has disclosed that it is a defendant in seven different lawsuits filed in 1998.

The disclosures come in the company's quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company stated that it is involved in "several arbitration proceedings in England between reinsurers and their ceding insurers relating to reinsurance transactions involving the personal accident excess of loss market (LMX) for the years 1993, 1994, and 1996.'' Except for a subsidiary that is directly involved in an arbitration, the company states that it is not a party to the arbitrations. However the company's subsidiaries acted as a reinsurance broker for ceding companies involved in the arbitrations.

The reinsurers are alleging that they sustained losses that were not disclosed to them by the ceding insurers or the reinsurance brokers.

"The primary factual allegation by the reinsurers is that, although they believed they reinsured the subject risks only at high excess levels, the LMX spiral caused their high excess positions to not equate with their expectation of remoteness from the incidence of risk,'' Stirling Cooke stated. "As to the company or its subsidiaries, the reinsurers and reinsureds have alleged in their writs that the company or its subsidiary was negligent, misrepresented, or failed to disclose the potential effect of the spiral on the reinsurers' exposure to risk.'' Stirling Cooke stated that it doesn't believe that the outcome of the proceedings will have a "material adverse effect'' on the company.

COURTS CTS