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The ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Companies have formed ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Specialty Excess, an umbrella and excess casualty underwriting unit that the company says will concentrate on insuring specialty and difficult-to-place classes of business including construction, transportation, public entities and educational institutions.

Effective May 15, 2006, ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Specialty Excess will respond to all in-force business, as well as new and renewal business currently handled by the C.V. Starr & Co. agency, a subsidiary of C.V.Starr & Co., Inc.

C.V. Starr is run by ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½’s own former chairman and CEO, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. The parties have been in a court dispute over Starr’s attempts to move its ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ business to other carriers.

ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Specialty Excess will operate nationwide. It will be headed by
Chris Maleno. Maleno has been with the ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Companies for 11 years and is also president of ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Excess Casualty.

The move follows ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½’s announcemnt on Feb. 17 that it had terminated the agency relationship with Starr Technical Risks Agency, Inc. and its subsidiaries (Starr Tech), insurance agencies owned by C.V. Starr & Co., Inc.

According to ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½’s Feb. 17 announcement, all current and future underwriting, claims, loss control and administrative functions relating to accounts formerly underwritten by Starr Tech on behalf of the ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Companies will be managed by New York-based ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Global Energy, which already provides insurance and risk management programs to energy and energy-related companies worldwide.

ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Global Energy has expanded its scope of operations by creating a new division, ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Global Energy-North America, to serve the worldwide property insurance needs of insurance customers in North America. ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Global Energy-North America will initially have offices in New York, Hartford, Conn., and Houston, Tex., as well as Toronto and London.

Starr Technical is a managing general agency that specializes in oil and chemical industry insurance.

Earlier this month, a New York judge granted ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ a restraining order against Greenberg and Starr Technical Risk Agency that bars Starr from placing its ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ business with other insurers.

The order barred Greenberg’s agency from pursuing contracts with National Indemnity, a Berkshire Hathaway unit, for business currently with ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn said his restraining order would remain in effect until the parties settle their differences in arbitration.

ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ has claimed that Starr Technical has been using “unauthorized” reinsurance agreements with National Indemnity to take business now placed with ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ and give it to other insurers. ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ maintains that Starr Technical and ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ have had an exclusive contract since 1992, which includes allowing Starr Technical to sell policies in ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½’s name.

C.V. Starr has countersued charging that ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ is trying to keep its agency from competing. Starr claims that its agency is free to write accounts with other carriers when ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ is not competitive. Its lawyers have accused ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ of trying to close down Starr agencies and urging clients not to do business with Greenberg’s companies.

Topics Excess Surplus New York ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½