Hartford Fire Ins. Co. v. California, 509 U.S. 764, 30 (1993)

Page:   Index   Previous  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  Next

Cite as: 509 U. S. 764 (1993)

Souter, J., concurring in judgment

The majority insists that I "disregar[d] th[e] integral relationship between the terms of the primary insurance form and the contract of reinsurance," post, at 807, a fact which it seems to believe makes it impossible to draw any distinction whatsoever between primary insurers and reinsurers. Yet it is the majority that fails to see that, in spite of such an "integral relationship," the interests of primary insurer and reinsurer will almost certainly differ in some cases. For example, the complaints allege that reinsurance contracts often "layer" risks, "in the sense that [a] reinsurer may have to respond only to claims above a certain amount . . . ." App. 10 (Cal. Complaint ¶ 4.q); id., at 61 (Conn. Complaint ¶ 4(f)). Thus, a primary insurer might be much more concerned than its reinsurer about a risk that resulted in a high number of relatively small claims. Or the primary insurer might simply perceive a particular risk differently from the reinsurer. The reinsurer might be indifferent as to whether a particular risk was covered, so long as the reinsurance premiums were adjusted to its satisfaction, whereas the primary insurer might decide that the risk was "too hot to handle," on a standardized basis, at any cost. The majority's suggestion that "to insist upon certain primary-insurance terms as a condition of writing reinsurance is in no way 'artificial,' " post, at 808; see post, at 806, simply ignores these possibilities; the conditions could quite easily be "artificial," in the sense that they are not motivated by the interests of the rein-surers themselves. Because the parties have had no chance to flesh out the facts of this case, because I have no a priori knowledge of those facts, and because I do not believe I can locate them in the pages of insurance treatises, I would not rule out these possibilities on a motion to dismiss.

Believing that there is no other principled way to narrow the § 3(b) exception, the majority decides that "boycott" encompasses just those refusals to deal that are "unrelated" or "collateral" to the objective sought by those refusing to deal. Post, at 803. This designation of a single " 'unitary phenom-

793

Page:   Index   Previous  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007