New York appeal court reverses access decision

A case cited in the January issue of Reinsurance Magazine has been reversed on appeal. In Gulf Insurance Co. v. Transatlantic Reinsurance Co., No. 601602/03 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. May 21, 2004), the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the state's trial-level court, on a motion to compel discovery, had held that an access to records clause that gave reinsurers access to "all records of [the reinsured] that pertain in any way" to the reinsurance agreement included documents that would otherwise be protected by the attorney-client privilege. The trial court concluded if the reinsured intended to except privileged documents from those to which the reinsurer would be granted access, the reinsured should have stated that in the reinsurance contract.

However, on December 28, 2004, a New York appellate court reversed the lower court and held that an access to records clause in a reinsurance agreement, no matter how broad, is not intended to act as