Mealey's Reinsurance
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June 20, 2024
Recapture Argument Doesn’t Stop Arbitration Confirmation In Reinsurance Rates Row
NEW YORK — Ruling that recapture of all policies at issue in a reinsurance rates dispute didn’t render confirmation of a final arbitration award unnecessary, a New York federal judge granted the reinsurer’s confirmation request.
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June 20, 2024
Couple Appeals Tax Court Ruling On Purported Microcaptives To 5th Circuit
NEW ORLEANS — One of three recent U.S. Tax Court rulings for the commissioner of Internal Revenue regarding purported microcaptive arrangements is being appealed to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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June 20, 2024
6th Circuit Appeal Filed Over Reinsurer’s Collateral Estoppel Win In Defense Row
CINCINNATI — A defense costs dispute concerning asbestos lawsuits and prior arbitration is going to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, with an insurer filing a notice of appeal regarding a Michigan federal judge’s ruling that collateral estoppel applies.
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June 19, 2024
N.C. High Court Extends Brief Deadline In Insurer’s Bid To Enforce $524M Judgment
RALEIGH, N.C. — Without providing reasoning, the North Carolina Supreme Court on June 18 ordered that an insurer be “allowed” an extension to file its brief in the insurer’s suit seeking enforcement of a $524,009,051.26 judgment against Greg E. Lindberg, the founder of a multinational investment company who was recently convicted by a federal jury of a scheme to bribe North Carolina’s insurance commissioner.
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June 19, 2024
Split West Virginia High Court Requires Notification In Mine Subsidence Row
CHARLESTON, W. Va. — In a majority ruling that led three justices to write separately, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia vacated and remanded an order in a mine subsidence dispute because the state’s attorney general wasn’t notified of arguments that the court said “drew into question the constitutionality of statutes affecting the public interest.”
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June 18, 2024
Procedural Proposals In Reinsurer’s Liquidation Draw Numerous Objections
WILMINGTON, Del. — A receiver’s procedural proposals for the liquidation of a life and health reinsurer have drawn numerous objections in the Delaware Chancery Court, with nonparty American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) arguing that two of the procedures “would violate Delaware law, set a profoundly adverse and conflicting precedent, and further unduly harm ACLI’s members and the insurance marketplace.”
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June 18, 2024
Firms Accused Of Participation In $1B RICO Insurance Fraud Scheme Seek Dismissal
RALEIGH, N.C. —Malta-based investment firms Standard Advisory Services Ltd. and Standard Financial Ltd. moved in North Carolina federal court to join other defendants’ motion for partial dismissal of the complaint related to the defendants’ alleged participation in a $1 billion Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) scheme to defraud now-insolvent insurers and their policyholders by using policyholder money to purchase noninsurance companies and to divert policyholder money.
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June 18, 2024
Judge Grants Consolidation Of 4 Reinsurers’ Suits For Alleged Breach Of Contract
FORT WORTH, Texas — After granting consolidation of four reinsurers’ lawsuits against National Transportation Associates Inc. (NTA) over allegedly inflated provisional commissions and breach of various agreements, a Texas federal judge stayed all deadlines in the individual cases, directing the parties to file a joint report regarding a scheduling conference.
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June 12, 2024
TPA Spat Arises In Liquidation; Receiver Proposes Dispute Procedures
WILMINGTON, Del. — A dispute over third-party administrator (TPA) services has arisen in the liquidation of life and health reinsurer Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. (SRUS), with the longtime TPA asking the Delaware Chancery Court to confirm termination of the relevant agreement and the receiver seeking a determination of contempt against that TPA.
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June 11, 2024
English Justice: Aviation Insurance Disputes Should Proceed In Ukraine
LONDON — An English justice considering aviation insurance disputes over aircraft that remain in Ukraine airports closed after Russia’s invasion concluded “that the exclusive jurisdiction clauses [EJCs] in the reinsurance contracts are binding and enforceable, and apply,” so the claims should proceed in Ukrainian courts.
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June 10, 2024
4th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Suit Against Former Owner Of Insolvent Insurers
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 7 affirmed dismissal of a fraudulent concealment suit by a call center company against a holding company and its owner, Greg E. Lindberg, who also previously owned now-insolvent insurers and was convicted of bribery in an unrelated action, finding that the call center company failed to allege that Lindberg’s holding company knew about his unlawful conduct.
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June 10, 2024
Railroad’s Certification Bid In Reinsurance Preclusion Dispute Is Denied
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Citing judicial economy and a “question of law requirement,” an Illinois federal judge denied a railroad company’s motion seeking “two alternative grounds for appellate jurisdiction” in a suit over mine subsidence claims.
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June 07, 2024
9th Circuit Gives Agencies Win In Crop Insurance ‘Farming Activity’ Fight
SAN FRANCISCO — Ruling that the challenged interpretation of “farming activity” survives scrutiny under Auer v. Robbins and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a decision for government agencies in a crop insurance dispute involving federal reinsurance and the structure of a farming operation.
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June 03, 2024
Constructive Denial, Other Issues Disputed In Appeal Over Crop Insurance Probe
CINCINNATI — In a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals crop insurance case where farmers who sued over a “never-ending stalled investigation” are seeking partial vacatur of a dismissal ruling, federal regulators, the insurer and the farmers have filed briefs disputing issues including sovereign immunity waivers and constructive denial.
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May 23, 2024
COMMENTARY: Reinsurance Contract Access To Records And Cooperation Clauses And Privilege
By Robert M. Hall
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May 31, 2024
COMMENTARY: "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”: Supreme Court Resolves FAA Circuit Split On Staying Arbitration
By Ed Mullins, James P. Duffy IV, Niyati Ahuja and Wardah A. Bari
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May 29, 2024
COMMENTARY: U.S. Supreme Court Limits Appeals From Decisions Enforcing Arbitration Agreements
By David N. Cinotti
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May 31, 2024
Emergency Relief Disputed In RICO, Fraud Suit Involving Reinsurer’s Parent Company
NEW YORK — In a May 30 reply brief in a fraud and racketeering lawsuit over a secured credit facility and related guaranty agreement, plaintiffs urge a New York federal court to order certain defendants — including the parent company of Bermuda reinsurer 777 Re Ltd. — “into receivership or freeze their assets.”
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May 31, 2024
Fund Defends Bad Faith, Other Claims Against Dismissal Bid In Reimbursement Case
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Urging an Alabama federal court to deny dismissal motions in a dispute over reimbursement for workers’ compensation claims, the plaintiff argues in part that a bad faith claim is proper because it “is not an ‘insurer’ under Alabama law and is not a party to a reinsurance contract with Defendants.”
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May 30, 2024
Retirees Urge Denial Of Dismissal Motion In ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Case
GREENBELT, Md. — Calling Thole v. U.S. Bank. N.A. “entirely distinguishable,” Lockheed Martin Corp. retirees urged a Maryland federal court to deny dismissal of their suit, which is one of a quartet of similar recent putative class actions challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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May 30, 2024
Founder, Consultant Seek Acquittal Or 3rd Trial After Bribery Reconviction
STATESVILLE, N.C. — Following a retrial at which a federal jury in North Carolina again convicted an insurance and reinsurance management company’s founder and a consultant on bribery and another criminal count, the defendants on May 29 asked the court for a judgment of acquittal or a second retrial, arguing “insufficient evidence of a prohibited quo” and “instructional and evidentiary errors.”
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May 30, 2024
On Retrial, Federal Jury Again Convicts Founder, Consultant For Alleged Bribery Scheme
STATESVILLE, N.C. — On retrial, an insurance and reinsurance management company’s founder and a consultant were again each convicted on two criminal counts in connection with an alleged bribery scheme.
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May 30, 2024
Excess Loss Reinsurance Case With ERISA, Bad Faith Claims Closed On Deal Report
PITTSBURGH — After the parties reported that they reached an unspecified “tentative resolution,” a Pennsylvania federal judge administratively closed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over an excess loss reinsurance contract.
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May 24, 2024
N.C. High Court Allows Supersedeas In Insurer’s Quest To Enforce $524M Judgment
RALEIGH, N.C. — Without providing explanation, the North Carolina Supreme Court ordered that a writ of supersedeas be “allowed” in an insurer’s suit seeking enforcement of a $524,009,051.26 judgment against Greg Lindberg, the founder of a multinational investment company who was recently convicted by a federal jury of a scheme to bribe North Carolina’s insurance commissioner.
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May 24, 2024
‘Two Acts’ Arguments Prevail In 1 Ruling In Reinsurance Allocation Dispute
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Rejecting numerous interpretations an insurer urged in arguing that the two events at issue in a coverage dispute be treated as one act, an Alabama federal judge on May 23 granted summary judgment for a reinsurer on a single breach of contract claim.