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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • December 19, 2025

    Reconsideration Of Dismissal Motion Denied In Captive Tax Shelter Dispute

    PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge denied a Pittsburgh-based corporation’s motion for reconsideration in its challenge to penalties tied to the corporation’s alleged promotion of a tax shelter through a purported captive insurance program, holding that the corporation failed to satisfy reconsideration standards and abandoned its constitutional challenge to the statutory prepayment requirement it claimed the court overlooked.

  • December 18, 2025

    N.C. Appeals Court Dismisses Appeal Of Modified Order In Insurance Fraud Dispute

    RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Court of Appeals on Dec. 17 dismissed in part and remanded an appeal of a lower court’s order amending a modified temporary restraining order (TRO) in insurers’ fraud and breach of contract suit against their former owner, insurance mogul Greg E. Lindberg, and related entities, regarding a memorandum of understanding (MOU), finding that the defendants failed to “cite appropriate authority” to enable the appellate court to determine if the lower court erred in extending the MOU beyond its “specified scope.”

  • December 18, 2025

    Insurers, Reinsurers Seek Indemnification From Jet Manufacturer For Fatal Crash

    SAVANNAH, Ga. — An air carrier and its aviation insurers and reinsurers filed a complaint in a Georgia federal court seeking contribution and indemnification, alleging that the manufacturer of a business jet involved in a fatal crash is responsible for millions of dollars in hull, crew and passenger death settlements that the carrier and its insurers and reinsurers were compelled to pay.

  • December 17, 2025

    Appeals Court: Captive Insurance Counterclaim Not ‘Petition-Based’ Under TCPA

    HOUSTON — A Texas appellate court affirmed a trial court’s denial of two former captive insurance administrators’ motion to dismiss a counterclaim filed by captive participants, holding that the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA) does not apply because the factual basis of the counterclaim concerned alleged fiduciary misconduct in the unwinding of a captive insurance program rather than the isolated petitioning-related communications the administrators identified in pleadings.

  • December 16, 2025

    Dismissal Of Fraud Counterclaim OK’d In Captive Insurance Trade Secrets Case

    PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge approved a joint stipulation between an insurance brokerage firm and an ex-employee to dismiss without prejudice the employee’s counterclaim for fraud in which he alleged that the firm induced his continued employment through fictitious equity unit awards while concealing a forthcoming corporate acquisition that would render them worthless.

  • December 12, 2025

    Soybean Crop Insurance Claim Denial Upheld After ‘Good Farming Practices’ Review

    DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa federal judge affirmed the U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency’s (RMA) denial of an Iowa farmer’s 2022 soybean crop insurance claim, ruling that the agencies’ good farming practices (GFP) determination was not arbitrary or capricious under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA).

  • December 12, 2025

    Partial Summary Judgment Denied In Suit Between Ex-CEO, Insurer Over Legal Bills

    DALLAS — A Texas federal judge denied a former CEO’s motion for partial summary judgment on advancement, holding that the insurance company he once led was not required to advance presuit legal fees because its bylaws apply only once a proceeding has begun.

  • December 11, 2025

    Insurer’s Reconsideration Bid Denied In Suit Over Forced Deal Involving Reinsurer

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge denied an insurer’s motion for reconsideration of the dismissal of its federal securities law claims, finding that the insurer failed to identify any controlling authority or factual matter the court overlooked and that the insurer’s allegations of domestic misrepresentations and closing-related conduct tied to the court-compelled April 2024 purchase of JRG Reinsurance Co. Ltd.’s equity did not alter the conclusion that the claims are impermissibly extraterritorial.

  • December 11, 2025

    Reinsurance Arbitration Dispute Remanded For Lack Of Jurisdiction

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island federal judge granted a health plan’s motion to remand, ruling that its petition to vacate an arbitration award stemming from a denied reinsurance claim must return to state court for lack of diversity jurisdiction.

  • December 09, 2025

    Liability Provisions In FAIR Plan Order Exceeded Statutory Limits, Panel Rules

    LOS ANGELES — A California appellate panel ruled that the state’s insurance commissioner lacked statutory authority to require the California FAIR Plan Association to offer liability coverages, holding that state law limits the FAIR Plan to first-party property risks, and directed the lower court to vacate its prior denial of the FAIR Plan Association’s writ of mandate and enter a new order granting the petition.

  • December 09, 2025

    Dismissal Of 10 Captive Insurance Mismanagement Claims Sought By Managers

    NEW YORK — An insurance services firm, its captive affiliate and its general counsel say in a partial motion to dismiss filed in a New York federal court that all claims asserted by four insurers alleging mismanagement of a captive program, except for breach of a reinsurance agreement, should be dismissed as legally insufficient, duplicative of contract remedies or barred by lack of standing.

  • December 08, 2025

    COMMENTARY: D&O Liability & Coverage: 2025 Trends, Developments & Decisions

    By Scott M. Seaman and Pedro E. Hernandez

  • December 08, 2025

    DOL Mulls Amicus Brief In ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Appeal Over Standing

    RICHMOND, Va. — On the heels of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s appellant brief in its interlocutory appeal of a ruling that retirees had standing to file a putative class lawsuit that is part of a much-watched string of pension risk transfer (PRT) challenges, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Dec. 5 asked the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for extra time to decide whether to file an amicus curiae brief; among other things, the retirees generally allege that the use of offshore captive reinsurers makes the insurers that are responsible to pay annuities because of the PRTs more likely to fall short of their obligations.

  • December 05, 2025

    IRS To File Administrative Record In Tax Firm’s Captive Final Rule Challenge

    DALLAS — A Texas federal judge denied as moot a tax firm’s motion to compel the Internal Revenue Service to file the administrative record in the firm’s challenge to an IRS final rule on microcaptive insurance arrangement after the agency informed the court that it is “in agreement with plaintiff” regarding the motion to compel and “plans on filing the administrative record on or before December 12, 2025.”

  • December 04, 2025

    Parties Dispute Scope Of Arbitration In Reinsurance Legionnaires’ Suit

    DETROIT — Following a motion hearing, a reinsured entity and the defendants in a lawsuit over claims related to Legionnaires’ disease filed supplemental briefs in a Michigan federal court addressing the defendants’ motion to dismiss, with the defendants asserting that the reinsured entity’s claims arise out of a governing arbitration clause and must be stayed under federal law, and the reinsured entity countering that the dispute falls outside that provision because the assignee is not a party to the operative reinsurance agreement.

  • December 04, 2025

    Summary Judgment Denied, Trust Withdrawal Claim Dismissed In Reinsurance Dispute

    NEW YORK — In a pair of rulings, a New York justice denied a successor insurer and captive reinsurer’s motion for summary judgment, granted a fronting carrier’s summary judgment cross-motion, dismissed one breach of contract claim for lack of a proper plaintiff, dismissed a second breach of contract claim as unenforceable and denied the successor insurer’s request to amend its pleadings in a dispute arising under a quota share reinsurance agreement (QSRA).

  • December 04, 2025

    California High Court Declines Review Of Ruling That Upheld Rehabilitation Plan

    SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court denied a petition for review filed by an insurer after a lower appellate court upheld a nonconsensual rehabilitation plan for a workers’ compensation insurance carrier approved as part of conservation proceedings brought by California’s insurance regulator  to resolve dozens of reinsurance participation agreement (RPA) lawsuits.

  • December 03, 2025

    Discovery Inadequacy Prompts Partial Grant Of Motion To Compel In $250M Asset Suit

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Chancery Court partially granted a motion to compel in a dispute over a complex asset-swap arrangement referred to as the “Agera transactions” that the plaintiffs allege resulted in the “dissipation of at least $250 million,” finding that the plaintiffs’ discovery responses, which include untimely and inadequate privilege logs, are deficient under Delaware law and warrant multiple waivers and compelled production.

  • December 02, 2025

    Delaware Chancery Court Approves Claims Procedure In Reinsurer Liquidation

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware Chancery Court vice chancellor approved the contested proposed claims procedures filed by the receiver for the liquidation of Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc., holding that the proposal does not constitute an abuse of discretion because the receiver identified statutory authority, articulated rationales consistent with the statute’s objectives and supported those rationales with evidence.

  • December 01, 2025

    PHL Rehabilitator Reports 6 Offers Are Under Consideration After Initial Bids

    WATERBURY, Conn. — The rehabilitator of PHL Variable Insurance Co. and its reinsurance subsidiaries told a Connecticut state court in a third accounting and status report that six bidders remain under consideration for offers to acquire or reinsure all or portions of the insurer’s business after an initial round of eight entities submitted preliminary offers.

  • November 21, 2025

    COMMENTARY: Testing The Boundaries Of Product Liability For AI Products: How To Hold An Insurance Company Liable For AI Errors

    By Jamie O’Neill and Abigail Damsky

  • November 24, 2025

    N.Y. Appellate Court Affirms Order Requiring Production Of Reinsurance Agreement

    NEW YORK — The First Department New York Supreme Court Appellate Division unanimously affirmed a prior order requiring an insurer to produce copies of its reinsurance agreements in the Archdiocese of New York’s coverage dispute arising from nearly 1,700 underlying sexual abuse lawsuits, holding that the state’s discovery rule governing insurance agreements extends to reinsurance contracts and that recent legislative amendments do not limit disclosure.

  • November 24, 2025

    Reconsideration Of Denied Dismissal Motion Sought In Captive Tax Shelter Dispute

    PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-based corporation asks a Pennsylvania federal court to reconsider the denial of its motion to dismiss and for summary judgment in a dispute over penalties tied to the corporation’s alleged promotion of a tax shelter through a purported captive insurance program, arguing that the judge misapprehended its filings and failed to address its claim that requiring prepayment of part of the IRS promoter penalty before a jury trial violates the Seventh Amendment.

  • November 24, 2025

    Employee Accused Of Sharing Captive Insurance Trade Info Files Fraud Counterclaim

    PHOENIX — An ex-employee of an insurance brokerage firm filed an answer and counterclaim in response to the firm’s verified amended complaint alleging that he misappropriated trade secrets and breached his contract by transferring captive insurance client information to a competitor, asserting a claim for fraud and that the firm induced his continued employment through fictitious equity unit awards while concealing a forthcoming corporate acquisition that would render them worthless.

  • November 21, 2025

    Judge Grants Abstention In Insurance Dispute Involving Arbitration, $524M Judgment

    TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on Nov. 20 granted a Puerto Rico insurer’s motion to abstain regarding the insurer’s request to dismiss a petition to compel arbitration filed by insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, the former owner of now-insolvent insurers, seeking to compel arbitration related to a dispute with the insurer involving a $524 million judgment pursuant to a personal guaranty for a reinsurance agreement.