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As previously noted, of the seventeen (17) re/insurance related Chapter 15 cases filed through the end of
February 2009, thirteen (13) have involved non‐U.S. run‐off schemes of arrangement, three (3) have involved
liquidation or winding‐up proceedings, and one (1) was filed in aid of a UK administration proceeding. Formal
objection by third parties, including in some instances policyholders, has been lodged in four (4) of the
seventeen (17) re/insurance related Chapter 15 proceedings. These objections challenged either recognition of
the foreign proceeding ab initio or the grant of some aspect of the relief requested in aid of the foreign
proceeding.
Reported court decisions have issued in two (2) of the formally contested cases, Condor Insurance Ltd. 15 and
the jointly administered Chapter 15 cases respecting Tri‐Continental Exchange Ltd, Alternative Market Exchange
Ltd, Combined Services, Ltd. 16 While no reported decisions issued in the remaining two contested re/insurance
Chapter 15 cases, the objections filed in those cases, orders entered and hearing transcripts are instructive and
available on the case dockets ~ In re Greyfriars Insurance Company Limited, et al. (“WFUM pool cases”), Chapter
15 Case Nos. 07‐12934‐43 (Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, filed September 18, 2007) and
In re Hatteras Reinsurance Ltd., Chapter 15 Case No. 06‐11304 (Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New
York, filed June 8, 2006).
Notably, even absent objection lodged by a party in interest in a Chapter 15 case, the U.S. bankruptcy court is
obligated to make an independent determination, as though it were an objector‐in‐fact, that the Chapter 15
petition meets the eligibility requirements for recognition and relief. Typically, such decisions are not officially
reported. 17
However, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York reported its decision in the first
re/insurer related Chapter 15 case, that respecting the run‐off scheme for La Mutuelle du Mans Assurances IARD
(UK Branch) MMA Account. 18 The Court reported its decision because the case was the first commercial
Chapter 15 case to be adjudicated by any U.S. court, the first to involve an evidentiary hearing conducted by a
U.S. court as “objector,” and the first to result in issuance of an order interpreting the key components of
Chapter 15 ~ including notably the applicability of Chapter 15 to books of re/insurance business in run‐off and to
solvent schemes of arrangement for re/insurance run‐off.
The La Mutuelle du Mans, Condor, Tri‐Continental et al, Greyfriars et al, and Hatteras Reinsurance cases are
discussed briefly below.
La Mutuelle du Mans Assurances IARD (UK Branch) MMA Account (In re
Petition of Lloyd), No. 05‐60100(BRL), 2005 WL 3764946 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Dec. 7,
2005). The “MMA” account case was the first Chapter 15 case respecting a
commercial non‐U.S. debtor to be adjudicated. It issued the first Chapter 15
order, in which the court notably determined that a solvent scheme of
arrangement respecting re/insurance run‐off is a “foreign proceeding” under
new Chapter 15 entitled to recognition and relief. It also was the first Chapter 15
case in which a full evidentiary hearing was held, including the taking of
testimony from witnesses both by counsel and the Court, and in which findings
of fact and conclusions of law were issued by the Court on the record at the
hearing, 19 further supported by Order entered and formally reported.
In addition to recognition of a solvent run‐off scheme, the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court determined that a book of marine insurance business is an “entity”
constituting a “debtor” for purposes of Chapter 15, and that the center of main
interest of such debtor rested in the UK and was “lodged within the
jurisdiction” of the High Court of England and Wales. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court
15 In re Condor Insurance Limited, 2008 WL 2858943 (Bankr. S.D. Miss. July 17, 2008), aff’d, 2009 WL 321627 (S.D.
Miss. Feb. 9, 2009).
16 In re Tri‐Cont. Exch. Ltd., 349 B.R. 627 (Bankr. E.D. Cal. 2006).
17 The dockets of Chapter 15 cases are available via services such as Westlaw and Lexis and official court dockets
are electronically accessible through the U.S. PACER system (www.pacer.psc.uscourts.gov).
18 In re Petition of Lloyd, 2005 WL 3764946 (Bankr. SDNY Dec. 7, 2005).
19 The transcript of the evidentiary hearing on the MMA Chapter 15 petition is published on the docket of the
case.