The AAA said that in response it has moved to enhance the umpire selection process by developing the Supplemental Rules for the Resolution of Intra-Industry U.S. Reinsurance and Insurance Disputes.

"We developed these rules to provide a streamlined, simpler way for parties to a reinsurance dispute to select an umpire and maximize the benefits of arbitration," said Brian Winn, AAA vice president.

"We anticipate the availability of these rules will help cut down costly delays and enable parties to settle disputes more efficiently," he explained.

AAA said its arbitration procedures are frequently required in many industry contracts, and it maintains a National Roster of Umpires consisting of insurance and reinsurance professionals. All Roster members are active or retired executives and officers of insurance or reinsurance companies, or have at least 10 years of experience in those industries.

The AAA said its procedures are user-oriented as the parties to a dispute decide what level of service they need. Those levels of service include:

? List Only: Provides parties with one list of up to twelve arbitrators/umpires

? List With Appointment: Provides parties with a list of umpires for review and handles appointment of arbitrator/umpire based on the parties' mutual selection

? Full Service Administration: Consists of AAA serving as the administrator for the arbitration in accordance with the procedures set forth in the new supplemental rules, as well as AAA's Commercial Arbitration Rules.

AAA is a not-for-profit, public service organization committed to the resolution of disputes through the use of arbitration, mediation, conciliation, negotiation, democratic elections and other voluntary procedures.

The organization said that last year more than 218,000 cases were filed with it in a full range of matters including commercial finance, construction, labor and employment, health care, insurance, mass claims and technology disputes.

AAA lists 36 offices in the United States and Europe.