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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • November 21, 2025

    Judge Grants Abstention In Insurance Dispute Involving Arbitration, $524M Judgment

    TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on Nov. 20 granted a Puerto Rico insurer’s motion to abstain regarding the insurer’s request to dismiss a petition to compel arbitration filed by insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, the former owner of now-insolvent insurers, seeking to compel arbitration related to a dispute with the insurer involving a $524 million judgment pursuant to a personal guaranty for a reinsurance agreement.

  • November 20, 2025

    Judge Opens Door For 2nd Circuit To Weigh In On PRT Standing Split

    NEW YORK — The question of whether alleging that a pension risk transfer (PRT) increased the risk of not receiving full benefits gives retirees standing to challenge the transaction could be addressed by two U.S. circuit courts after a New York federal judge certified for interlocutory appeal her decision that the plaintiffs in one such putative class action have standing.

  • November 19, 2025

    Farmer Alleges Crop Insurer Wrongly Terminated Policy, Causing $396K In Losses

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A farmer filed an amended complaint in an Alabama federal court, alleging that a crop insurance provider wrongfully terminated her 2022 crop year policy and unduly reported her to a federal ineligibility database; the crop insurer seeks dismissal of the suit on the grounds that the dispute is subject to mandatory arbitration under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA).

  • November 19, 2025

    Captive Insurance Manager Opposes IRS Request To Uphold Disputed Final Rule

    KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In opposing the Internal Revenue Service’s cross-motion for summary judgment, a captive insurance manager argues that a challenged final rule governing small captive insurance arrangements exceeds the agency’s statutory authority, lacks evidentiary support in the administrative record on the IRS’s claim that small captive insurance arrangements are abusive and relies on impermissible factors, and is therefore arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

  • November 18, 2025

    Record Update Ordered, IRS Dismissal Bid Partly Granted In Captive Rule Dispute

    DALLAS — In a text-only docket entry, a Texas federal judge directed the U.S. government to file a status report by Dec. 5, stating whether it intends to withhold the administrative record in connection with a tax firm’s pending motion to compel less; the order was issued less than two weeks after the judge dismissed with prejudice the firm’s claims that an Internal Revenue Service final rule on microcaptive insurance arrangements exceeded the agency’s statutory authority and was contrary to law but denied the government’s motion to dismiss the firm’s remaining claim that the rule is arbitrary and capricious.

  • November 17, 2025

    Farmers Contest FCIC Crop Insurance Rule Interpretation In Texas Federal Court

    LUBBOCK, Texas — More than 200 individual, trust, partnership and corporate plaintiffs engaged in farming across 11 counties in Texas seek judicial review and declaratory relief from the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) and the Risk Management Agency (RMA), alleging that an agency policy interpretation unduly restricts their right to receive full indemnity for their failed cotton crops and subsequent annual forage crops under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA).

  • November 14, 2025

    Tax Judge Upholds Microcaptive Penalties Under Economic Substance Doctrine

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Holding that the economic substance doctrine requires a threshold relevancy determination, a U.S. Tax Court judge found the doctrine applicable to accuracy-related penalties arising from purported microcaptive insurance arrangements that were determined to lack genuine risk transfer or substantive business purpose, ruling that the resulting underpayments of tax were subject to nondisclosure penalties.

  • November 13, 2025

    Split Summary Judgment Issued In Indemnification Dispute Over Asbestos Cases

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge issued a split summary judgment order in an indemnity dispute centered on the continuity of insurance and reinsurance agreements executed between 1983 and 1995, denying a paper manufacturer’s request for declaratory relief, allowing its breach of contract claim against an insurer to proceed and granting summary judgment in favor of the manufacturer on the insurer’s two counterclaims.

  • November 13, 2025

    Insurers’ Objections To Discovery Orders Substantially Overruled In COVID-19 Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York substantially overruled insurers’ objections to discovery orders that granted in part and denied in part a holding company for the U.S. interests in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group’s motion to compel the insurers to produce certain documents they have withheld as privileged in a coronavirus coverage dispute.

  • November 13, 2025

    Oral Argument Calendared In Appeal Of Dismissed Claim Tied To Vesttoo Collapse

    NEW ORLEANS — Oral argument is tentatively scheduled for the week of Jan. 5, 2026, in a homeowners insurer’s appeal to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concerning the dismissal of its breach of contract claim stemming from the collapse of Vesttoo Ltd.

  • November 10, 2025

    COMMENTARY: Uh-EUO: How Examinations Under Oath Impact Claims

    By Rachel E. Hudgins, Kevin V. Small and Charlotte E. Leszinske

  • November 11, 2025

    6th Circuit Affirms Collateral Estoppel Ruling In Dispute Over Defense Costs

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that an insurer was collaterally estopped from relitigating whether defense costs were payable outside defined policy limits, holding that the issue was fully adjudicated in prior arbitration and that the absence of mutuality did not preclude application of collateral estoppel.

  • November 10, 2025

    Broker Claims Ex-Employee Disclosed Captive Insurance Trade Secrets To New Firm

    PHOENIX — An insurance brokerage firm filed a verified amended complaint in an Arizona federal court alleging that a former employee misappropriated trade secrets and breached a contract by transferring captive insurance client information to his new employer in violation of an agreement barring disclosure of confidential data and solicitation of former clients.

  • November 06, 2025

    Stable Value Funds Are Focus Of ERISA Suits Over Alleged Imprudence

    Often echoing arguments seen in recent pension risk transfer litigation concerning reinsurance arrangements and the risk of insolvency, a firm representing at least six different plaintiffs in various federal jurisdictions filed putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases challenging retirement plan use of certain guaranteed income funds (GIFs) and stable value funds (SVFs) that the plaintiffs claim no prudent fiduciary would have selected and retained.

  • November 04, 2025

    Attorneys Seek Payment Of Fees In Insurance Magnate Money Laundering Case

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. —  Legal counsel for insurance magnate Greg Lindberg filed motions and briefs in North Carolina federal court seeking court approval for payment of fees in a case in which Lindberg 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.

  • November 03, 2025

    Captive Managers Oppose Injunction, Cite Speculative Harm And Insurer Breach

    NEW YORK — An insurance services firm, its captive affiliate and its general counsel say in an opposition memorandum filed in a New York federal court that a motion for a preliminary injunction and expedited discovery filed by four insurers alleging mismanagement of a captive program should be denied, arguing that the claimed harm is speculative and that the insurers themselves breached the reinsurance agreement by over-ceding losses beyond contractual limits.

  • October 30, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms That Insurrection Triggered CITGO Marine Reinsurance Coverage

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling that granted a $54.2 million judgment to CITGO Petroleum Corp., holding that the 2020 seizure of crude oil at a Venezuelan port arose from an “insurrection” as defined in its marine cargo reinsurance contract and that losses from the seizure were accordingly covered under the contract’s war risk provisions.

  • October 29, 2025

    Insurer Says Bad Faith Complaint Is Mooted By Arbitration Award Payout

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An insurer claims in an Arkansas federal court that a crop insurance lawsuit filed by two farmers should be dismissed as moot, asserting it already paid the arbitration award the farmers seek to confirm and that any additional claims are barred by the arbitration proceeding; in their complaint, the farmers accuse the insurer of bad faith and breach of contract in connection with the denial of coverage for their weather-related crop losses.

  • October 29, 2025

    Insurer, Reinsurer Reach Settlement In Principle In Dispute Over Withheld Funds

    CHICAGO — Days after denying a motion to stay proceedings, an Illinois federal judge noted in a minute entry that an insurer and reinsurer have reached a settlement in principle in a dispute in which the reinsurer claims that the insurer breached their reinsurance agreement by withholding funds owed under contractual liability insurance policies issued to a service contract provider.

  • October 28, 2025

    Injunction Granted, Trademark Use Enjoined In Counterfeit Insurance Policy Dispute

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida granted a preliminary injunction to an insurance holding company barring a captive operator and its affiliates from using the holding company’s name and trademarks in connection with allegedly unauthorized insurance policies and certificates of insurance.

  • October 28, 2025

    IRS Seeks Summary Judgment, Claims Final Rule Complies With Statutory Authority

    KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Internal Revenue Service, in a cross-motion for summary judgment filed in a Tennessee federal court, argues that its disputed final rule governing small captive insurance arrangements was lawfully issued under its statutory authority, imposes only disclosure obligations and satisfies the Administrative Procedure Act’s (APA) requirement for a reasoned explanation, in response to a captive insurance manager’s challenge seeking to set aside the regulation as unlawful and in excess of the agency’s authority.

  • October 24, 2025

    Reinsurer Seeks Reconsideration Of Summary Judgment Ruling In Indemnification Dispute

    BOSTON — A reinsurer involved in a dispute over liabilities arising from a 2005 transfer and assumption agreement and a 2007 stock purchase agreement (SPA) moved for reconsideration of a Massachusetts federal judge’s summary judgment ruling, contending that the judge misapprehended its expert evidence and overlooked material facts showing that a 2012 transfer of assets and liabilities constituted novation under standard insurance industry practice.

  • October 22, 2025

    N.C. High Court Finds Review Of Insurance Fraud Ruling ‘Improvidently Allowed’

    RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Supreme Court issued an opinion stating that its prior discretionary review was “improvidently allowed” regarding an appeal by the purchaser of insurers in liquidation or rehabilitation of an appellate court’s decision affirming a ruling finding liability for fraud in a breach of contract suit.

  • October 21, 2025

    Tax Firm Seeks To Compel IRS Record Filing, Citing Order In Parallel Case

    DALLAS — A tax firm filed a notice of supplemental authority in a Texas federal court in support of its pending motion to compel the Internal Revenue Service to file the administrative record in its challenge to the agency’s final rule on microcaptive insurance arrangements, citing a judge’s order in a parallel case involving the same final rule that directed the IRS to produce the administrative record.

  • October 21, 2025

    Summary Judgment Granted To Insurer; Bad Faith, Fraud Claims Dismissed

    JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi federal magistrate judge entered final judgment dismissing a pro se employee’s bad faith and fraudulent misrepresentation claims with prejudice after granting an insurer’s summary judgment motion, finding that the state’s statutory workers’ compensation exclusivity provision precludes any recovery, that the employee failed to obtain a Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission determination declaring entitlement to disputed temporary total disability (TTD) benefits and that her fraud allegations lacked particularity.