Find Lawyers in New Orleans, Louisiana for Reinsurance Law

Practice Area Overview

Reinsurance is essentially “insurance for insurance companies.” It is a contractual arrangement whereby one insurer (the ceding insurer) transfers all or a portion of the risks it underwrites pursuant to a policy or a group of policies to another insurer (the reinsurer). The availability of reinsurance enables an insurer to accept risks that would otherwise be beyond its underwriting capacity by allowing the ceding insurer to “reinsure” a portion of the risk of loss. Reinsurance is a mechanism that enables insurers to spread the risk of catastrophic losses among a larger pool of insurers.

Reinsurance is generally available on a “pro rata” or proportional basis, or on an “excess of loss” basis. A pro rata reinsurance contract obligates the reinsurer to indemnify the ceding insurer for a percentage of any losses from the original risk in return for a corresponding portion of the premium for the original risk. Pro rata reinsurance arrangements generally require the reinsurer to pay a proportion of any losses that occur with no retention (a portion of the risk that the ceding insurer “retains” for its own account). Excess of loss reinsurance indemnifies the ceding insurer for all or a stated portion of loss in excess of a stated retention.

Reinsurance contracts are typically written on either a “treaty” or “facultative” basis. Both can be written as pro rata or excess of loss. Treaty reinsurance provides coverage for specified business (e.g. casualty or workers compensation). The treaty protects the ceding insurer’s entire “book” of policies for the specified business. Facultative reinsurance is designed to protect an individual policy or risk written by the ceding insurer. Both treaty and facultative reinsurance is commonly provided by a number of reinsurers, each agreeing to assume a portion of the reinsured liability.

Attorneys who practice reinsurance law are involved in the negotiation and drafting of reinsurance contracts and in the resolution of disputes between ceding insurers and their reinsurers. Disagreements may arise over whether a particular risk or claim is covered by the reinsurance contract or how a large number of claims settlements are “allocated” among the ceding insurers policies. Administrative disputes involving underwriting practices, claims handling, access to records, and audit rights are not uncommon. Many reinsurance contracts call for disputes to be resolved through binding arbitration before a panel of current or former officers or directors of insurance or reinsurance companies.

Robert N. Hermes

Porter Wright Morris & Arthur

2 Profiled Results

Pablo Gonzalez

Phelps Dunbar LLP

Recognized since 2020

New Orleans, LA

Practice Areas

Insurance Law

Litigation - Insurance

Reinsurance Law

Pablo Gonzalez

Pablo Gonzalez guides clients through the complex, evolving issues involving insurance coverage for cybersecurity events. In addition to litigation and mediation, he conducts working reviews of policy language and develops innovative, cost-effective systems to help insurers, reinsurers and syndicates monitor claims. Pablo leads the firm’s cyber coverage and monitoring team as well as the New Orleans insurance and reinsurance practice. He is a frequent speaker and writer on cyber insuran...

Pablo Gonzalez

Marshall M. Redmon

Phelps Dunbar LLP

Recognized since 2007

New Orleans, LA

Practice Areas

Insurance Law

Professional Malpractice Law - Defendants

Reinsurance Law

Specific Focus

Architects and Engineers

Marshall M. Redmon

Marshall Redmon practices in the area of insurance and reinsurance. For more than twenty years, he has focused on insurance coverage, professional liability defense, bad faith counseling, and related litigation. As a young lawyer Mr. Redmon completed a secondment to a Lloyd’s non-marine syndicate, during which period he provided in-house advices to several London market insurers. His experience includes litigating a variety of non-marine matters, with an emphasis on professional liabili...

Marshall M. Redmon

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