John Chaplin
Personal Information
  • Address:
    P.O. Box 1350
    Grantham, New Hampshire 03753
  • Phone:
    9143186870
  • Email:
Credentials
  • Attorney:
    No
  • Education:
    Columbia University in the City of New York
  • Additional Information:
    Advanced Executive Insurance Management program organized under the auspices of the Insurance Institutes of America and the Wharton School in 1993 (Inaugural Session).
  • Offering Services as Expert Witness in:
    Workers Comp, Asbestos, Reinsurance Underwriting, Claim Commutations
  • Certified Arbitrator:
    Yes
  • Certified Umpire:
    Yes
  • Certified Neutral Arbitrator:
    Yes
Work Experience
Current director of an insurance or reinsurance company: No
Former director of an insurance or reinsurance company: No
Current officer of an insurance or reinsurance company: No
Former officer of an insurance or reinsurance company: Yes

Insurance Company: Underwriting Department, Executive Officer (CEO, COO, CFO, Chief Actuary), Claim Department, Ceded Reinsurance Department

Reinsurance Department: Reinsurance Department, Underwriting Department, Claim Department

Other Work Experience: Broker, Consultant

Breakdown of Experience
Accident & Health: Intermediary Experience - Facultative reinsurance for Seat Accident exposures; Known Concentration exposures; WC Carve-Out coverage; A&H Retrocession Program Arbitrator/Expert Experience - Provider Stop Loss Reinsurance Contracts; Claim Experience - Hospital Claims under Stop Loss Reinsurance
Asbestos: Intermediary/Reinsurer/Claim/Arbitrator Experience - everything from the 1980's forward has been suffused with the claim effects fo asbestos losses, claim presentations and disputes over the interpretation of Occurrence. Everything in my resume is similarly affected with the result that over 50% of my dispute work has involved Asbestos.
Automobile Liability/Property: Intermediary Experience: element of Blanket Casualty excess contracts - related claims experience. Reinsurer Experience: element of Auto Liability Reinsurances; Blanket Casualty excess contracts - related claims experience.
Aviation: Intermediary Experience - USAIG was a client in the period of 1977 to 1991. Airline, General Aviation and FBO insurance, reinsurance and retrocessions. Claims Experience - various Airline and General Aviation claims.
Bad Faith/Eco: Intermediary Experience - the reinsurance market came to an understanding of the need to codify the coverage for ECO and also XPL in the late-70's and I was privy to the negotiations that led totoday's contract wording language. Reinsurer/Claim Experience - every so often a claim dispute arise over the interpretation of the ECO/XPL Article and I have fielded a number of those.
Captives/Risk Retention Groups: Reinsurance Underwriting Experience: AEGIS; Various carriers within the Reiss Group of Captives (e.g., Hopewell, IRMG, etc.) - related claim experience. Arbitrator/Expert disputes.
Catastrophes (Casualty): Intermediary/Reinsurer/Claim Experience - majority of Occurrence Excess Contracts and for Casualty business are Catastrophe covers. Numerous contracts and claims especially focusing on the meaning of a casualty occurrence.
Catastrophes (Property): Intermediary Experience - majority of Property Occurrence Excess Contracts and Casualty Occurrence Excess Contracts are Catastrophe covers. Insurance Company Experience as Consultant - 10 years serving Florida Insurer to arrange Property Reinsurance for catastrophes; also, served as broker for the FRPCJUA for a number of years securing their Property Catastrophe coverage.
Commercial Liability: Intermediary Experience - element of Blanket Casualty excess contracts - related claims experience. Reinsurer Experience - wrote coverage for National Insurers covering Commercial Liability as part of their Blanket Casualty excess reinsurance coverages. Arbitration/Expert Experience - opined often on the subject of "occurrence" which was the main issue for Commercial Liability claims involving Asbestos, Environmental and Products claims.
Commercial Property: Reinsurer - Claim - Intermediary - Consultant
Commutations: Intermediary/Claim Experience - Claim Commutations arose in WC claims due to the changes in the landscape for WC loss presentations and reinsurance settlements. Participated in Agreed Value commutations which, while complicated formulae, served to "clear the deck" for moving forward with difficult claim negotiations.
Contract Wording: Intermediary Experience - always wrote the contracts supporting each client, each contract at each renewal (rough guess: 1,425 contracts not counting review of other's contracts). Also served on Guy Carpenter Contract Wording Committee. Industry Experience - Member of the Brokers and Reinsurance Market Association Contract Wording Committee. Training Experience - provided courses for Guy Carpenter, Insurance and Reinsurance Underwriters Association on the topic of Reinsurance Contracts.
Environmental/Pollution: Arbitration - Disputes/claims - Reinsurer - Intermediary
Fidelity &, Surety: Intermediary - had one client who wrote Fidelity and Surety. Reinsurer - F&D was a client of mine at NARe.
Lloyd's: Intermediary and Reinsurer - a great deal of business was placed with Lloyds including the retrocessions of NARe, Skandia America Re and several other clients of mine at GC.
London Company Market: Intermediary and Reinsurer - I placed business with London Company Markets including the retrocessions of NARe, Skandia America Re and several other clients of mine at GC. Arbitrator - I served as an expert witness in a case involving LCM's.
Product Liability: Intermediary - Claims - Dispute Resolution
Professional Liability/Errors &, Omissions: Intermediary - Personal Insurance from PL carrier
Workers' Compensation: Intermediary Experience - element of Blanket Casualty excess contracts - related claims experience. Leader of Guy Carpenter WC project in the mid-1980's analyzing WC claim reserving and reporting to excess of loss reinsurance programs. Project results: Commutation clauses, Agreed Value clauses, Claim reinsurance, Retcom Re, Maximum Any One Life (MAOL) limitations, Reinstatement limits.
By Market
Bermuda/Off- Shore Market: 1-25%
U.K. Market: 1-25%
U.S. Market: 75-100%
Mediation Experience
Minimum Number of Mediations as Mediator: 33
ARIAS Experience
Arbitration Experience
Number of Arbitrations as an Arbitrator: 20
Number of Appointments as Arbitrator: 21
Completed Arbitrations as Arbitrator: 6
Umpire Experience
Number of Arbitrations as an Umpire: 8
Number of Appointments as Umpire: 8
Completed Arbitrations as Umpire: 4
Biography
John Chaplin has 47 years of broad-based insurance and reinsurance industry experience and has served in virtually every capacity related to insurance/reinsurance transactions: intermediary, underwriter, consultant, auditor, buyer, seller, expert witness, arbitrator, mediator and umpire. As reinsurance intermediary, he served for 23 years with the leading Global Reinsurance Intermediary (Guy Carpenter) where, as a property and casualty treaty account executive and manager, he was actively involved in the critical changes wrought by broad business and societal movements regarding asbestos, pollution and products liability. He also served as the intermediary’s project leader analyzing, exploring, and advising on industry solutions to Workers’ Compensation reinsurance claims reporting issues and industry agreements that ultimately preserved reinsurance support for such long-term, periodic payment claims. After years as an intermediary, he served as an underwriting and producing executive at North American Re (now Swiss Re America) with emphasis on Specialty Insurers and National Insurance Company for property reinsurances. This later led to a deep dive into the Florida Property insurance market with involvement in the State-supported risk mechanisms such as the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and the burgeoning market for property insurer start-ups in the 1990’s and 2000’s. His specialties include aviation/aerospace, retrocessions, commutations, excess catastrophe reinsurance, umbrella liability, facultative reinsurance, general liability, reinsurance accounting, and contract wordings; also, unique issues e.g., asbestos, products liability, finite reinsurance, and protected/segregated captive insurance structured companies. He has provided reinsurance training, dating back to 1980, on various reinsurance topics: fundamentals, contracts, structures and accounting. In the last 21 years, he has been an arbitrator and member of ARIAS-US where he has been involved in numerous cases (91) as expert witness, arbitrator, panel umpire and solo arbitrator/umpire. Finally, he earned a CPCU designation in 1984, an ARe designation in 1993, a New York State Agents and Brokers license and participated in the very first Advanced Executive Insurance Management program organized under the auspices of the Insurance Institutes of America and the Wharton School in 1993.