House of Lords, 30 July 2009

• The House of Lords finds for reinsurers, in a ruling of strict orthodoxy and traditional insistence on the primacy of the contract terms;
• An English law facultative reinsurance contract is not to be read so as to cover damage arising outside the period of cover, even if the primary policy, governed by Pennsylvania law, is adjudged by a US court to grant such coverage;
• Reinsurers have no obligation to follow a settlement - or a judgment - that would not be covered by the reinsurance policy as a matter of law.

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