Old Republic Insurance v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance

Two insurance carriers entered into a stipulation for “arbitration by a special master” and, by their stipulation, purported to confer jurisdiction on this court to conduct a plenary review of the purported master’s decision. We hold they cannot do so and affirm the judgment.

Facts

This is a dispute between two insurance carriers; one of them insured a truck, the other a trailer. They dispute which insurer is responsible for the costs of defense and the indemnity they paid in connection with two personal injury actions, and contest the amount of insurance coverage available. These suits resulted from the truck-trailer combination colliding with another vehicle. Because of the procedural posture of the case, we need not recite either the circumstances of the accident or the nature of the coverage afforded by each of the carriers.

Following settlement of the personal injury actions, Old Republic Insurance Company filed a complaint against St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company seeking reimbursement for defense costs. Although the record does not contain a copy, a subsequent stipulation relates that St. Paul filed a cross-complaint for its defense costs and the amount…