Mealey's Reinsurance : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Reinsurance

January 02, 2025
Crop Insurance Case Over Regulatory Actions Is Tossed For Lack Of Jurisdiction

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Saying that arguing that a flawed arbitration decision likely isn’t enough to meet the plaintiff’s burden in the crop insurance case, a Georgia federal judge concluded that a farm hasn’t shown that it has standing or that its claims are ripe; he therefore overruled the farm’s objections and dismissed the case.
December 31, 2024
IRS Asks 5th Circuit To Affirm Tax Court Ruling In Row Over Purported Microcaptives

NEW ORLEANS — Urging the Fifth Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm a ruling that certain purported microcaptive insurance arrangements were not entitled to federal tax benefits, the U.S. commissioner of Internal Revenue argues in part that the “Taxpayer can hardly claim reversible error or fault the Tax Court for applying a legal framework that Taxpayer himself advocated.”
December 30, 2024
Exchange Act’s Antifraud Provisions Applied In Suit Against Former Brazilian Exec

NEW YORK — Ruling that a July 2010 amendment to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) means that the act’s “antifraud provisions apply to extraterritorial conduct that is the subject of an enforcement action” by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a New York federal judge denied a motion to dismiss an enforcement action against the former senior executive of a Brazilian reinsurance company.
December 30, 2024
5th Circuit Argument Set In Reinsurer’s Appeal Involving Timely Notice

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has set oral argument for Feb. 5 in a reinsurer’s appeal of a $2,866,423.97 judgment that includes attorney fees; a key issue in the case is whether the reinsurer was given timely notice.
December 24, 2024
Tax Court Briefing On Economic Substance Doctrine Continues In Microcaptive Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In their latest filings in a U.S. Tax Court dispute over the “economic substance doctrine” in consolidated cases involving purported microcaptive insurance companies, the commissioner of Internal Revenue argues that a “threshold” determination of relevance is not required and the petitioners contend that the bulk of the amicus curiae briefs support their contrary position, among other things.
December 19, 2024
5th Circuit Appeal Seeks Revival Of Untimely Crop Insurance Case

NEW ORLEANS — Briefing has concluded in an appeal concerning federally reinsured crop insurance, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), statutes of limitations, tolling and estoppel, and the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has tentatively calendared oral argument for the week of Feb. 3.
December 19, 2024
Redacted Complaint Is Filed In Indemnification Row Over Clash Reinsurance

NEW YORK — A reinsurer that seeks a declaration that it doesn’t have a duty to indemnify an insurer that settled claims stemming from alleged sexual abuse of female athletes by Larry Nassar and others has filed a redacted complaint in New York federal court.
December 18, 2024
Tax Court Ruling In Row Over Purported Microcaptive Is Appealed To 10th Circuit

DENVER — For at least the second time this year, plaintiffs who unsuccessfully sued the commissioner of Internal Revenue in U.S. Tax Court over purported microcaptive insurance have filed an appeal; this one is in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
December 18, 2024
2 Investors Want To Pursue Resolution With Vesttoo Affiliate In Israel

WILMINGTON, Del. — Two Israeli investors have asked a Delaware federal bankruptcy court for relief from the injunction in the Chapter 11 liquidation of Vesttoo Ltd. and its dozens of affiliates so they can pursue arbitration and/or liquidation proceedings in Israel.
December 17, 2024
Judge Stays Discovery In Lawsuit Over Alleged Workers’ Comp Scheme

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge has stayed discovery pending resolution of expected dismissal motions in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit where a reinsurer and management general agency allege that the defendants took part in purportedly fraudulent workers’ compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits.
December 16, 2024
U.K. Insurer Wins Stay Of Arbitration In Reinsurance Billings Dispute

NEW YORK — Saying in part that the U.S.-based defendant didn’t show “by a preponderance of the evidence that an agreement to arbitrate exists between the parties,” a New York federal judge cited “New York state law” in granting a U.K.-based insurer’s petition to stay arbitration.
December 13, 2024
Hawaii Supreme Court Considers Subrogation Issues For Wildfire Settlement

HONOLULU — How the subrogation rights of property and casualty insurance carriers bear on a proposed global settlement of claims related to the August 2023 Maui wildfires is the focus of three reserved questions the Hawaii Supreme Court is considering, with some recent filings involving how reinsurance could be affected.
December 12, 2024
Insurer Seeks Summary Judgment Argument In Asbestos Coverage Row

OMAHA, Neb. — National Indemnity Co. (NICO) has moved in Nebraska federal court for oral argument on pending motions for partial summary judgment in its suit to enforce obligations by defendants it calls reinsurers — one of whom is now insolvent — for liability NICO incurred related to claims for asbestos exposure.
December 11, 2024
2nd Circuit Sets Argument In Reinsurers’ Post-Trial Appeal Of Oil Seizure Row

NEW YORK — Oral argument has been calendared for Jan. 24 in a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case filed by reinsurers that 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 and what constitutes an “insurrection.”
December 10, 2024
Health Plans Seek Revival Of 12 Cases In ACA Reinsurance Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing in part that “the well-established rule for suspending the running of statutes of limitation in class actions for putative class members” remains available in what are called “Tucker Act” cases, group health plans on Dec. 9 asked the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a ruling that their 12 consolidated cases against the government were untimely.
December 10, 2024
Bank, Related Entities Face Another Suit Connected To Vesttoo Collapse

NEW YORK — China Construction Bank Corp. (CCBC) and related entities are facing yet another lawsuit in connection with the collapse of Vesttoo Ltd., with plaintiffs asserting breach of contract and alternative claims in New York federal court.
December 05, 2024
Bid For Insurance Magnate’s Halfway House Stay Denied In Money Laundering Case

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal magistrate judge denied a motion filed by insurance magnate Greg Lindberg, the former owner of now-insolvent insurers, for detention at a residential reentry center or halfway house pending sentencing after he pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy regarding his $2 billion scheme to defraud insurers and policyholders by funneling money through his extensive global network of insurance companies and was convicted on retrial in a related criminal proceeding.
December 05, 2024
Judge Tosses Suit By Insurance Mogul With ‘Turbulent History Of Litigation’

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on Dec. 4 issued a sua sponte order dismissing without prejudice a declaratory judgment suit filed by insurance mogul Greg Lindberg against the North Carolina Department of Insurance and its commissioner regarding a receivership seeking in part a declaratory judgment as to the total liability owed to Lindberg’s now-insolvent North Carolina insurers, finding that “the parties’ dispute is better litigated in the state court of North Carolina.”
December 04, 2024
Scienter Is Focus Of Dismissal Arguments In Securities Suit Involving Reinsurance

NEW YORK — Scienter is the key issue in dismissal arguments in a putative class action, with the named plaintiff telling a New York federal court that “improperly accounting for reinsurance premiums” led to material overstatements and investors were also misled on “internal controls,” and the defendants challenging “the misguided assumption that the Company’s identification of an accounting error and weakness in internal controls necessarily equates to securities fraud.”
December 04, 2024
Magnate Seeks Extension In $1B RICO Insurance Fraud Case, Cites Jail Difficulties

RALEIGH, N.C. — Citing “significant restrictions” related to insurance magnate Greg Lindberg’s communication with counsel while being held at a county jail pending sentencing in separate criminal actions, Lindberg and his co-defendant asset management companies moved in North Carolina federal court for more time to respond to an amended complaint in a suit accusing them and other parties of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) violations related to their purported participation in a $1 billion scheme to defraud now-insolvent insurers once owned by Lindberg.
December 04, 2024
Deal In Progress Reported In Coverage Row Over Loss Of Patent Litigation Counsel

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Without providing details, the parties in a coverage dispute over loss of patent litigation counsel filed a notice in Tennessee federal court “that they have reached a settlement in principle of all matters in dispute.”
December 04, 2024
Life Insurer’s Rehabilitator Aims To Present ‘Key Terms’ Of Plan ‘By Mid-2025’

HARTFORD, Conn. — The rehabilitator of a life insurer and the subsidiaries that reinsure its liabilities told a Connecticut state court in an accounting and status report that he “expects to have a significantly improved reinsurance management program in place by year-end 2024” and aims to present “the key terms of a plan of rehabilitation by mid-2025.”
November 25, 2024
Unspecified Deal To Settle Is Reported In Heart Transplant Reimbursement Row

GALVESTON, Texas — In a Nov. 22 text-only docket entry citing a notice of settlement in a health maintenance organization (HMO) dispute regarding heart transplant reimbursement, a Texas federal judge extended the deadline for objecting to the recommendation of ruling for a reinsurer.
November 25, 2024
7th Circuit Affirms Dismissal To Arbitration In Preclusion Row

CHICAGO — Saying that neither Morgan v. Sundance, Inc. nor Section 13 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) casts doubt on Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals precedent establishing “that the preclusive effect of an arbitral award is an issue for the arbitrator to decide, not a federal court,” a panel on Nov. 22 affirmed dismissal to arbitration of a lawsuit reinsurers filed over asbestos-related liabilities.
November 25, 2024
Motion To Set Trial Date Denied Without Prejudice In Long-Running RESPA Suit

FRESNO, Calif. — In a brief Nov. 22 text-only order, a judge sitting by designation in California federal court denied without prejudice a motion to set a trial date in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) class action involving captive reinsurance agreements.