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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • 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.

  • November 22, 2024

    COMMENTARY: 2024 Key Insurance Decisions, Trends & Developments & A Look Ahead To 2025

    By Scott M. Seaman, Pedro E. Hernandez and Lisa M. Roccanova

  • November 22, 2024

    Indemnification Claims Challenged In Suit Over Clash Reinsurance

    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.

  • November 21, 2024

    Joint Powers Authority Wins Remand Of Coverage Suit Against Reinsurer

    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.

  • November 20, 2024

    Plaintiffs Who Persuaded Jury In Microcaptive Row Lose Attorney Fee Bid

    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.

  • November 20, 2024

    DOL Files Suit Over Alleged Self-Dealing Involving Health Plan MEWA

    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.