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Insurance
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May 20, 2013
Plan B Ruling Shouldn't Be Stayed, 2nd Circ. Told
Reproductive health advocates on Monday urged the Second Circuit not to delay a court order that Plan B and other emergency birth control pills be made available over the counter without age restrictions, saying a New York federal judge acted reasonably to address political obstructionism.
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May 20, 2013
Airlines May Launch 'Act Of War' Defense At 9/11 WTC Trial
The owner of the World Trade Center failed Monday to persuade a New York federal judge to prevent American Airlines Inc. and United Airlines Inc. from arguing that the 9/11 attacks were an "act of war" that they could not be held responsible for.
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May 20, 2013
11th Circ. Slashes Fla. Firm's Award In Condo Coverage Row
The Eleventh Circuit on Monday slashed a $3 million contingency fee awarded to Florida law firm Rosenbaum Mollengarden PLLC, whose equity partner was associated with two previous law firms throughout his representation of a Miami condominium association in an underlying insurance dispute.
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May 20, 2013
Lew Likely To Face Flak Over IRS, Not Financial Rules
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is scheduled to address potential risks to the financial system when he appears before Congress this week, but the growing scandal over the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups threatens to overshadow his eagerly anticipated faceoff with lawmakers over everything from systemically important financial institutions to money market fund reform.
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May 20, 2013
Kasowitz Opens LA Office With 2 Ex-Jenner & Block Pros
Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP opened the doors to a new office in Los Angeles on Monday with the addition of two well-regarded policyholder attorneys from Jenner & Block LLP: Jerold Oshinsky, the former co-chair of Jenner's insurance group, and Linda Kornfeld, who is now Kasowitz's managing partner in LA.
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May 20, 2013
Insurers Dodge Coverage Of $96M Libel Suits In 2nd Circ.
The Second Circuit on Monday let three insurers off the hook in two suits seeking coverage for a $96 million defamation action against First Advantage Litigation Consulting LLC, agreeing with a lower court that none of them had a duty to defend or indemnify First Advantage.
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May 20, 2013
Calif. Insurer Accused Of Bilking Policyholders
A California man claiming he is being shortchanged on his medical insurance benefits lodged a putative class action in state court accusing Unum Life Insurance Co. of America of denying an annual benefit increase guaranteed in its long-term care policies.
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May 20, 2013
HHS Adjusts Payments For Pre-Existing Condition Plan
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued an interim final rule Friday revamping payment rates for its Affordable Care Act-mandated pre-existing condition insurance plan, saying the program would otherwise run out of funding because of higher-than-expected costs.
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May 20, 2013
Squire Sanders Beats Hartford's Appeal Over $15M Legal Tab
A California appeals court held Friday that Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. could not sue Squire Sanders directly to win back some of the $15 million it paid the firm to independently defend J.R. Marketing LLC against claims that its founders stole business from a former employer.
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May 20, 2013
Q&A With Carlton Fields' Dave Leonard
In many states, most insurance law develops in cases involving lower-limit consumer policies. As a result, assumptions that courts may apply to consumer policies can affect the result in sophisticated cases, says Dave Leonard, a shareholder with Carlton Fields.
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May 17, 2013
Winston & Strawn Faces DQ Bid In Calif. City Bankruptcies
Citing an alleged conflict of interest, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System told a California federal judge on Friday that Winston & Strawn LLP should be disqualified from representing a creditor in the Chapter 9 bankruptcies of the cities of Stockton and San Bernardino.
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May 17, 2013
Penn. Insurance Exchange Leaders Want $300M Action Nixed
Directors of a company that runs the Erie Insurance Exchange urged a Pennsylvania federal court to toss a $300 million putative class action claiming they violated fiduciary duties to millions of exchange members, arguing that the dispute belongs before the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.
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May 17, 2013
ING Gave Morgan Stanley Kickbacks For 401(k) Biz, Suit Says
An Alabama medical laboratory filed a proposed class action in New York federal court on Friday alleging Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. encouraged the lab to use ING Life Insurance and Annuity Co. to administer its employees' 401(k) plan because ING paid the brokerage firm extra fees.
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May 17, 2013
Iowa Court Blocks Insurer Caps On Unreimbursed Dental Care
The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday ruled that insurers in the state can’t limit the maximum fee charged by a dentist for a service generally included in a dental plan but not reimbursed because of a plan restriction, overturning a decision by the state’s insurance commissioner.
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May 17, 2013
Hartford Sanctioned Again In Fight With Medical Center
Hartford Fire Insurance Co. was sanctioned Thursday for repeatedly misrepresenting to an Indiana federal court that it had turned over all of the documents that Illiana Surgery and Medical Center LLC requested in a coverage suit that arose after someone deleted valuable data from the hospital's computer system.
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May 17, 2013
GSK Says Comcast Ruling Kills Avandia Injury Class Action
GlaxoSmithKline PLC on Friday urged a Pennsylvania federal judge to reject two Humana Inc. units’ bid for class certification over costs borne by the insurers for treating Medicare patients harmed by the drug Avandia, contending that it is barred by the Supreme Court’s recent Comcast decision.
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May 17, 2013
Citibank Asks Judge To Toss Reinsurance Fraud Class Action
Citibank NA on Thursday urged a Pennsylvania federal judge to toss a putative class action alleging it schemed with private mortgage insurers to push fraudulent reinsurance on home mortgages, saying homeowners waited too long to sue under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.
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May 17, 2013
Secure Energy Loses D&O Coverage For $4M Suit After Delay
A Missouri federal court ruled Wednesday that Secure Energy Inc. could not win coverage under directors and officers policies for a $3.8 million breach of contract suit because it waited too long to report the claim, holding that it was irrelevant whether the late notice actually prejudiced the insurer.
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May 17, 2013
Highmark Says Policyholders Can't Seek Antitrust Damages
Highmark Inc. on Friday again asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to toss an antitrust class action in which health insurance buyers accuse it of conspiring to stifle competition and inflate rates, arguing that the rates were approved by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.
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May 17, 2013
Q&A With Lydecker Diaz's Mark Hendricks
The desire to find other sources of money to satisfy large judgments has caused an increase in professional liability claims against attorneys in their handling of claims for insureds and carriers, says Mark Hendricks, a managing partner with Lydecker Diaz.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Don't Underestimate The Power Of FIO
The importance of the Federal Insurance office should not be underestimated. In order to understand why, one has to examine how the regulation of the insurance business actually operates and what forces are driving the U.S. regulatory agenda, says Skip Myers of Morris Manning & Martin LLP.
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Insights From An Under-The-Radar CDO Case
A case that seems to have gone relatively unnoticed is ASR Levensverzekering NV v. Swiss Re Financial Products Corporation. Dismissed by the New York Supreme Court, the case provides useful insights into the application of New York fraud and contract law in the context of complex financial transactions, say James Bliss and Kevin Broughel of Paul Hastings LLP.