Whilst the Arbitration Act 1996 attempted to address this our experience remains that despite judicial observations to the contrary one of the most important parties to any insurance or reinsurance dispute, the broker, remains more often than not on the sidelines and not directly involved in the Arbitration process. Certainly not a party against which the Tribunal can make an Award. It is likely that brokers would more readily co-operate with a quicker, cheaper and less adversarial process. ADR is a quicker and potentially cheaper method of resolving disputes. Cost savings may potentially be made both in terms of management time and resources and in lesser costs than Court or arbitration.
Resolution occurs within a short time frame.
This is important for both Insurers and Reinsurers who need to quantify the financial worth of a dispute with certainty in order to run their organisations. If a dispute can be resolved and quantified within a matter of months rather than years then insurers and reinsurers can manage their business more effectively. In summary, in our opinion, there is nothing to be lost by attempting to resolve disputes by ADR even if no agreement is reached. Indeed we consider that the parties have everything to gain by adopting this course. Even if a settlement is not reached it is not a waste of time or costs as ADR helps to focus the minds of the parties involved on the facts of their cases and the important issues in dispute.