Cedent Says Fla. Federal Court Has Jurisdiction over Dispute with Reinsurer

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A cedent says a Florida federal court has jurisdiction over its lawsuit seeking payment of a $139,000 claim made under an excess reinsurance agreement, arguing that as a resident of Florida and Texas it is neither an “alien,” nor a “citizen of a foreign state.”

In a Sept. 27 response to a reinsurer’s motion to dismiss filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, VIP Universal Medical Insurance Group Ltd. argued that “aliens” and “citizens of foreign states” in the context of 28 U.S.C. § 1332 refer to people and …