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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • April 30, 2025

    Reinsurer, General Agent To File Settlement Papers In Breach Of Contract Suit

    FORT WORTH, Texas — After a reinsurer and general agent settled a breach of contract suit involving an underlying multimillion-dollar personal injury judgment in mediation, a federal judge in Texas on April 29 directed the parties to file settlement papers.

  • April 30, 2025

    Legionnaires’ Suit Not Subject To Arbitration, Reinsured Entity Says

    DETROIT — A reinsured entity is opposing a motion to dismiss in a Michigan federal court filed by the defendants in a lawsuit over claims related to Legionnaires’ disease, arguing that the defendants improperly invoked an arbitration provision and failed to seek concurrence before filing and that the underlying issues fall outside the arbitration provision because they stem from an unprocured and undisclosed agreement.

  • April 30, 2025

    Residents Sue State-Mandated Insurer ‘Of Last Resort’ Over Los Angeles Wildfires

    LOS ANGELES — California residents sued the California Fair Plan Association (CFPA) and its largest members in a state court seeking damages for the defendants’ alleged bad faith breach of their property insurance policies following the Los Angeles wildfires in January.

  • April 30, 2025

    Parties Seek Discovery In Australia In Reinsurance Breach Of Contract Suit

    NEW YORK — The defendants in a breach of contract lawsuit ask a New York federal court to issue letters rogatory to obtain otherwise unobtainable information from an industrial machinery manufacturer and two of its employees in an Australian court as part of a gold mining equipment dispute over whether the defendants are direct insurers or reinsurers of the plaintiff.

  • April 29, 2025

    Oregon Tax Court Sides With Taxpayer In Purported Captive Premiums Row

    SALEM, Ore. — Ruling against the Oregon Department of Revenue in a dispute over whether premiums paid to a purported captive insurer could be deducted as insurance expenses for state taxes, an Oregon Tax Court magistrate judge concluded that neither Internal Revenue Service adjustments nor how Oregon defines “insurance for state tax purposes” bars the relief sought.

  • April 28, 2025

    Defendant Pleads Guilty To 1 Count In Alleged Bribery Case Involving Reinsurance

    MIAMI — As part of a plea agreement, a defendant has pleaded guilty in a Florida federal court to a count of conspiracy to commit money laundering that the U.S. government filed over an alleged scheme to bribe Ecuadorian officials for reinsurance business.

  • April 25, 2025

    Oral Argument Set In Challenge To Rehab Plan For Workers’ Comp Insurer

    SAN FRANCISCO — Oral argument is scheduled in the First District California Court of Appealin a workers’ compensation insurance carrier’s challenge to a nonconsensual rehabilitation plan that was approved as part of conservation proceedings brought by California’s insurance regulator and includes resolution of dozens of reinsurance participation agreement (RPA) lawsuits.

  • April 25, 2025

    Watchdog Group Seeks To Invalidate Insurance Bulletins Allowing Policy Surcharges

    LOS ANGELES — A consumer research and advocacy organization alleges in a California state court lawsuit that California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara exceeded his statutory authority by issuing two unlawful insurance bulletins that authorize member insurers of the California FAIR Plan to recoup assessments from policyholders and seeks a writ of mandate and injunction commanding Lara not to enforce the bulletins.

  • April 23, 2025

    Reinsurer, Life Insurer Seek Approval Of $6.48M Liquidation In Delaware Court

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A stipulation filed in the Delaware Chancery Court between the receiver for a stock reinsurance company and a life insurer would provide for the distribution of $6.48 million and the liquidation of a reinsurance trust to resolve claims under a secured treaty.

  • April 23, 2025

    Policyholder Asks To Intervene, Contest Benefits Cap In Insurer Rehabilitation

    WATERBURY, Conn. — A corporate policyholder holding $18 million in death benefits from a life insurer in rehabilitation moved to intervene in a Connecticut state court action, seeking involvement in future proceedings and participation in discovery, arguing that a moratorium order capping payout at $300,000 per insured policy imposes a disproportionate financial burden and violates priority rules under state insurance law.

  • April 23, 2025

    Captive Pool Members’ TROs Denied; Expedited Proceedings Granted In Delaware Court

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware state judge denied temporary restraining orders (TROs) sought by three participants in a captive insurance and reinsurance pool but granted their motions to expedite proceedings in three separate cases against the pool manager in a dispute over an alleged illegal reorganization that transferred policies from an “A” rated pool with more than $1 billion in assets to a new, unrated insurer with limited capitalization.

  • April 22, 2025

    5th Circuit Grants Joint Stipulation To Dismiss Crop Insurance Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a crop insurer and a farmer’s joint stipulation to dismiss an appeal after the parties notified the court that a settlement was reached in a case involving federally reinsured crop insurance, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), statutes of limitations, tolling and estoppel.

  • April 22, 2025

    Homeowners Accuse Insurers Of ‘Nefarious Conspiracy’ In Suit Arising From Wildfires

    LOS ANGELES — California homeowners affected by the Los Angeles wildfires sued insurers in a California court for violations of the state’s Cartwright Act and unfair competition law (UCL), alleging that the insurers participated in a “nefarious conspiracy to eliminate competition between them, and to intentionally and systematically force Plaintiffs to obtain fire insurance from the state’s insurer of last resort.”

  • April 22, 2025

    Discovery Spat In Bad Faith Indemnity Row Involves Reserve, Reinsurance Information

    STATESVILLE, N.C. — In a reply brief urging a North Carolina federal court to compel certain discovery, the plaintiff in a bad faith suit over an excess liability insurer’s alleged duty to indemnify argues, among other things, that the insurer “makes bare assertions that reserve information and communications with reinsurers are subject to attorney-client privilege or attorney work product protection on a categorical basis.”

  • April 18, 2025

    Captive Insurance Manager Seeks IRS Rule Injunction, Alleges Agency Overreach

    KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Invoking both the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act), a captive insurance manager filed a complaint in a federal court in Tennessee challenging an Internal Revenue Service final rule targeting small captive tax avoidance schemes, requesting that the regulation be set aside as unlawful, arbitrary and capricious and an overreach of statutory authority.

  • April 18, 2025

    Judge Won’t Reconsider Denying Attorney Fees In Jury Trial Microcaptive Case

    FORT MYERS, Fla. — Saying that the rules the corporate plaintiffs invoked don’t “provide a basis for reconsideration,” a Florida federal judge declined to revisit his denial of approximately $600,000 in attorney fees and costs in consolidated jury trial cases where they successfully challenged penalties that were imposed because the Internal Revenue Service deemed their involvement with purported microcaptive insurance companies to be promotion of abusive tax shelters.

  • April 17, 2025

    Defendant Seeks Immediate Appeal After PRT Challenge Survives Dismissal

    GREENBELT, Md. — Requesting that denial of its dismissal motion be certified for immediate interlocutory appeal in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), Lockheed Martin Corp. told a Maryland federal court that a sister court’s contradictory ruling highlights the need for review by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • April 17, 2025

    Tax Court Judge Denies IRS Attempt To Link Concessions To Microcaptive Penalties

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — After rejecting the Internal Revenue Service commissioner’s request for partial summary judgment to impose accuracy-related penalties in consolidated cases involving disallowed microcaptive insurance deductions, a U.S. Tax Court judge issued a mixed ruling on a motion in limine, ruling that some contested documents are privileged because they contain communications seeking federal tax advice.

  • April 17, 2025

    Plaintiffs Lack DUFTA Standing, Insurance Holding Company Says In Delaware Court

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Arguing that the plaintiffs in a putative class suit lack standing to bring a Delaware Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (DUFTA) claim, an insurance holding company and its affiliates seek summary judgment in the Delaware Chancery Court over an alleged scheme to strip capital from an insurance subsidiary on which many policyholders depend for long-term care (LTC) disability benefits.

  • April 17, 2025

    $195,000 Class Deal Gets Final OK In Suit Over Allegedly Fraudulent Policies

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — Noting the absence of objections and that “the average class member payment will be $467.77, and the highest payment will be $5,204.40,” a California federal judge granted final approval to a $195,000 class settlement that resolves a suit over allegedly counterfeited insurance policies sold through a captive reinsurance arrangement.

  • April 11, 2025

    Reinsurer Alleges Breach Of Transaction Agreement, $4.7M Loss In N.Y. Federal Court

    NEW YORK — A reinsurer that acquired a retirement plan recordkeeping business alleges in a suit filed in New York federal court that a financial services firm and its subsidiary unduly requested a $50 million bonus payout, breached their transaction agreement and mismanaged assets, leading to a $4.7 million shortfall.

  • April 09, 2025

    Delaware Court Grants Trio Of Captive Pool Members’ Coordinated Motions For TROs

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Three participants in a captive insurance and reinsurance pool were granted permission by a Delaware state court to coordinate on a single briefing schedule in regard to individually filed motions for temporary restraining orders (TROs) and expedited proceedings in three separate cases against the pool manager in a dispute over an alleged illegal reorganization that transferred policies from an “A” rated pool with more than $1 billion in assets to a new, unrated insurer with limited capitalization.

  • April 09, 2025

    Federal Judge: Crop Insurance Suit Doesn’t Fall Under Federal Jurisdiction

    OMAHA, Neb. — Opining that a crop insurance cooperative’s argument that a dispute over allegedly misrepresented crop insurance falls under federal jurisdiction fails to meet preemption standards, a federal judge granted a group of farmers and businesses’ request to return their complaint to state court, as their tort claims do not invoke federal questions.

  • April 09, 2025

    Dismissal Or Stay Sought In Row Involving Legionnaires’ Under Reinsurance Contract

    DETROIT — Citing an arbitration provision that is part of a reinsurance agreement, defendants in a suit over claims concerning Legionnaires’ disease moved in Michigan federal court for dismissal or, alternatively, a stay pending arbitration.

  • April 08, 2025

    Texas Federal Judge Dismisses Breach Of Contract Claim Tied To Vesttoo Collapse

    DALLAS — Finding that portions of a 2017 reinsurance authorization agreement do not support a homeowners insurer’s interpretation or allegations, a Texas federal judge granted a reinsurance broker’s motion to dismiss a breach of contract claim tied to the collapse of Vesttoo Ltd., also denying as moot a claim against a voluntarily dismissed party.