General Re Life Corp. v. Lincoln National Life Insurance Co.

273 F. Supp. 3d 307
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedMarch 31, 2017
DocketNo. 15-cv-1860 (VAB)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 273 F. Supp. 3d 307 (General Re Life Corp. v. Lincoln National Life Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
General Re Life Corp. v. Lincoln National Life Insurance Co., 273 F. Supp. 3d 307 (D. Conn. 2017).

Opinion

RULING AND ORDER

Victor A. Bolden, United States District Judge

Pending before the Court is (1) General Re Life Corporation’s (“General Re” or “Gen Re”) Petition to Confirm the Final Arbitration Award and Vacate the Arbitrators’ Purported Clarification of the Final Award (the “Petition”), ECF No. 1, (2) Lincoln National Life Insurance. Company’s (“Lincoln”) Cross-Petition to Confirm Arbitration Award as Clarified (the “Cross-Petition”), ECF No. 21; ECF No. 22, and (3) Lincoln’s Motion, to Enter Judgment (the “Motion”), ECF No. 45; ECF No, 46.

For the reasons that follow, the Petition is DENIED, the Cross-Petition is GRANTED, and the Motion is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND

General Re entered into an Automatic Self-Administered YRT Reinsurance Agreement (the “Agreement” or the “Treaty”) with Lincoln effective January 1, 2002. See Treaty, ECF No. 7-1. Under the Agreement, General Re reinsured a portion of various individual life insurance products issued by Lincoln and also had a unilateral right to increase the reinsurance premiums so long as' the new rates were based solely on a. change in anticipated mortality. Treaty, Ex. C-l, ¶ 7.. In the event that General Re exercised its right to raise rates, however, the Agreement allowed. Lincoln to “recapture” its life insurance policies, ie., to terminate the reinsurance going forward rather than pay the increased premiums. Id.- The Agreement did not provide a specific methodology for implementing this right of recapture. Exhibit F of the Agreement did provide, under “Remittance Reporting,” that Lincoln “will take credit, without interest, for any unearned premiums arising due to reductions, cancellations or death claims.” Treaty, Ex. F.

In March 2014, General Re exercised its right to increase the reinsurance rates effective April 1, 2014. See 6/4/2014 Letter, ECF No. 7-2 (noting, that General Re had sent a letter on March 28, 2014 regarding a .rate increase).. In response, on June 4, 2014, Lincoln demanded arbitration. Id.

The dispute was submitted to a panel of three arbitrators. A hearing before the arbitrators began on June 15, 2015.'Nee 6/15/2015 Hearing Trans., ECF No. 7-8. During the hearing, the parties devoted very little time to discussing the terms of recapture.1 See generally Full Hearing Trans., ECF No. 22-3. On July 1, 2015, a majority of the arbitrators issued the Final Arbitration Award (the “Final Award”). On November 19, 2015, a different majority issued the Clarification of Final Arbitration Award (the “Clarification”).

A. The Final Award

Umpire Barbara Niehus and Arbitrator Denis Loring signed the Final Award. Ar[311]*311bitrator Thomas Zurek dissented. See Final Award, EOF No. -7-13. Niehus and Loring concluded that there had been , a change in anticipated mortality, and that General Re was therefore entitled to a rate increase. Id. ¶ 2. If Lincoln elected to recapture in the event of a rate increase, the Final Award, provided that this recapture would be effective retroactive to April 1, 2014. Id. ¶ 6.a. The Final Award further provided the following:

The Panel finds that, since Lincoln demanded arbitration iñ June 2014, the parties have continued to administer the reinsured business under the original Treaty terms.-The Panel, further finds that General Re has incurred expenses and capital costs associated with the reinsured business during that time. Therefore, if Lincoln recaptures the reinsured business, the Panel orders that the following shall occur:
i. All premium and claim transactions paid by one party to the other following the effective date of the recapture (i e., from April 1, 2014) shall be unwound.
ii. Lincoln shall reimburse General Re for the expenses and cost of capital that General Re incurred in providing reinsurance to Lincoln since that date. The Panel finds that the single life expense assumption of 5% of premium used in General Re’s original Treaty pricing ... shall be applied to all premiums that would have been paid by Lincoln based on the original Treaty premium rates.
iii. The Parties shall promptly work together to agree upon the amount of premium and claims to be unwound, and the expenses associated with the administration of the reinsured business. Any disagreement over the .calculations shall promptly be submitted to the Panel for. resolution pursuant to ¶ 9, below. The party with the net balance owing shall remit its payment to the other party within 90 days of this Award.

Id. ¶ 6.b.2

The Final Award then ordered that “[a]ll other requests for relief from the parties are denied,” id. ¶ 8, and that “[t]he Panel shall retain jurisdiction over this matter to the extent necessary to resolve any dispute over the calculation and payment' of the amounts awarded herein,” id. ¶9. This retention of jurisdiction would “extend until either (i) the date on which Lincoln pays General Re the amounts ordered in ¶ 5 [the “Payment of Premium” section] of this Award, or (ii) the date on which Lincoln recaptures the business reinsured under the Treaty and all associated balances due are paid, as provided in ¶ 6 of this Award.” Id.

Paragraph 6.b.i. of the Final Award adopted the language regarding recapture that General Re had proposed to the arbitrators. See Gen Re Proposed Final Arbitration Award ¶ 6.b.i., ECF No. 7-10; see also Gen Re Pre-Hearing Br. at 34, ECF No. 7-4; Gen Re Opening Statement PPT at 46, ECF No. 7-6; Gen Re Closing Statement PPT at 142, ECF No. 7-7. Because Lincoln’s position was that General Re’s rate.increase was improper, Lincoln’s submissions to the arbitrators contained very little discussion of proposed terms for recapture.3 See Lincoln Pre-Hearing Br. [312]*312at 21, ECF No. 7-5 (discussing recapture only to the extent of arguing that “no provision in the Treaty ... requires notice within 30 days” if Lincoln exercises right to recapture “and no provision in the Treaty ... imposes the conditions on recapture that. Gen Re requests the Panel declare”). Lincoln’s proposed award did not, therefore, contain any language regarding how recapture should proceed. See generally Lincoln Proposed Final Award, ECF No. 7-11.

B. Recapture Dispute

Following the arbitrators’ issuance of the Final Award, Lincoln and General Re communicated by e-mail regarding how to calculate the recapture payments under the Final Award, should Lincoln invoke its right to recapture. See generally Recapture E-mails, 10/26/2015 Letter Ex. B, ECF No. 7-16. The parties differed in their interpretation of the methodology for calculating the recapture payments. Id. at 1-7. General Re believed that paragraph 6.b.i. of the Final Award required “reversing all cash transactions” from the April 1, 2014 effective date of recapture. Id. at 6. Lincoln believed a “recapture effective 4/1/14” meant that Lincoln would “pay back all claims with dates of 4/1/14 and later”; “Gen Re would return premiums paid prior to 4/1/14, but unearned as of 4/1/14” to Lincoln; and “Gen Re would return all premiums paid for other coverage 4/1/14 and later.” Id. at 7.

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273 F. Supp. 3d 307, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-re-life-corp-v-lincoln-national-life-insurance-co-ctd-2017.