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Commitments and Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2016
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies White Mountains leases certain office space under non-cancellable operating leases that expire on various dates through 2021. Rental expense for all of White Mountains’s locations was $14.1 million, $14.0 million and $12.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014. White Mountains also has various other lease obligations that are immaterial in the aggregate. White Mountains’s future annual minimum rental payments required under non-cancellable leases, which are primarily for office space, are $11.4 million, $9.5 million, $8.0 million, and $32.6 million for the years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 and thereafter. White Mountains also has future binding commitments to fund certain other-long term investments. These commitments, which total $138.1 million, do not have fixed funding dates. Capital Lease In December 2016, OneBeacon’s lease agreement with Fifth Third expired and OneBeacon purchased the leased assets under the agreement. In December 2016, the lease agreement with US Bancorp expired and OneBeacon’s leased assets under the agreement with a remaining book value of $1.3 million transferred back to OneBeacon. As of December 31, 2015, OneBeacon had a capital lease obligation of $1.7 million, included within other liabilities, and a capital lease asset of $2.4 million, included within other assets. As of December 31, 2016, OneBeacon does not have capital lease assets or obligations. Assigned Risks As a condition of its license to do business in certain states, White Mountains’s insurance operations are required to participate in mandatory shared market mechanisms. Each state dictates the types of insurance and the level of coverage that must be provided. The total amount of business an insurer is required to accept is based on its market share of voluntary business in the state. In certain cases, White Mountains is obligated to write business from mandatory shared market mechanisms at some time in the future based on the market share of voluntary policies it is currently writing. Underwriting results related to assigned risk plans are typically adverse and are not subject to the predictability associated with White Mountains’s voluntarily written business. Under existing guaranty fund laws in all states, insurers licensed to do business in those states can be assessed for certain obligations of insolvent insurance companies to policyholders and claimants. White Mountains accrues any significant insolvencies when the loss is probable and the assessment amount can be reasonably estimated. The actual amount of such assessments will depend upon the final outcome of rehabilitation proceedings and will be paid over several years. As of December 31, 2016, the reserve for such assessments totaled $8.0 million. Legal Contingencies White Mountains, and the insurance industry in general, are routinely subject to claims related litigation and arbitration in the normal course of business, as well as litigation and arbitration that do not arise from, or are directly related to, claims activity. White Mountains’s estimates of the costs of settling matters routinely encountered in claims activity are reflected in the reserves for unpaid loss and LAE. See Note 3 - “Reserves for Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses”. White Mountains considers the requirements of ASC 450 when evaluating its exposure to non-claims related litigation and arbitration. ASC 450 requires that accruals be established for litigation and arbitration if it is probable that a loss has been incurred and it can be reasonably estimated. ASC 450 also requires that litigation and arbitration be disclosed if it is probable that a loss has been incurred or it there is a reasonable possibility that a loss may have been incurred. Although the ultimate outcome of claims and non-claims related litigation and arbitration, and the amount or range of potential loss at any particular time, is often inherently uncertain, management does not believe that the ultimate outcome of such claims and non-claims related litigation and arbitration will have a material adverse effect on White Mountains’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. The following summarizes significant legal contingencies, ongoing non-claims related litigation or arbitration as of December 31, 2016: Esurance On October 7, 2011, the Company completed the sale of its Esurance and Answer Financial subsidiaries (the “Transferred Subsidiaries”) to The Allstate Corporation (“Allstate”) pursuant to a Stock Purchase Agreement dated as of May 17, 2011. Subject to specified thresholds and limits, the Company remains contingently liable to Allstate for specified matters related to the pre-closing period, including (a) losses of the Transferred Subsidiaries arising from extra-contractual claims and claims in excess of policy limits, (b) certain corporate reorganizations effected to remove entities from the Transferred Subsidiaries that were not being sold in the transaction, and (c) certain tax matters, including certain net operating losses being less than stated levels. Tribune Company In June 2011, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, Law Debenture Company of New York and Wilmington Trust Company (collectively referred to as “Plaintiffs”), in their capacity as trustees for certain senior notes issued by the Tribune Company (“Tribune”), filed lawsuits in various jurisdictions (the “Noteholder Actions”) against numerous defendants including OneBeacon, OneBeacon-sponsored benefit plans and other affiliates of White Mountains in their capacity as former shareholders of Tribune seeking recovery of the proceeds from the sale of common stock of Tribune in connection with Tribune's leveraged buyout in 2007 (the “LBO”). Tribune filed for bankruptcy in 2008 in the Delaware bankruptcy court (the “Bankruptcy Court”). The Bankruptcy Court granted Plaintiffs permission to commence these LBO-related actions, and in 2011, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation granted a motion to consolidate the actions for pretrial matters and transferred all such proceedings to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “SDNY”). Plaintiffs seek recovery of the proceeds received by the former Tribune shareholders on a theory of constructive fraudulent transfer asserting that Tribune purchased or repurchased its common shares without receiving fair consideration at a time when it was, or as a result of the purchases of shares, was rendered, insolvent. OneBeacon received approximately $32.0 million and Sirius Group, which is now included in discontinued operations, received $6.1 million for Tribune common stock tendered in connection with the LBO. The Court granted an omnibus motion to dismiss the Noteholder Actions in September 2013 and Plaintiffs’ appealed. On March 29, 2016, a three judge panel of the U.S Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the Noteholder Actions. On July 22, 2016, the Plaintiff's petition to the Second Circuit for reconsideration or for a rehearing en banc was denied in full. On September 9, 2016 the Plaintiffs filed for a writ of certiorari, seeking review in the U. S. Supreme Court. In addition, OneBeacon, OneBeacon-sponsored benefit plans and other affiliates of White Mountains in their capacity as former shareholders of Tribune, along with thousands of former Tribune shareholders, have been named as defendants in an adversary proceeding brought by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of the Tribune Company (the “Committee”), on behalf of the Tribune Company, which seeks to avoid the repurchase of shares by Tribune in the LBO on a theory of intentional fraudulent transfer (the “Committee Action”). Tribune emerged from bankruptcy in 2012, and a litigation trustee replaced the Committee as plaintiff in the Committee Action. This matter was consolidated for pretrial matters with the Noteholder Actions in the SDNY and was stayed pending the motion to dismiss in the Noteholder Actions. An omnibus motion to dismiss the shareholder defendants in the Committee Action was filed in May 2014 and the motion was granted on January 6, 2017. The plaintiff has requested permission to move the SDNY to certify the decision as a final judgment capable of immediate appeal. No amount has been accrued in connection with this matter as of December 31, 2016, as the amount of loss, if any, cannot be reasonably estimated. OneTitle White Mountains holds a 20% ownership interest in OneTitle Holdings LLC (“OTH”) and has provided a $10.0 million surplus note facility under which OTH’s wholly-owned insurance subsidiary, OneTitle National Guaranty Company, Inc. may, under certain circumstances, draw funds. At December 31, 2016, no funds had been drawn on the surplus note facility.

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