Former XL Group chief executive officer Brian O’Hara yesterday warned a group of insurance industry professionals that history could repeat itself in the form of growing damages awards facilitated by a raft of new regulations in the US.Mr O’Hara was speaking at a seminar staged by XL Insurance Bermuda Ltd (XLIB) as part of XL’s 25th anniversary celebrations and he urged the gathering of brokers, lawyers and underwriters to be prepared for the changes in the pipeline.The man who was XL’s first employee and led the company as CEO for 14 years before his retirement in 2008 described how XL was formed in response to a lack of excess casualty capacity following the massive tort claims of the mid-1980s and added that this environment had been stimulated by the appointment of liberal judges by a Democratic Party President.“Again we have seen a lot of activist judges appointed over the past three years,” Mr O’Hara said in his lunchtime speech at XL House. “Also our industry has been reducing prices over the past four or five years and these two forces are coming together.“I think we’re going to see some new creativity in the legal world, especially regarding global warming.”Dozens of new regulations coming about as a result of legislation like the Dodd-Frank Act and through the Environmental Protection Agency could create an environment in which insurers would again be picking up the tab for broad-based damages awards, Mr O’Hara warned.Dodd-Frank had been introduced in response to the financial meltdown of three years ago, but 90 percent of the Act had nothing to do with the last crisis, he said. The regulatory repercussions would be numerous and broad.“We don’t know what it is but we know it‘s coming,” Mr O’Hara said. “I’ve seen this movie about five times before. It’s important that we don’t find ourselves behind the eight-ball. We’ve got to try to learn from history.”He reflected on how XL had been born, created by a group of Fortune 500 companies who were unable to find sufficient excess casualty coverage to insure their risks.He recalled that “the reason we were in Bermuda was regulation, not tax” as the company was able to get the approvals it needed to be up and running within a few months, something that would have taken much longer in other jurisdictions.XL had tried to introduce a different approach to underwriting, characterised by getting to know the clients in face-to-face meetings to better understand and price their risks, and paying claims promptly in an industry in which typically beforehand “no claim was paid before its time”.“We wanted to do something new and lasting that really works for the customer and I’m pleased to see that continues today,” Mr O’Hara added.The seminar was focused on the XL-004 casualty policy, founded at the XL’s inception in 1986, updated by the company since and used by XL and other insurers throughout the world to provide broad form liability coverage to many of the world’s largest companies.Thorn Rosenthal, of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP and the author of the XL-004 form, gave the opening address yesterday.The event featured broker and lawyer panels and discussions of different aspects of the XL form.XLIB president Patrick Tannock was happy with the turnout and the event.“We wanted to hold this event to celebrate the form that was cutting-edge and innovative, and was the forerunner of the innovative products that XL has offered over the last 25 years,” Mr Tannock said.“We also wanted to show why we believe the form is still relevant in today’s marketplace like an old wine that gets better with time.”Through the discussions with brokers, Mr Tannock said he hoped to gather feedback that would help XL keep the form relevant in today’s rapidly changing marketplace.