Michael Humphreys v. Assicurazioni Generali, S.p.A. (UK), et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted Michael Humphreys’s motion to remand and denied the defendants’ cross-motion to strike declarations. The court held that the reinsurance agreements’ service-of-suit clause waived the defendants’ right to remove the action from Pennsylvania state court and permitted consideration of extrinsic evidence concerning London reinsurance-market practices.

Holdings

1. The declarations should not be stricken because they were offered to establish customary industry practices and the parties' intent, not to prove the contents of lost contractual text.
2. The service-of-suit clause waived defendants' right to remove the action because defendants agreed to submit to any court of competent jurisdiction selected by the insured or reinsured and to remain in that forum.
3. United Kingdom law did not govern the issue because the effect of the service-of-suit clause on removal was procedural rather than substantive.

Questions Presented

1. Whether declarations concerning London-market custom and the use of service-of-suit clauses should be stricken under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f).
2. Whether the service-of-suit clause in the reinsurance agreements constituted a waiver of defendants' right to remove the action to federal court.
3. Whether United Kingdom law or federal law governed the procedural effect and enforceability of the service-of-suit clause.

Disposition

remanded