The battle between Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Diane Koken and Bermuda-based Mutual Risk Management Ltd. grinds on, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer this week. At stake are Mutual Risk Management's (MRM) troubled US insurance subsidiaries - Legion Insurance Co. and Villanova Insurance Co.

The two companies were put into "rehabilitation", or effectively state-regulated run-off, earlier in the year after both ran into difficulty in recovering reinsurance monies it claimed to be owed. Ms Koken has said the two companies are insolvent and has moved to have them liquidated. But MRM is fighting that order, saying it still hopes to collect tens of millions of dollars from reinsurers that would enable it to pay outstanding workers' compensation and commercial claims and allow it to come out of "rehabilitation". Commonwealth Court Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt heard both sides in court last week and is demanding final petitions in December. A ruling is expected by January, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, speaking to Pennsylvania spokeswoman Rosanne Placey.