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Contingent Liabilities
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Contingent Liabilities Contingent Liabilities
The Company is involved in various legal proceedings, including commercial matters and litigation regarding insurance claims which arise in the ordinary course of business, as well as an alleged class action lawsuit. In addition, the Company is involved from time to time in legal actions which seek extra-contractual damages, punitive damages or penalties, including claims alleging bad faith in handling of insurance claims. The Company believes that the outcome of such matters, individually and in the aggregate, is not reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company's consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
On July 9, 2021 a purported class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (the “Court”) by Employees’ Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth against James River Group Holdings, Ltd. and certain of its present and former officers (together, “Defendants”). On September 22, 2021, the Court entered an order appointing Employees’ Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth and the City of Miami General Employees’ and Sanitation Employees’ Retirement Trust as co-lead plaintiffs (together, “Plaintiffs”). Plaintiffs’ consolidated amended complaint was filed on November 19, 2021 (the “First Amended Complaint”). The Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the First Amended Complaint on January 18, 2022, Plaintiffs’ opposition thereto was filed on March 4, 2022, and the Defendants’ reply to the Plaintiffs’ opposition was filed on April 4, 2022. On August 25, 2022, Plaintiffs filed a motion for leave to file a second amended class action complaint (the "Second Amended Complaint"). On September 8, 2022, the Defendants consented to the Plaintiffs’ motion to file the Second Amended Complaint, and filed a motion to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint on October 24, 2022 (the "Second MTD"). The Plaintiffs’ opposition to the Second MTD was filed on November 7, 2022, and the Defendant's reply to the Plaintiffs' opposition was filed on November 14, 2022. The First Amended Complaint and Second Amended Complaint assert claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on behalf of a putative class of persons and entities that purchased the Company's stock between February 22, 2019 and October 25, 2021, and allege that Defendants failed to make appropriate disclosures concerning the adequacy of reserves for policies that covered Rasier LLC, a
subsidiary of Uber Technologies, Inc., and seek unspecified damages, costs, attorneys’ fees and such other relief as the court may deem proper. We believe that the Plaintiffs’ claims are without merit and we intend to vigorously defend this lawsuit.
The Company’s reinsurance subsidiary, JRG Re, entered into three letter of credit facilities with banks as security to third-party reinsureds on reinsurance assumed by JRG Re. JRG Re has established custodial accounts to secure these letters of credit. Under a $30.0 million facility, $4.4 million of letters of credit were issued through June 30, 2023 which were secured by deposits of $5.7 million. Under a $102.5 million facility, $42.3 million of letters of credit were issued through June 30, 2023 which were secured by deposits of $53.0 million. Under a $100.0 million facility, $28.2 million of letters of credit were issued through June 30, 2023 which were secured by deposits of $43.7 million. JRG Re has also established trust accounts to secure its obligations to selected reinsureds. The total amount deposited in the trust accounts for the benefit of third-party reinsureds was $399.8 million at June 30, 2023.
Amounts Recoverable from an Indemnifying Party and Reinsurer on Legacy Commercial Auto Book
James River previously issued a set of commercial auto insurance contracts (the “Rasier Commercial Auto Policies”) to Rasier under which James River pays losses and loss adjustment expenses on the contracts. James River has indemnity agreements with Rasier (non-insurance entities) (collectively, the “Indemnity Agreements”) and is contractually entitled to reimbursement for the portion of the losses and loss adjustment expenses paid on behalf of Rasier under the Rasier Commercial Auto Policies and other expenses incurred by James River. On September 27, 2021, James River entered into the Commercial Auto LPT with Aleka to reinsure substantially all of the Rasier Commercial Auto Policies for which James River is not otherwise indemnified by Rasier under the Indemnity Agreements. Under the terms of the Commercial Auto LPT, effective as of July 1, 2021, James River ceded to Aleka approximately $345.1 million of commercial auto liabilities relating to Rasier Commercial Auto Policies written in the years 2013-2019, which amount constituted the reinsurance premium. Since inception, due to adverse paid and reported loss trends on the legacy Rasier business, the Company has recognized adverse prior year development of $100.3 million on the reserves subject to the Commercial Auto LPT, bringing the cumulative amount ceded under the Commercial Auto LPT to $445.4 million at June 30, 2023.
Each of Rasier and Aleka are required to post collateral under the Indemnity Agreements and the Commercial Auto LPT, respectively:
Pursuant to the Indemnity Agreements, Rasier is required to post collateral equal to 102% of James River's estimate of the amounts that are recoverable or may be recoverable under the Indemnity Agreements, including, among other things, case loss and loss adjustment expense reserves, IBNR loss and loss adjustment expense reserves, extra contractual obligations and excess policy limits liabilities. The collateral is provided through a collateral trust arrangement (the “Indemnity Trust”) in favor of James River by Aleka. In connection with the execution of the Commercial Auto LPT, James River returned $691.3 million to the Indemnity Trust, representing the remaining balance of the amount withdrawn in October 2019, as was permitted under the indemnification agreements with Rasier and the associated trust agreement. At June 30, 2023, the balance in the Indemnity Trust was $187.3 million, and, together with the balance of the Loss Fund Trust (as defined below) attributable to the Indemnity Agreements as described below, the total balance of collateral securing Rasier’s obligations under the Indemnity Agreements was $256.5 million.
Pursuant to the Commercial Auto LPT, Aleka is required to post collateral equal to 102% of James River's estimate of Aleka's obligations under the Commercial Auto LPT, calculated in accordance with standard actuarial principles and based on reserves recorded in the Company’s statutory financial statements. The collateral is provided through a collateral trust arrangement (the “LPT Trust”) established in favor of James River by Aleka. At June 30, 2023, the balance in the LPT Trust was $85.6 million, and, together with the balance of the Loss Fund Trust (as defined below) attributable to the Commercial Auto LPT as described below, the total balance of collateral securing Aleka’s obligations under the Commercial Auto LPT was $113.8 million. At June 30, 2023, the total reinsurance recoverables under the Commercial Auto LPT was $122.4 million (including $111.9 million of unpaid recoverables and $10.5 million of paid recoverables).
In connection with the execution of the Commercial Auto LPT, James River and Aleka entered into an administrative services agreement (the “Administrative Services Agreement”) with a third party claims administrator (the “Administrator”) pursuant to which the Administrator handles the claims on the Rasier Commercial Auto Policies for the remaining life of those claims. The claims paid by the Administrator are reimbursable by James River, and pursuant to the Administrative Services Agreement, James River established a loss fund trust account for the benefit of the Administrator (the “Loss Fund Trust”) to collateralize its claims payment reimbursement obligations. James River funds the Loss Fund Trust using funds withdrawn from the Indemnity Trust, funds withdrawn from the LPT Trust, and its own funds, in each case in an amount equal to the pro rata portion of the required Loss Fund Trust balance attributable to the Indemnity Agreements, the Commercial Auto LPT and James River’s existing third party reinsurance agreements, respectively. At June 30, 2023, the balance in the Loss Fund Trust was $105.5 million, including $69.2 million representing collateral supporting Rasier’s obligations under the Indemnity
Agreements and $28.2 million representing collateral supporting Aleka’s obligations under the Commercial Auto LPT. Funds posted to the Loss Fund Trust are classified as restricted cash equivalents on the Company's balance sheets.
While the Commercial Auto LPT brings economic finality to substantially all of the Rasier Commercial Auto Policies, the Company has credit exposure to Rasier and Aleka under the Indemnity Agreements and the Commercial Auto LPT if the estimated losses and expenses of the Rasier Commercial Auto Policies grow at a faster pace than the growth in the collateral balances. In addition, the Company has credit exposure if its estimates of future losses and loss adjustment expenses and other amounts recoverable under the Indemnity Agreements and the Commercial Auto LPT, which are the basis for establishing the collateral balances, are lower than actual amounts paid or payable. The amount of our credit exposure in any of these instances could be material. To mitigate these risks, the Company closely and frequently monitors its exposure compared to the collateral held, and requests additional collateral in accordance with the terms of the Commercial Auto LPT and Indemnity Agreements when its analysis indicates that it has uncollateralized exposure.