Insurance : Arbitration Clause – Reinsurance Agreement – Third-Party Beneficiary

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Where a school bus driver, who accidentally killed a child, filed an action against the school district’s insurer for bad faith refusal to settle and breach of fiduciary duty, adding the reciprocal risk retention group as a defendant, and the bus driver filed a motion to stay arbitration, the trial court did not err in denying the risk retention group’s motion to compel arbitration because the arbitration clause in the agreement between the insurers was invalid against the bus driver as a third-party beneficiary since he was not within the scope of the agreement, and the agreement was not a reinsurance agreement.

Judgment is affirmed.

Leonberger v. Missouri United School Insurance Council (MLW No. 69207/Case No. ED103669 – 18 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Sullivan, J.) Appealed from circuit court, St. Louis City, Dowd, J. (Mark G. Arnold, William C. O’Neill and Robert P. Berry for appellant) (Edward D. Robertson III and James P. Frickleton for respondent).

Read the full text of this opinion. (PDF)