Mealey's Reinsurance
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April 16, 2024
Rehab Plan Approved Over Workers’ Comp Insurer’s Objections In California Court
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Rejecting numerous objections from California Insurance Co. (CIC), a California state judge approved a rehabilitation plan that she said the state insurance commissioner described as being “designed to . . . complete CIC's exit from the state on terms that protect the Company, policyholders, and the public.”
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April 11, 2024
English Justice: Unlikeliness Of Fair Trial In Russia Supports Denying Stay Bids
LONDON — An English justice considering dozens of aviation insurance coverage cases that arose after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has concluded that — despite Russian law and exclusive jurisdiction clauses (EJCs) outlined in reinsurance slips — they should continue in the English court rather than being stayed to give effect to those clauses.
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April 11, 2024
Rehabilitator’s Counterclaims Are Partly Dismissed In Row With Independent Auditor
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge granted partial dismissal of a rehabilitator’s counterclaims against an outside auditor in a dispute involving a run-off insurer, ruling that some claims are time-barred and that the rehabilitator didn’t state a claim for breach of fiduciary duty.
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April 11, 2024
Farmers To 6th Circuit: Vacate Parts Of Dismissal Ruling In Crop Insurance Case
CINCINNATI — Alleging in their opening brief that a crop insurer and the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) “are squeezing New Heights out of business with their never-ending stalled investigation,” farmers ask the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to vacate parts of a dismissal ruling and remand.
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April 10, 2024
Reconsideration Bid Denied, Default Judgment Granted In Reimbursement Dispute
OMAHA, Neb. — Deciding against a Brazil-based reinsurer on two motions in a March 9 amended ruling, a Nebraska federal judge entered judgment for plaintiff National Indemnity Co. (NICO) on all claims in a suit over reimbursement for a settlement reached with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposure.
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April 10, 2024
Jury Rules Against Government In Tax Penalty Row Over Purported Microcaptives
FORT MYERS, Fla. — After a jury found for the plaintiffs in consolidated cases over whether their involvement with purported microcaptive insurance companies constituted promotion of abusive tax shelters, a Florida federal judge ordered the government to refund the penalties they paid, with statutory interest.
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April 09, 2024
Summons Reissued To Investment Firms Whose Owners Defrauded Now-Insolvent Insurers
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal court reissued a summons to Malta-based investment firms Standard Advisory Services Ltd. and Standard Financial Ltd., which, along with their former directors, are defendants in a $1 billion Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit accusing them of participating in a scheme to defraud now-insolvent insurers and their policyholders by using policyholder money to purchase non-insurance companies and to divert policyholder money.
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April 08, 2024
N.C. High Court Grants Filing Extension To Insolvent Insurers’ Buyer In Fraud Row
RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Supreme Court on April 5 granted an extension to the purchaser of now-insolvent insurers and his affiliated companies to file a reply brief in their appeal of an appellate court’s decision affirming a judgment for fraud against them.
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April 08, 2024
Another Set Of Retirees Challenges AT&T Pension Risk Transfer Under ERISA
BOSTON — A second set of retirees has filed a putative class case in Massachusetts federal court challenging a May 2023 AT&T pension risk transfer (PRT) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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April 04, 2024
Lead Plaintiff Is Appointed In Suit Over Alleged Securities Violations
NEW YORK — An investor who alleges that he lost approximately $56,250 due to stock declines after a Bermuda-based insurance holding company reported an error involving the reinstatement premium for a specialty casualty reinsurance treaty has been appointed lead plaintiff of a putative class action under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
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April 03, 2024
Federal Jury Trial Starts In Tax Penalty Row Over Purported Microcaptives
FORT MYERS, Fla. — A jury trial has begun in consolidated cases involving promotion of purported microcaptive insurance companies, with a Florida federal judge denying four motions in limine to exclude evidence, preclude use of the term “tax shelter” and use judicial estoppel to prevent the government from taking a certain position in this case.
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April 03, 2024
Magistrate Judge Finds Reinsurer Liable For $2M In Damages In Reimbursement Row
DALLAS — Concluding that a ceding insurer met the “subjective” notice standard in the parties’ agreement and that a reinsurer failed to show that it was prejudiced by the timing of the notice, a Texas federal magistrate judge dismissed the reinsurer’s claims with prejudice and granted the insurer summary judgment on its counterclaims.
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April 02, 2024
Judge: Recapture Didn’t Eliminate Jurisdiction In Arbitration Confirmation Case
NEW YORK — Ruling that recapture did not eliminate the court’s subject matter jurisdiction, a New York federal judge granted a reinsurer’s petition to confirm a final arbitration award in a dispute over its decision to raise certain premiums, also denying the parties’ motions to seal information related to confidential arbitration proceedings.
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April 02, 2024
Reinsurer Wins Collateral Estoppel Ruling In Defense Costs Dispute With Insurer
DETROIT — Saying that collateral estoppel applies because the “issue was actually litigated and decided during” the plaintiff insurer’s arbitration with a different entity, a Michigan federal judge ruled for a reinsurer in a defense costs dispute concerning asbestos lawsuits.
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March 29, 2024
Judge Nixes Fraud, Specific Performance Claims In Reinsurer’s Breach Lawsuit
FORT WORTH, Texas — Granting motions for dismissal of all but two claims in a reinsurer’s case over allegedly inflated provisional commissions and breach of various agreements, a Texas federal judge called the case “a lesson in Murphy’s Law for unwitting contractees” and ruled that “bad looks cannot support a fraud claim where the resulting harm was merely contractual.”
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March 28, 2024
Receiver Of Reinsurer In Liquidation Proposes Proof Of Claim Procedures
WILMINGTON, Del. — The receiver for life and health reinsurer Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. (SRUS) filed motions to set bar dates for two types of claims under proof of claim (POC) procedure proposals filed in the Delaware Chancery Court.
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March 27, 2024
N.C. High Court Tosses Clarification Bid In Fraud Row With Insolvent Insurers
RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Supreme Court dismissed insurers’ motion for clarification of the high court’s order granting a petition for supersedeas regarding an appellate court’s decision affirming a judgment for fraud against the purchaser of now-insolvent insurers and his affiliated companies.
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March 27, 2024
Some Of Railroad’s Claims Survive Dismissal In Mine Subsidence Preclusion Row
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A railroad company’s claims for certain declaratory and injunctive relief regarding mine subsidence claims survive after an Illinois federal judge on March 26 partly granted a dismissal motion and rejected the argument that the second amended complaint (SAC) is futile.
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March 27, 2024
Dismissal Stipulated Before Jury Trial In Reinsurance Breach Of Contract Row
LOS ANGELES — Parties in a reinsurance billing suit over a variety of claims that had been progressing toward a jury trial in California federal court have filed a one-paragraph March 26 stipulation dismissing the case in its entirety “with prejudice and without costs.”
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March 26, 2024
Insurers Win Summary Judgment On Bad Faith Claim In Case Over Settlement
CINCINNATI — Ruling that Marginian v. Allstate Ins. Co. “plainly bars” the sole remaining bad faith claim under Ohio law “[a]nd no amount of discovery could change that,” an Ohio federal judge granted summary judgment for defendant insurers in litigation over the settlement of a third-party personal injury lawsuit.
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March 21, 2024
AFFF Maker Seeks Ruling That Pollution Exclusions Do Not Bar Liability Claims
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A company that makes the firefighting agent known as aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) has moved in South Carolina federal court for partial summary judgment against a group of insurers asking the court to find that the product liability and common-law causes of action alleging bodily injury and/or property damage that have been asserted against the company in the multidistrict litigation are not excluded from coverage by pollution exclusions.
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March 19, 2024
Amended Complaint Proposed In Delaware Suit Over Alleged Asset Dissipation
WILMINGTON, Del. — Plaintiffs in a suit over the “Agera transactions” — a complex asset-swap arrangement that they allege resulted in the “dissipation of at least $250 million” — have moved in Delaware Chancery Court for leave to amend the complaint “to clarify the record and make minimal amendments.”
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March 14, 2024
Farmer, Regulators Brief Determination Row In Crop Insurance Case
LUBBOCK, Texas — In competing motions for summary judgment and judgment on the administrative record in a crop insurance case, a farmer and federal regulators are disputing whether an agency applied the right standard and correctly considered expert testimony in concluding that the farmer failed to follow good farming practices (GFP).
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March 14, 2024
Receiver Gets Firm Deadline For Procedures Proposal In Reinsurer’s Liquidation
WILMINGTON, Del. — Modifying a proposed scheduling order, a Delaware Chancery Court vice chancellor has given the receiver for life and health reinsurer Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. (SRUS) until March 25 to seek approval of proof-of-claim processes and related liquidation procedures.
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March 13, 2024
As Tax Penalty Row Over Microcaptives Nears Jury Trial, Parties Seek Exclusions
FORT MYERS, Fla. — After a Florida federal judge denied motions for summary judgment and to preclude the testimony of three experts in consolidated cases involving promotion of purported microcaptive insurance companies, the parties asked the court to exclude certain evidence and terms from the approaching jury trial.