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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • February 12, 2026

    Captive Operator Renews Bid For Summary Judgment, Dismissal In Tax Shelter Case

    PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-based corporation asked a Pennsylvania federal court to grant summary judgment in its favor and dismiss the U.S. government’s counterclaim seeking to enforce more than $6.5 million in promoter penalties tied to the company’s administration of a purported captive insurance program, renewing its constitutional challenge to the statutory prepayment requirement after the court previously declined to address that issue.

  • February 11, 2026

    Auto Dealers Claim That Reinsurance Arrangement Included Undisclosed Charges

    SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A group of vehicle dealerships allege in a South Dakota federal court complaint that they were induced to enter into a reinsurance arrangement marketed as a cost-saving mechanism to vehicle service contracts (VSCs) under which they were charged undisclosed and unauthorized fees across several years, culminating in more than $700,000 in overcharges.

  • February 10, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Class Allegations In Suit Against California Fair Plan Association

    LOS ANGELES — Noting that good cause has been shown, a California judge granted an insured’s motion to dismiss without prejudice class allegations in the insured’s lawsuit alleging that the California Fair Plan Association (CFP) issued property insurance policies with fire coverage that is unlawfully restrictive as to smoke damage claims.

  • February 10, 2026

    Parties To Reinsurance Breach Of Contract Suits Seek Case Reopening

    FORT WORTH, Texas — The parties to a reinsurance breach of contract dispute arising from a multimillion-dollar tort judgment jointly asked a Texas federal court to reopen their consolidated case that was administratively closed after one of the plaintiffs began insolvency proceedings in Bermuda that triggered an automatic stay.

  • February 09, 2026

    Investment Firm Sues Partner Over Alleged Break-Up Fee Default

    LOS ANGELES — An investment fund alleges in a California federal court that its foreign investment partner and a shared reinsurance subsidiary breached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) resolving more than $10 million in disputed financing obligations by failing to pay $1.5 million of a negotiated break-up fee by the December 2025 contractual deadline after making only partial installment payments.

  • February 05, 2026

    Cross-Appeals Consolidated In Case Involving Mine Subsidence Preclusion Claims

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals consolidated cross-appeals filed by a railroad company and a reinsurer that both arise from the same district court summary judgment ruling on the preclusive effect of prior judgments on mine subsidence claims.

  • February 04, 2026

    IRS Maintains That Captive Final Rule Was Based On Data And Prior Litigation

    DALLAS — Stating that “micro-captives can and have been used repeatedly for tax avoidance,” the Internal Revenue Service moved for summary judgment in a tax firm’s challenge to a final rule on microcaptive insurance arrangements, asserting that the factors used in identifying potential avoidance schemes were based on data and prior litigation and that the tax firm conflates disclosure requirements with disallowance.

  • February 03, 2026

    Parties File Summary Judgment Cross-Motions In Reinsurance Policy Dispute

    TRENTON, N.J. — A commercial auto insurer and a joint insurance fund filed cross-motions for summary judgment in a New Jersey federal court in a dispute stemming from a multimillion dollar settlement of a personal injury lawsuit involving a municipally owned ambulance, with the insurer arguing that policy language places primary responsibility on the insurance fund and the insurance fund contending that state law requires exhaustion of commercial coverage first.

  • February 03, 2026

    Confirmation Of Arbitration Award Sought After Reinsurance Contract Violation

    OKLAHOMA CITY — An insurer requests an order in an Oklahoma federal court confirming an arbitration award that directs a California-based corporation to post nearly $15 million in collateral after an arbitration panel determined that the corporation failed to comply with an obligation set forth in a quota share reinsurance agreement (QSRA) between the parties to provide reinsurance security.

  • February 02, 2026

    Former DOL Officials, Other Amici Urge 4th Circuit Affirmance In PRT Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — Three amicus curiae briefs filed Jan. 30 urge the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm 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, with one of those briefs coming from former U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) officials who argue that the Jan. 9 amicus brief the DOL filed here shows that “an effort is underway to limit the scope of” the private right of action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • February 02, 2026

    Appellate Panel Reverses Denial Of Cost-Of-Living Reimbursement To Reinsurer

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts appellate court panel on Jan. 30 reversed and remanded a state reviewing board decision denying a reinsurer’s reimbursement of cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) benefits paid after exhaustion of a self-insured employer’s statutory bond, ruling that the board improperly imposed an extra-statutory bar to recovery by denying reimbursement based on the employer’s insolvency and the reinsurer’s nonparticipation in trust fund assessments, grounds not authorized under the workers’ compensation reimbursement framework.

  • January 30, 2026

    Defendants Seek Dismissal Of Federal Crop Insurance Suit Alleging Program Fraud

    RALEIGH, N.C. —  An agricultural operator and several of his family members moved in a North Carolina federal court to dismiss a False Claims Act (FCA) suit alleging a coordinated scheme to defraud federally reinsured crop insurance programs through straw producers, yield shifting and misreported acreage, arguing that the government failed to plead with particularity the submission of any false claims for payment, improperly treated eligibility and insurance documents as actionable claims, asserted time-barred causes of action and did not adequately allege individualized participation supporting liability.

  • January 30, 2026

    Insurance Firms Sue Ex-Executive, Engineers Over Reinsurance Trade Secrets

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A group of insurance technology companies filed a complaint in a Delaware state court accusing former executives and engineers of misappropriating trade secrets, breaching fiduciary duties and contracts and conspiring with a program manager to launch a reinsurance and captive insurance company using confidential regulatory, program structure and market strategy information obtained during their employment.

  • January 30, 2026

    Assignee Opposes Bid To Dismiss Decades-Old Asbestos Reinsurance Claims

    NEW YORK — The assignee of the liquidator of an insolvent insurer urged a New York federal court to deny a summary judgment motion filed by a U.K.-based reinsurer, arguing that asbestos-related reinsurance claims are not time-barred and that the reinsurer’s post-liquidation conduct, written acknowledgments and the destruction of records preclude dismissal of the reinsurance contract dispute.

  • January 29, 2026

    PHL Policyholders Move For Emergency Intervention Following Liquidation Notice

    WATERBURY, Conn. — A group of over-the-cap universal life insurance policyholders (UL policyholders) filed an emergency motion in a Connecticut state court to intervene in the rehabilitation of PHL Variable Insurance Co., arguing that they were required to continue paying premiums in reliance on repeated assurances of a forthcoming rehabilitation plan before the rehabilitator reported that liquidation was necessary, leaving their policies subject only to guaranty association limits.

  • January 29, 2026

    Insurance Buyer Alleges Ongoing Breach Of Sale Agreements In New Suit

    BOSTON — A buyer in a long-running insurance dispute arising from a 2005 transfer and assumption (T&A) agreement and a 2007 stock purchase agreement (SPA) filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts federal court, alleging that the seller has continued to breach the agreements by refusing to administer, defend and reimburse millions of dollars in claims despite a prior summary judgment ruling confirming the seller’s ongoing contractual obligations.

  • January 21, 2026

    Insurer, Regulator Seek Dismissal Of Agent’s Crop Insurance Commission Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An insurer and a federal regulator moved to dismiss a crop insurance agency’s declaratory judgment complaint alleging that agent commissions were unlawfully reduced and policy transfers were coerced, arguing that the claims fall outside the court’s jurisdiction, rest on statutes that create no private right of action and amount to contractual and regulatory disputes that must be dismissed or resolved through arbitration.

  • January 15, 2026

    Insureds Allege FAIR Plan Mishandled, Underpaid Wildfire Smoke Claims

    LOS ANGELES — A pair of property insurance policyholders sued the California FAIR Plan Association in state court, alleging that the association breached statutory coverage requirements and engaged in bad faith claims handling by relying on policy provisions that impermissibly restricted coverage for wildfire smoke contamination and loss-of-use claims stemming from the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

  • January 15, 2026

    Arbitration Compelled, Litigation Stayed In Dispute Over Underpaid Commissions

    NEW YORK — Writing that “it would be difficult to imagine a breach-of-contract claim that did not arise out of the contract itself,” a New York federal judge compelled arbitration and stayed litigation between a program manager and an insurer, holding that the parties’ terminated program management agreement (PMA) required arbitration of claims alleging years of underpaid commissions and was not displaced by the agreement’s termination or survival provisions.

  • January 15, 2026

    RICO Defendants Say MGA, Reinsurer, Sought Leave To Amend Complaint In Bad Faith

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The defendants in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit filed a letter in a New York federal court urging denial of a reinsurer and a management general agency’s oral request to amend their first amended complaint (FAC) and dismissal of the case with prejudice, arguing that incurable RICO standing defects would remain and that the proposed amendment was sought in bad faith after plaintiffs advanced contradictory arguments.

  • January 14, 2026

    Reinsurers, Insurers Ask To Seal Summary Judgment Briefs In Indemnification Case

    TRENTON, N.J. —  The parties in a dispute between insurers and reinsurers over indemnification for asbestos bodily injury claims moved to seal confidential information as part of their cross-motions for summary judgment in a New Jersey federal court, stating that the filings contain nonpublic, competitively sensitive business information and that disclosure would cause competitive harm.

  • January 13, 2026

    Evidence Supports Crop Insurance Claim Denial, 5th Circuit Rules

    NEW ORLEANS — Holding that a farmer failed to provide adequate evidence to demonstrate that denial of his crop insurance claim was arbitrary or capricious, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court ruling that federal regulators implemented proper standards and correctly considered expert testimony in concluding that the farmer failed to follow good farming practices (GFP) for coverage purposes.

  • January 13, 2026

    Risk Pool Rebuts Reinsurer’s Dissolution Claim In Arbitration Dispute

    NEW YORK — An intergovernmental risk pool told a New York federal court that a reinsurer baselessly alleged that it was dissolved without notice when the reinsurer urged the court to rule on pending cross-petitions in an arbitration awards dispute involving attorney fees and whether there was a probability or a possibility of an excess judgment in an underlying case.

  • January 13, 2026

    Defendants Win Dismissal Of Case Involving PRTs To Prudential And RGA

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has dismissed with prejudice a putative class pension risk transfer (PRT) case notable for focusing on transfers to nonparties Prudential Insurance Company of America (PICA) and RGA Reinsurance Company (RGA), concluding that the Verizon Communications Inc. retirees who filed the suit lacked standing and failed to state their claims.

  • January 12, 2026

    DOL Becomes Latest Amicus To Urge 4th Circuit Reversal On Standing In PRT Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — Saying, “The magnitude of this case and these issues are hard to overstate,” the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Jan. 9 became the latest amicus curiae to urge the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse 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; 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.