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December 04, 2024
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.”
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November 25, 2024
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.
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November 25, 2024
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.
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November 25, 2024
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.
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November 22, 2024
By Scott M. Seaman, Pedro E. Hernandez and Lisa M. Roccanova
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November 22, 2024
NEW YORK — Arguing inconsistency and seeking 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, a reinsurer sued the insurer in New York federal court.
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November 21, 2024
LOS ANGELES — Agreeing with a joint powers authority (JPA) that it “is an arm of the state and therefore is not a citizen of California or any other state” for purposes of diversity jurisdiction, a California federal judge on Nov. 20 granted remand to state court of the JPA’s lawsuit over a reinsurer’s denial of coverage for litigation arising from sexual abuse allegations.
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November 20, 2024
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Saying that the government’s “inability to convince the jury of the merits of its case does not change the substantial justification of its position,” a Florida federal judge on Nov. 19 denied the corporate plaintiffs’ motion for approximately $600,000 in attorney fees and costs in consolidated cases where they successfully challenged penalties imposed because the Internal Revenue Service deemed their involvement with purported microcaptive insurance companies to be promotion of abusive tax shelters.
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November 20, 2024
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Alleging that two companies and three individuals associated with a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA) violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by using self-funded employer-sponsored health benefit plans “as vehicles to collect and divert to themselves massive fees through self-dealing,” acting U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Julie A. Su sued them in Puerto Rico federal court.
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November 19, 2024
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge on Nov. 18 ruled that allegations that an insurer “is functioning as a fronting company, with the actual risk being transferred to its reinsurers” are sufficient to make dismissal of third-party direct-action claims against the insurer’s unnamed reinsurers “premature.”
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November 19, 2024
LOS ANGELES — Concluding that a 1984 memorandum of understanding (MOU) is “closely related to the reinsurance contract and not a completely separate agreement,” a California federal judge granted reinsurers’ motion to compel arbitration in a lawsuit over reinsurance billings arising from asbestos bodily injury claims.
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November 18, 2024
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, a former owner of insurers now in receivership, on Nov. 15 filed in a North Carolina federal court a notice stating that “continued sealing” of certain transcript excerpts of his deposition is unnecessary in a suit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that he, his advisory services company and its former executive defrauded clients of more than $75 million.
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November 18, 2024
MADISON, Wis. — The termination of former Wisconsin Reinsurance Corp. and 1st Auto & Casualty Insurance CEO Jason A. Fogg has become an issue in those entities’ liquidation, with Fogg filing an objection in Wisconsin state court to denial of his claim for more than $660,000 and the liquidator countering that the termination was “for cause” under his executive employment agreement.
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November 15, 2024
RALEIGH, N.C. — Defendant asset management companies on Nov. 15 moved in North Carolina federal court for more time to respond to an amended complaint in a suit accusing them, former insurance magnate Greg E. Lindberg 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.
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November 14, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing that Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo should have prevented the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals from deferring to a regulatory interpretation of the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC), a farm petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for review of a crop insurance case.
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November 14, 2024
NEW YORK — Saying in part that there is “substantial evidence” for the conclusion that the petitioner “did not subjectively believe that” the conduct he cited in a whistleblower retaliation complaint “constituted criminal fraud or violated any securities law provisions,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a Nov. 13 summary order declining to review dismissal of the complaint.
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November 14, 2024
PITTSBURGH — In a text-only order, a Pennsylvania federal judge removed the Internal Revenue Service from the caption of a dispute over a suit over penalties resulting from that agency’s decision that a Pittsburgh-based corporation’s involvement with a purported captive insurance program constituted tax shelter promotion; additionally, the government has moved to dismiss or strike a laches claim and asserted a counterclaim.
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November 13, 2024
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Insurance magnate Greg Lindberg, the former owner of now-insolvent insurers, pleaded guilty Nov. 12 in a North Carolina federal court 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 holding companies.
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November 13, 2024
CINCINNATI — A request for permission to file an amicus curiae brief in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has drawn a reinsurer’s opposition in the appeal of a ruling that collateral estoppel applies to a defense costs dispute concerning asbestos lawsuits and prior arbitration.
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November 13, 2024
OMAHA, Neb. — In docket-only orders, a Nebraska federal magistrate judge granted motions to restrict access to certain documents by National Indemnity Co. (NICO) and Horace Mann Insurance Co., including briefs related to summary judgment motions, in NICO’s suit seeking to enforce obligations by multiple insurers, one of whom is now insolvent, for the liability NICO incurred related to claims for asbestos exposure.
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November 13, 2024
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina federal magistrate judge who previously ruled that a Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) “determination requirement applies to all claims seeking extracontractual damages related to a federally reinsured crop insurance policy” on Nov. 12 granted a farmer’s unopposed request to stay rather than dismiss the case while he pursues that determination.
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November 12, 2024
GALVESTON, Texas — Concluding that a reinsurer doesn’t owe the plaintiff insurer “anything” in a health maintenance organization (HMO) dispute regarding heart transplant reimbursement, a Texas federal magistrate judge recommended granting part of the reinsurer’s summary judgment motion.
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November 12, 2024
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — As it has done in a similar Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act suit that a different reinsurer filed in New York federal court over purportedly fraudulent workers’ compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits, a group of defendants filed a pre-motion letter outlining plans to seek dismissal.
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November 08, 2024
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge ordered parties to file a joint report on the prospect of arbitrating a breach of contract lawsuit for losses estimated at more than $200 million for a gold mining breakdown that involves a dispute over whether the defendants are direct insurers or reinsurers of the plaintiff.
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November 06, 2024
CHICAGO — In Nov. 5 oral argument before a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel concerning where disputes over the preclusive effect of prior arbitration are decided, reinsurers acknowledged that the reversal they seek would create a circuit split, while an insurer cited Smith v. Spizzirri in urging the court to vacate the challenged dismissal to arbitration in favor of a stay during arbitration.