Mealey's Reinsurance
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April 26, 2024
Judge Denies Reconsideration Of Partial Summary Judgment In Malpractice Dispute
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Saying that legal issues “regarding joinder of the reinsurers as real parties in interest . . . cannot form the basis for reconsideration” because they were not raised before the partial summary judgment ruling at issue, an Illinois federal judge denied an insurer’s motion in a suit over alleged legal malpractice.
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April 26, 2024
New York Panel: Forum- Selection Clause In EquityComp Case Is Unenforceable
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Noting the “many” such cases in various states over the EquityComp workers’ compensation program, a New York state appellate panel affirmed a lower court’s refusal to enforce a forum-selection clause and its refusal to dismiss five causes of action.
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April 25, 2024
Bid For Ruling As To Coverage Exclusions Is Disputed In Suit Over Water Damage
PHOENIX — In a reply brief challenging arguments by an insurer and reinsurer that the ruling it seeks would be advisory, the insured tells an Arizona federal court that what it is really requesting is a proper “partial summary adjudication . . . on two issues of law that are critical in this insurance coverage and bad faith action” over water damage.
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April 25, 2024
Insolvent Insurers’ Owner Asks Delaware Court To Vacate $524M Foreign Judgment
NEW CASTLE, Del. — A judgment debtor and former owner of insolvent insurers ordered by a North Carolina federal court to pay a $524,009,051.26 judgment to a Puerto Rico-based insurer asked a Delaware state court to vacate the foreign judgment, asserting that the insurer has provided “evidence that no payment is required by” the debtor under a reinsurance trust backed by the debtor’s $25 million guarantee.
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April 24, 2024
Railroad Seeks Final Judgment, Certification On Preclusion In Mine Subsidence Row
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — After filing a notice of appeal regarding a partial dismissal order in a suit over mine subsidence claims, a railroad company has moved in an Illinois federal court requesting “two alternative grounds for appellate jurisdiction” that it says would “simplify briefing.”
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April 24, 2024
Alcoa, Independent Fiduciary Are Sued Under ERISA For Pension Risk Transfers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In what is at least the fourth putative class case filed in the past month challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs), retirees sued Alcoa Corp., related entities and an independent fiduciary in a District of Columbia federal court over four transactions they argue improperly “offloaded over $2 billion of Alcoa’s pension obligations.”
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April 19, 2024
Plaintiffs Win Little In Suit Over Business Deal Involving Reinsurance Distributor
MIAMI — Following a bench trial over “a failed business relationship” involving a managed health care reinsurance distribution company, a Florida federal judge ruled for the defendants on claims for breaches of an asset purchase agreement (APA) and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, but found that the plaintiffs proved breach of employment agreements based on disparaging comments and salary miscalculations.
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April 18, 2024
English Panel Upholds Stay In Dispute Over Which Reinsurance Agreement Controls
LONDON — Upholding the stay of an English case in a reinsurance dispute and saying “the parties began by playing cricket but then switched to baseball,” a three-justice panel of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales agreed with a lower court that the operative agreement calls for arbitration in New York.
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April 18, 2024
Chapter 11 Liquidation Plan Becomes Effective In Vesttoo Bankruptcy Cases
WILMINGTON, Del. — In a notice outlining several bar dates, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors told a Delaware federal bankruptcy court that a Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for Vesttoo Ltd. and its dozens of affiliates went into effect after conditions precedent were “satisfied or waived.”
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April 17, 2024
IRS Adds To String Of Tax Court Wins In Case Over Purported Microcaptives
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In line with the handful of U.S. Tax Court rulings in similar cases, a judge has sustained Internal Revenue Service determinations regarding two purported microcaptive insurance companies, concluding that they “failed to distribute risk and were not selling insurance in the commonly accepted sense,” so the purported premiums cannot be deducted as insurance expenses on federal income taxes.
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April 16, 2024
Tax Attorney, Government Seek Consent Judgment In Microcaptive Penalty Row
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Asking a Florida federal court to enter a consent judgment in their dispute over penalties for purported promotion of abusive tax shelters in the form of microcaptive insurance companies, a tax attorney and the federal government say in an April 15 motion that their settlement agreement includes the attorney’s “payment of $5,200,000, inclusive of payments already made.”
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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.