John Hubert Whitcombe

Two UK subsidiaries of the Bermuda-based AlphaStar Insurance Group, formerly Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings, have lost a UK High Court judgment that has implications for many related reinsurance lawsuits and arbitrations around the world.AlphaStar's share price fell from 13 cents to seven cents per share after the judgment was released today and many in the industry expect the decision to render the long-troubled firm insolvent.

Bermuda-registered broker/risk manager Willis Group Holdings has applied to intervene in a civil lawsuit filed by Odyssey Re against Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings and others at the High Court in London. Willis, which is effectively seeking to become a defendant, is also believed to have filed a separate lawsuit against Stirling Cooke, apparently in order to cover all liability scenarios.

Serious questions about the future of Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings are being raised following the filing of a lawsuit in New York accusing the firm of racketeering and fraud and the collapse of its share price to an all-time low on NASDAQ. The company has also disclosed for the first time in its SEC filings that it is involved in several arbitrations in the UK and is also a defendant in seven different lawsuits that were filed last year by reinsurers and reinsureds claiming to have been defrauded.