Mealey's Reinsurance
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August 16, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing Bid Based On Loper Bright In Crop Insurance Row
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied a petition in which a farm sought panel and en banc rehearing of a crop insurance dispute by arguing that Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo “effectively rejected the Panel’s deference to agency interpretations of legal questions.”
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August 15, 2024
$365,000 Offer Of Judgment Accepted In Row Over Workers’ Compensation Program
OMAHA, Neb. — The defendant in a Nebraska federal court case involving the EquityComp workers’ compensation program made the plaintiff a $365,000 offer of judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 on Aug. 14, and the plaintiff accepted the offer that day.
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August 14, 2024
Partial Dismissal Granted In $1B RICO Insurance Fraud Scheme Involving Magnate
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on Aug. 13 partially dismissed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case against defendants accused of participating in a $1 billion scheme to defraud now-insolvent insurers once owned by former insurance magnate Greg Lindberg, finding that the pleadings lack specificity as to those entities indirectly owned by Lindberg.
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August 14, 2024
Breach Of Contract Claim Survives In Reinsurer’s Suit Against Insurance Wholesaler
FORT WORTH, Texas — Saying that a reinsurer’s complaint “plausibly implicates the existence of a continuing breach of contract,” a Texas federal judge granted dismissal of other claims but allowed that one to proceed in a dispute involving an underlying multimillion-dollar personal injury judgment.
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August 13, 2024
Panel Tosses Bid For Stay In Receivership Action Against Owner Of Defunct Insurers
RALEIGH, N.C. — Without providing an explanation, the North Carolina Court of Appeals on Aug. 12 dismissed a motion for a temporary stay in a judgment creditor’s suit seeking the appointment of a general receiver over the assets of judgment debtor Greg E. Lindberg, a former owner of insurers now in rehabilitation who was convicted of bribing the North Carolina insurance commissioner.
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August 13, 2024
Judge Follows U.S. Supreme Court On Tolling Question In ACA Reinsurance Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Citing “a duty to follow intervening Supreme Court precedent” under which tolling pursuant to American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah does not apply, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge dismissed group health plans’ consolidated cases over allegedly illegal exactions made under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
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August 07, 2024
Insurers, Claims Administrator Seek Dismissal Of Lawsuit Over Asbestos Judgment
NEW YORK — Sparring with a man who obtained a multimillion-dollar asbestos exposure judgment against a dissolved manufacturer, a third-party claims administrator urges a New York federal court to grant its dismissal motion, arguing in its reply brief that it “has located no legal precedent to support” the man’s theory that he is “an ‘implied assignee’” of the manufacturer.
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August 06, 2024
Claims Against Defendant Insurer Alleged Owed $28.9M Are Dismissed By Stipulation
OMAHA, Neb. — Claims against one of what had been four remaining defendants in a suit National Indemnity Co. (NICO) filed over a $157.2 million settlement it reached with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures have been dismissed with prejudice under a joint stipulation that a Nebraska federal judge granted.
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August 06, 2024
Parties Dispute ‘Insurrection,’ Other Issues In Post-Trial Appeal Of Oil Seizure Row
NEW YORK — A partial summary judgment ruling, judicial notice and a jury instruction on causation are all at issue in a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case filed by reinsurers who were ordered to pay CITGO Petroleum Corp. more than $72.5 million in a suit stemming from the February 2020 seizure of crude oil at a Venezuelan port and involving a marine cargo reinsurance policy.
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August 05, 2024
Dismissal Bid Will Go To 7th Circuit Panel In Arbitration Estoppel Row
CHICAGO — Without explanation, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge has ordered a dismissal motion that is based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to be taken with reinsurers’ fully briefed appeal concerning the effects of prior arbitration involving asbestos-related liabilities.
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July 31, 2024
D.C. Circuit Remands Reinsurer’s Bid To Enforce $33M Awards Against Argentina
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 30 remanded a reinsurer’s appeal to the lower court for “further analysis and factfinding” as to whether the court had jurisdiction over its petition to enforce two arbitral awards worth $33 million against the Republic of Argentina under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).
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July 26, 2024
COMMENTARY: Cyber War Exclusions
By Peter A. Halprin and Brittany Parks
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July 29, 2024
After Forced Deal, Insurer Sues Reinsurer’s Former Parent Company In Federal Court
NEW YORK — Alleging a “$300 million fraud,” an insurer sued a holding company in New York federal court, asserting claims for securities and common-law fraud and breach of contract in connection with the insurer’s April 14 purchase of Bermuda-based reinsurer JRG Reinsurance Company Ltd.
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July 26, 2024
Ex-Underwriter’s Dismissal Bid Skirts Main Claim In Breach Of Contract Row
MIAMI — Noting that he does not seek dismissal of a claim that he says the bulk of the allegations relate to, a former underwriter on July 25 moved in Florida federal court for dismissal of the other two claims in a suit over conduct that an insurer alleges included greatly exceeding his authority by executing a facultative retrocession agreement to cover a risk of more than $44 million.
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July 26, 2024
Plaintiffs Drop Lloyd’s From U.S. Suit Over Warehouse After English Ruling
NEW YORK — A group of defendants whose presence was deemed to cause subject matter jurisdiction problems has been dismissed under a stipulation approved by a New York federal judge in a $41 million suit over whether policies obtained for a warehouse in Afghanistan are insurance or reinsurance and whether fraud or negligence were involved.
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July 26, 2024
Moratorium Granted In Rehabilitation Proceeding For Life Insurer, Subsidiaries
HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut judge has granted a moratorium motion filed by the rehabilitator of a life insurer and the subsidiaries that reinsure its liabilities.
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July 24, 2024
Parties In Good Farming Practices Row Don’t Want Rebriefing Under Loper Bright
LUBBOCK, Texas — In a brief joint notice ordered by a Texas federal judge, a farmer and regulators agree that the U.S. Supreme Court decision overruling a deference doctrine does not necessitate rebriefing their pending motions for summary judgment and judgment on the administrative record in a crop insurance case.
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July 24, 2024
7th Circuit Denies Dismissal Bid In Appeal Over Reinsurance Preclusion Row
CHICAGO — Saying only that the appellee may argue lack of appellate jurisdiction in its upcoming brief, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a dismissal motion in an appeal concerning whether mine subsidence claims are precluded.
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July 22, 2024
Plaintiff Sues Over Penalties Assessed In Connection With Captive Insurance Program
PITTSBURGH — Demanding a jury trial, a Pittsburgh-based corporation has filed a suit in Pennsylvania federal court seeking a refund of its $989,000 partial payment of penalties that were assessed after the Internal Revenue Service decided that its involvement with a purported captive insurance program constituted tax shelter promotion.
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July 22, 2024
Decades-Old MOU Is Focus Of Lawsuit Over Reinsurance Billings Dispute
LOS ANGELES — Suing two English reinsurers in a California court in a dispute over “millions” in reinsurance billings arising from asbestos bodily injury claims, an insurer alleges that an incorrect interpretation of a 1984 memorandum of understanding (MOU) is at the root of their refusal to pay.
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July 19, 2024
Receiver’s Determination Proposal In Reinsurer’s Liquidation Draws Feedback
WILMINGTON, Del. — Standard of review has emerged as an issue of contention in Delaware Chancery Court filings concerning final determination procedures in the liquidation of a life and health reinsurer, with the receiver’s proposal that an abuse of discretion standard be used for his proofs of claim recommendations drawing objections.
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July 19, 2024
Discovery Deadline Unchanged In SEC Suit Against Owner Of Insurers In Receivership
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina federal magistrate judge granted in part a joint motion to extend the case schedule in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s suit alleging that an advisory services company, its former executive and its former owner, who also owned insurers now in receivership, defrauded clients of more than $75 million, allowing an extra 30 days for “additional fact discovery” but keeping the deadline for close of discovery.
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July 18, 2024
Dismissal Bid Disputed In Breach Of Contract Case Against Reinsurance Broker
DALLAS — In dismissal filings in Texas federal court, parties in a breach of contract suit over losses associated with the collapse of Vesttoo Ltd. are disputing what the contract at issue required a reinsurance broker to do and whether two non-parties are necessary entities for the case.
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July 18, 2024
Former Hedge Fund Exec Is Sentenced To Probation In Securities Fraud Case
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The last of three former hedge fund executives that a New York federal jury found guilty of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud for an alleged scheme involving a reinsurer has been sentenced to two years of probation “with a special condition of 6 months home detention,” a $5,000 fine and a $200 special assessment.
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July 18, 2024
Preliminary Injunction Entered In Fraud Suit Over Secured Loans
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has entered a preliminary injunction against six defendants — including the parent company of Bermuda reinsurer 777 Re Ltd. — in a suit over fraud and racketeering allegations concerning a secured credit facility and related guaranty agreement.