Is Arbitration Clause in Vendor's Contract With Insurance Company Enforceable Against State In Liquidation Action?

Where State Seeks Recovery from Accounting Firm for Alleged Negligent Audit

(Mary Jo Hudson), Superintendent of the Ohio Department of Insurance, in her capacity as Liquidator of the American Chambers Life Insurance Company v. Ernst & Young, LLP, Foley & Lardner et al., Case no. 2010-1324

10th District Court of Appeals (Franklin County)

ISSUE: When the Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance is acting in her statutory role as liquidator of the assets of an insurance company that has been declared insolvent, and the director files a lawsuit on behalf of the insolvent company's estate against a third-party vendor seeking damages for alleged professional negligence, is a mandatory arbitration clause in the contract between the alleged negligent vendor and the insurance company enforceable against the liquidator?