearly, a jury trial in Texas will be less attractive to Underwriters than litigation in a London Commercial Court. Arbitration is the traditional form of contractual dispute resolution – in other words,