Reinsurance Contract’s Limit of Liability Includes Expenses, N.Y. Federal Judge Rules

ALBANY, N.Y. — A reinsurance certificate issued by Munich Reinsurance America Inc. to Utica Mutual Insurance Co. clearly includes expenses in its limit of liability, therefore Munich is not obligated to pay Utica $1 million in expenses in excess of the certificate’s $5 million limit, a New York federal judge has ruled.

In issuing the Sept. 30 decision, Judge Lawrence E. Kahn of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York relied upon the certificate’s unambiguous terms and three controlling cases decided by the 2nd Circuit and the New York Court of Appeals.

Utica issued a …