Sphere Drake Insurance

Assurant sues Inter-Ocean Re for $20 million

March 19, 2009

Bermuda based finite risk reinsurer Inter Ocean Reinsurance Company Ltd., which has been in run off since 2005, is being sued for $20 million by four subsidiaries of U. S. Fortune 500 company Assurant, Inc. The complaint against Inter Ocean

US insurers seek to enforce arbitration award against int’l reinsurers

January 20, 2009

Two US based insurers have filed a petition to confirm an arbitration award against reinsurers domiciled or based in Bermuda, France, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the USA.The petition was filed by Clearwater Insurance Company, formerly known as Skandia

Sphere Drake sued for $200 million in New York

February 27, 2008

Bermuda-based insurer Sphere Drake is facing potential claims of more than $200 million from a civil lawsuit that has been filed in New York.The man who filed the action, Richard Breeden, called on the company to "honor its obligations" over reinsurance coverage he said it provided to two bankrupt US companies he is administering, Bennett Funding Group, Inc. and The Processing Center, Inc.

Stirling Cooke Bankruptcy Trustee settles with Clarendon Insurance for $42 m

December 11, 2007

The now-defunct, Bermuda-based insurance broker best-known as Stirling Cooke Brown has agreed to pay up to $42.3 million to settle claims with its one-time business partner, Clarendon Insurance Group. A motion to approve the settlement was filed by Stirling Cooke's Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee, Richard E. O'Connell, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on November 30, 2007.

Stirling Cooke loses High Court judgment to Sphere Drake Insurance

July 8, 2003

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.

Former Mentor Insurance underwriter fights fraud indictment

August 31, 2002

An underwriter who helped cause one of Bermuda's biggest ever insurance failures is awaiting trial in the United States on insurance fraud charges relating to another company.Michael Leslie Hodnett, a 54-year-old British national, has been charged with five counts of fraud and five counts of insurance crimes affecting interstate commerce at Federal court in Florida.

Stirling Cooke billed $1.7 m for 44 days of legal work

April 30, 2002

InsideBermuda has obtained a copy of an invoice sent to Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings which indicates the crippling legal bills the firm is paying to defend itself against a civil lawsuit in the United Kingdom.

Willis Group enters Odyssey Re-Stirling Cooke lawsuit

July 31, 2001

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.

Trial date set for Sphere Drake-Odyssey Re lawsuit

August 31, 2000

The London Commercial Court has scheduled October, 2001 for the start of a trial relating to a civil lawsuit filed by Sphere Drake Insurance (formerly Odyssey Re-London) against two UK-based subsidiaries of Stirling Cooke Brown Holdings, two former officers of those subsidiaries, and others on February 29, 2000.