Case study

Court ordered reinsurance claim resolved in one day

Amount in dispute
£1.3 million

Time between referral and mediation
one month

Length of mediation
one day

Cost
£2,900 per party

Party A initiated commercial court litigation and arbitration proceedings against Party B to claim under forty-year-old reinsurance contracts on asbestos, health and pollution. Party B claimed there was no adequate information on the contracts or the liability to pay. The court directed that the dispute should be mediated. The total amount in dispute was £1.3 million.

The dispute had been running for several years, and the parties had become entrenched and were initially reluctant to mediate. In addition to providing advice on the most appropriate mediator, the CEDR Solve dispute resolution adviser was able to help the parties overcome disagreement on an acceptable venue for the mediation. We were also able to suggest an assistant mediator with a suitable environmental background who attended at no extra cost to the parties.

The mediation lasted one day and enabled the parties to think further than the parameters of the litigation. Facilitated by the mediator, the parties were able to address and resolve a number of issues, not only those subject to the litigation. Furthermore, the mediation was able to resolve those issues much more quickly and with significant cost savings of up to £250,000 together with management time savings of 'literally a couple of man years', according to one party.

One of the decision-makers commented that: 'We achieved a full and final solution, which is very satisfactory'.