Service-Of-Suit Clause Waives Reinsurer's Removal Rights

NEW YORK - A federal judge has remanded a dispute between the liquidator of Midland Insurance Co. and a Serbian reinsurance company, ruling that the service-of-suit clause in the reinsurance agreements at issue requires that the action be heard in New York state court. Dinallo v. Dunav Insurance Co., No. 09-5575 (S.D. N.Y.).

Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that the service-of-suit provision operates as a waiver of the reinsurer's right to remove the action to federal court.

Between November 1978 and October 1980, Midland and Dunav allegedly entered …