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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • May 22, 2025

    Tax Firm Claims Standing, Opposes IRS Dismissal Motion In Microcaptive Rule Suit

    DALLAS — In response to the Internal Revenue Service’s motion to dismiss its challenge to a final rule requiring reports for certain microcaptive insurance arrangements, a tax consulting firm told a Texas federal court that it has standing because it is directly regulated and faces injury from the rule’s new reporting requirements; the tax firm further argues that dismissal is premature without review of the administrative record and that the issue should be resolved through summary judgment.

  • May 22, 2025

    Kentucky Federal Judge Denies Reconsideration Request In Cleanup Costs Dispute

    PADUCAH, Ky. — A federal judge in Kentucky overruled the objections presented in and denied a ferrosilicon producer’s motion for reconsideration of a January ruling that denied the producer’s motion to compel production of documents in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs, ruling that the reconsideration motion impermissibly raised new arguments and failed to identify claimed ambiguities in a reinsurance contract between it and an insurer and reinsurer.

  • May 21, 2025

    5th Case Added To Consolidated Litigation Over Fronting Deal Agreements, Commissions

    FORT WORTH, Texas — A fifth case has been added to consolidated litigation between reinsurers and National Transportation Associates Inc. (NTA) that centers on the reinsurers’ claims of inflated provisional commissions and breach of various agreements, with the latest allegations involving a dispute over whether contractual mandates issued by California and other states render the commission structure unenforceable.

  • May 19, 2025

    Court Dismisses Reinsurance Reimbursement Dispute Case At Parties’ Request

    DES MOINES, Iowa — A reinsurance reimbursement dispute was dismissed one day after two members of the GuideOne family of insurance companies and a China-based reinsurerfiled a joint stipulation of dismissal in a federal court in Iowa.

  • May 15, 2025

    IRS Moves To Dismiss Microcaptive Rule Challenge, Claiming Lack Of Jurisdiction

    DALLAS — In a challenge to a final rule in which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Treasury Department require reports for certain purported microcaptive insurance arrangements, the IRS moved in a Texas federal court to dismiss a tax consulting firm’s amended complaint, asserting that it acted within its statutory authority, that the court lacks jurisdiction, that the tax firm fails to state an actual controversy and that the suit is barred under the Declaratory Judgments Act (DJA).

  • May 14, 2025

    Delaware Chancery Court Orders Hearing On Claims Disputes In Reinsurer Liquidation

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Chancery Court scheduled a July 21 hearing on a quartet of motions concerning reinsurance claims, the establishment of a bar date and approval of dispute procedures in relation to the liquidation of life and health reinsurer Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. (SRUS).

  • May 13, 2025

    Arbitration Summons Quashed By Florida Federal Court In Reinsurance Claims Dispute

    TAMPA, Fla.  — A federal magistrate judge denied without prejudice a reinsurer’s motion to enforce a nonparty arbitration summons, finding the summons, issued to the agent of a pair of cedents, to be procedurally deficient and ordering it quashed in a dispute involving the agent’s noncompliance with the summons.

  • May 13, 2025

    Judge: Reinsurance Info Is Relevant In Cyberattack Coverage Lawsuit

    BALTIMORE — A media company that sued excess insurers it alleges owe millions in connection with an October 2021 cyberattack has obtained a mixed ruling on discovery disputes, with a Maryland federal magistrate judge concluding in part that “reinsurance policies, as well as related documents and communications, are relevant to [the plaintiff’s] bad faith claim and should be produced.”

  • May 12, 2025

    Production Of Reinsurance Agreement Ordered In Disability Benefits Dispute

    JACKSON, Miss. — Days after a Mississippi federal magistrate judge ordered a workers’ compensation insurer to produce a reinsurance agreement, the magistrate judge granted the insurer’s motion to stay the production deadline until seven days after a ruling is issued on its forthcoming motion for a protective order as part of a broader conflict involving disputed temporary total disability (TTD) benefits.

  • May 09, 2025

    Justice Refuses To Dismiss Archdiocese’s Claims In Sexual Abuse Coverage Dispute

    NEW YORK — A New York justice denied general and excess liability insurers’ motion to dismiss the Archdiocese of New York’s claims for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and violations of New York General Business Law Section 348 in a coverage dispute arising from close to 1,700 underlying sexual abuse lawsuits, rejecting the insurers’ contention that the breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing claim is duplicative of the breach of contract claim.

  • May 08, 2025

    Sealing Request Gets OK In Contempt Bid In Fraud Suit Over Secured Loans

    NEW YORK — Without explanation, a New York federal judge granted a motion to seal certain documents connected to a contempt request that concerns a preliminary injunction (PI) order in litigation over fraud and racketeering allegations that involve the parent company of Bermuda reinsurer 777 Re Ltd.

  • May 07, 2025

    Utah Regulator Agrees To Mediation With Insurers He Wanted To Have Rehabilitated

    SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Insurance Department has reported that litigation between it and Sentinel Security Life Insurance Co., Haymarket Insurance Co. and Jazz Reinsurance Co. has been paused pursuant to the parties’ agreement to participate in mediation.

  • May 07, 2025

    Breach Of Contract, Declaratory Judgment Counterclaims Filed Against Reinsurer

    NEW YORK — A life insurer and its parent company filed two counterclaims in a federal court in New York, seeking declaratory judgment on the definition of a lapsed client under its transaction agreement with a reinsurer and alleging a breach of contract for the reinsurer’s alleged failure to cooperate in reviewing documents related to a disputed $50 million post-closure bonus payout.

  • May 06, 2025

    U.S. Opposes Summary Judgment, Dismissal In Captive Insurance Tax Shelter Dispute

    PITTSBURGH — The U.S. government asked a federal court in Pennsylvania to reject a Pittsburgh-based corporation’s motion to dismiss the government’s counterclaim and motion for summary judgment, arguing that the company’s reliance on a prior U.S. Supreme Court ruling is misplaced in a dispute over penalties tied to the corporation’s alleged promotion of a tax shelter through a purported captive insurance program.

  • May 06, 2025

    Policyholder’s Motion To Intervene Was Untimely, Life Insurer’s Rehabilitator Says

    WATERBURY, Conn. — The rehabilitator of life insurer PHL Variable Insurance Co. and the subsidiaries that reinsure its liabilities urged a Connecticut state court to deny as untimely a motion to intervene filed by two policyholders who say their policies are worth millions and want a moratorium order to be modified to pay death benefits on a pari passu basis.

  • 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.