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Insurance
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May 24, 2013
JPML Head Judge Explains Why Panel Is More Picky
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has rejected a higher percentage of centralization requests in recent years, a trend the head of the panel told Law360 was due in part to a rise in patent cases and other types of litigation he said were more likely to center on individual issues.
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May 24, 2013
Blue Cross Hit With $5M Judgment In Hidden Fees Case
A Michigan federal judge hit Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan with a $5.1 million judgment Thursday following a bench trial in Hi-Lex Controls Inc.'s suit alleging that the insurance company hid certain fees it was charging while administering employee health benefit plans.
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May 24, 2013
Texas High Court Lets Foreign 'Loser Pays' Judgment Stand
Texas’ highest court on Friday declined to reverse a lower appeals court’s ruling that companies can enforce “loser pays” litigation cost awards from foreign countries in the state’s courts, dealing a blow to New Hampshire Insurance Co., which argued the costs were an uncollectible foreign tax.
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May 24, 2013
ING Gets 3 Bids For S. Korean Insurance Division
ING Groep NV has received offers for its South Korean life insurance division from a Korean life insurer and two private equity firms after a $2.1 billion deal for the unit fell apart late last year, ING said Friday.
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May 24, 2013
GOP Widens Probe Of HHS Insurer Fundraising For ACA
House Republicans on Friday ramped up their probe of whether the U.S. Health and Human Services Department strong-armed health insurance companies into bankrolling consumer outreach related to the Affordable Care Act, asking Aetna Inc., WellPoint Inc. and other insurers to detail the agency’s conduct.
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May 24, 2013
AIG Unit Dodges Some Empire Land Defense Costs
An American International Group Inc. affiliate doesn't have to pay $20 million more in defense costs to bankrupt land developer Empire Land LLC principals because of policy exclusions for related wrongful acts, a California federal judge ruled Thursday.
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May 24, 2013
Judge Trims Suit Blaming BB&T For Insurer's Takeover
A Florida federal judge Friday trimmed a suit brought by First Commercial Holdings Group Corp. accusing North Carolina bank Branch Banking & Trust Co. of misrepresenting the value of FCH's accounts at the bank, leading to regulators seizing FCH's insurance unit.
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May 24, 2013
Judge Admits To Goof, Reverses Chubb Duty-To-Defend Order
A Georgia federal judge on Wednesday admitted that he made a careless error when he declared that a Chubb Group unit must defend DS Waters of America Inc. against allegations that it illegally recorded customer calls.
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May 24, 2013
Insurer Escapes Coverage In $3.2M Katrina Hotel Damage Suit
A Louisiana federal judge on Thursday let Ace American Insurance Co. off the hook for $3.2 million in property damage the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans hotel sustained during Hurricane Katrina, ruling that the hotel's owner couldn't show that it was covered under its contractor's construction policy.
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May 24, 2013
Q&A With Nelson Levine's Susan Stead
Many of us are anxiously awaiting the Federal Insurance Office's report on the modernization of the insurance industry, which will be a roadmap for many changes in insurance regulation, says Susan Stead, leader of the insurance regulation practice at Nelson Levine de Luca & Hamilton LLP.
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May 23, 2013
GOP Bill Would Ease Rules On Health Savings Accounts
Republicans in both houses of Congress on Thursday introduced legislation to significantly loosen rules on tax-advantaged health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts, a push that comes as employers' increasing use of high-deductible health insurance plans makes such arrangements more common.
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May 23, 2013
Cigna Gets Heart Device Coverage Fight Sent To Arbitration
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Thursday dismissed a pair of cardiac telemetry makers' suit alleging Cigna Health Corp.'s decision to stop covering the device violates federal pension and unfair competition laws, finding the claims are subject to arbitration under each plaintiff's provider agreement with Cigna.
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May 23, 2013
8th Circ. Flips Axis Win In Coinsurance Penalty Dispute
The Eighth Circuit held Thursday that Axis Surplus Insurance Co. could not reduce property coverage by using replacement cost, instead of market value, to calculate coinsurance requirements, according to a published opinion that interprets standard policy language.
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May 23, 2013
Millennium Labs Drops Claims Over Kickback Suit Coverage
A California federal judge Tuesday approved a joint dismissal of Millennium Laboratories Inc.'s claims that two insurers wrongfully refused to pay for the company's defense in separate disputes with competitors that allegedly used kickbacks and confidential information to steal Millennium's customers.
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May 23, 2013
TCPA Damages Are Insurable, Ill. High Court Rules
Illinois’ highest court on Thursday ruled damages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act are not punitive, making them insurable under Illinois law, in reviving a bid for coverage from Standard Mutual Insurance Co. for a $1.7 million settlement in an underlying TCPA class action.
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May 23, 2013
Travelers Can't Duck $11.5M Construction Damage Coverage
A Colorado federal judge on Thursday refused to let Travelers Insurance Co. avoid covering a construction company's $11.5 million property damage settlement with a homeowner's association, ruling that Travelers could not show that the firm is an exempt commercial policyholder.
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May 23, 2013
LeClairRyan Adds Litchfield Cavo Finance, Bankruptcy Atty
LeClairRyan said Monday it has landed for its Boston office a Litchfield Cavo LLP commercial litigator who specializes in lender liability and insurance defense as well as bankruptcy matters.
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May 23, 2013
NY Lawmakers Advance Bill Barring Anti-Concurrent Clauses
The New York Assembly's insurance committee on Thursday approved legislation that would outlaw anti-concurrent causation clauses — policy language that wipes out coverage when losses have both covered and excluded causes — but amendments to soften the measure are likely in store, the committee chair told Law360.
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May 23, 2013
Grant Thornton Settles With Allianz In $1B Winstar Fraud Row
Affiliates of German insurer and financial services giant Allianz SE on Thursday settled their claims accusing accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP of helping to conceal a $1 billion revenue hole at now-bankrupt Internet company Winstar Communications Inc.
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May 23, 2013
Chubb, Insurance Agent Sued Over Yacht Club's Sandy Woes
Whacked by Superstorm Sandy, a New Jersey yacht club is accusing its insurance agent of failing to procure sufficient coverage and a Chubb Group company of improperly underpaying its claims and fraudulently selling an insurance program that was supposed to be the “Cadillac” of policies.
Expert Analysis
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NY Creates Tax Uncertainty For Unauthorized Life Insurers
In the past, surprisingly favorable tax treatment was afforded to life insurers that were not licensed to conduct business in New York but that owned real estate investments in the state. But following recent reinterpretation of New York Tax Law, some uncertainty has arisen with respect to how unauthorized life insurers should allocate income for franchise tax purposes, say attorneys with Duane Morris LLP.
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Calif.'s Subcontractor Defense Regime: Order Or Chaos?
With the enactment of Civil Code Section 2782.05, the California Legislature has created a new regime to govern a subcontractor's duty to defend a general contractor or construction manager on most nonresidential projects. While this new regime appears intended to benefit construction participants, its lack of guidance will likely result in disagreements and litigation among the participants, say attorneys with Jones Day.
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Ill.'s Unclear Endorsement For Asbestos-Injury Losses
The Illinois appellate court decision in John Crane Inc. v. Admiral Insurance Co. on joint and several liability of excess insurers covering asbestos-related injury claims left several questions unanswered — most importantly, regarding separate injury triggers and the "all sums with stacking" approach, say attorneys with Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP.
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Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream
The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
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The Evolution Of Ohio's Statute On Employer Tort Claims
With the recent change in Ohio law on employer intentional tort claims comes changes to the good faith obligations an insurance carrier owes to its insureds: In cases involving employer intentional tort claims, insurers may no longer select counsel. Rather, insureds have the right to select counsel with whom they have a preferred relationship and whom they trust, says Thomas Wyatt Palmer of Thompson Hine LLP.
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Know Your Risks Before Going Green In Construction
Although there are benefits to “going green” in the construction, development and operation of buildings, there are also risks unique to green building that will test the boundaries of coverage under typical liability insurance policies, say attorneys with Sedgwick LLP.
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Avoiding Bad Faith Liability Just Got More Difficult
For insurers in Florida, the Florida District Court of Appeal decision in Goheagan v. American Vehicle Insurance Co. is troublesome as it suggests that even the best claims-settlement practices may not completely shield an insurer from potential bad faith liability, says Kip Adams of Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP.
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How The Fed's Stress Test Rules Mitigate Systemic Risk
The savings and loan holding company regulatory regime established by the Dodd-Frank Act appears to be having the ultimate effect of reducing the number of SLHCs, especially those that are predominantly insurance enterprises, say attorneys with Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
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Past Its Prime: Weedo V. Stone-E-Brick
It is time for the New Jersey Supreme Court to take up again the construction-defect coverage issues first addressed in Weedo v. Stone-E-Brick Inc. and to update them for the post-1986 commercial general liability coverage of subcontractors’ faulty workmanship, says Carl Salisbury of Kilpatrick Townsend Stockton LLP.
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Calif. To Draw The Lines In Disparagement Liability
The California Supreme Court's upcoming decision in Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. v. Swift Distribution Inc. will resolve a hot debate about the scope of implied disparagement liability under California law, likely determining whether insurers must defend lawsuits involving allegations of intellectual property infringement, unfair competition and false advertising, says Tyler Gerking of Farella Braun & Martel LLP.