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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • September 05, 2025

    Settlement Reached In Reinsurance Dispute Over Sex Abuse Lawsuit Settlements

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge dismissed a case over reimbursement for the defense and settlement of underlying suits that alleged sexual abuse and struck a pending motion for summary judgment after a reinsurer and an interlocal cooperative notified the court that they had  reached a settlement.

  • September 03, 2025

    Reinsurer Claims Guaranty Terms Are ‘Unconditional’ In Suit Dismissal Opposition

    NEW YORK — A reinsurer opposes a Florida businessman’s motion to dismiss its breach of contract suit in a New York federal court centered on a personal guaranty of a defaulted $34.4 million loan, contending that the guaranty is “absolute and unconditional” and that repayment cannot be evaded because the dismissal arguments for lack of consideration and a violation of the statute of frauds are foreclosed by the guaranty’s language.

  • September 03, 2025

    Dismissal Recommended In Putative Class Suit Challenging PRTs With Athene

    BOSTON — The tally on dismissal motions in a wave of putative class actions retirees have filed over pension risk transfers (PRTs) would stand at two granted, one denied if the recommendation of a Massachusetts federal magistrate judge were taken; among other things, the retirees allege that the use of offshore captive reinsurers makes annuity providers riskier.

  • August 28, 2025

    Discovery Stay Sought Pending Dismissal Rulings In Captive Pool Restructuring Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The defendants in three related cases concerning a disputed captive reinsurance pool seek a stay of discovery in the Delaware Chancery Court pending the resolution of motions to dismiss the complaints, arguing that the pool’s regulatory unwinding already provided the primary relief sought and thus rendered most of the plaintiffs’ claims and pending discovery requests moot.

  • August 28, 2025

    5th Circuit: Reinsurer’s Late Notice Of Litigation Constitutes Prejudice

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a Texas federal court’s ruling in a reinsurer’s appeal of a $2,866,423.97 judgment that includes attorney fees, ruling that an insurer’s months-late notice of its involvement in underlying class action litigation constituted a material breach of its quota share treaty with the reinsurer and violated the contract’s notice provision, depriving the reinsurer of its right to participate in the defense and establishing prejudice as a matter of law.

  • August 28, 2025

    Processor Seeks Oral Argument In Challenge To Reinsurer’s Arbitration Award

    NEW YORK — A food processing company asked a New York federal judge to schedule oral argument on its petition to vacate portions of an arbitration award granted to a reinsurer, as well as the reinsurer’s cross-motion to confirm the award, related to a poultry rendering facility fire and subsequent reinsurance dispute.

  • August 25, 2025

    Discovery, Summary Judgment Rulings Vacated In Securities Row Against Reinsurer

    PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a lower court’s discovery and summary judgment rulings in investors’ suit against a reinsurer and three former executives over allegations that they violated federal securities laws by omitting historical loss ratios from loss reserves disclosures, finding those omitted historical loss ratios to be material and that discovery had not been completed.

  • August 21, 2025

    Notice Of Compensation Hearing Issued In Insurance Magnate Money Laundering Case

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. —  In a docket-only entry, a North Carolina federal court issued a notice advising of a hearing on a court-appointed special master’s motion seeking to approve compensation for him and his advisers in a case in which insurance magnate Greg Lindberg 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.

  • August 20, 2025

    Farmers’ Extracontractual Damages Claim Amended To Dismissal Without Prejudice

    COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge partially granted farmers’ motion for reconsideration of a September 2024 ruling dismissing their claim for extracontractual damages against a crop insurer, amending the dismissal of the claim to be without prejudice, citing a related pending case against federal regulators that could potentially invalidate the rationale for the original dismissal.

  • August 20, 2025

    Stay Of Proceedings Granted In Reinsurance Dispute To Reach Settlement Agreement

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge granted a motion to stay proceedings for 30 days after the parties informed the court in their motion that they have “gained momentum” toward reaching a settlement in a case centered on allegations that an insurer withheld owed funds from a reinsurer.

  • August 19, 2025

    Producer’s Reconsideration Bid On Discovery Limits Denied In Cleanup Cost Row

    PADUCAH, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge denied a ferrosilicon producer’s motion to reconsider a prior ruling that limited the scope of the producer’s issued deposition topics, holding that the producer’s objections were largely repetitions of prior arguments already considered and addressed by the court and that claims-handling discovery is inappropriate at the current stage of litigation, which is centered on a reinsurance contract in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs.

  • August 19, 2025

    Insurer Seeks Reconsideration In Suit Over Forced Deal Involving Reinsurer

    NEW YORK — An insurer argues in a New York federal court that reconsideration of dismissal of its federal securities law claims is warranted because the court overlooked laws and facts and disregarded allegations that misrepresentations and transactional conduct tied to the insurer’s compelled April 2024 purchase of the equity of reinsurer JRG Reinsurance Co. Ltd. occurred domestically.

  • August 18, 2025

    Discovery Stay Denied In Suit Between Insurer, Ex-CEO Over Legal Bills Dispute

    DALLAS — A Texas federal judge denied a motion to stay discovery pending resolution of a former insurance CEO’s motions for partial summary judgment on advancement of incurred legal fees and dismissal of his former employer’s counterclaims, stating that “neither the breadth nor the burden of discovery warrants a stay” in the case, which is centered on allegations that the former CEO manipulated the insurer’s claims reserves, resulting in financial losses from a terminated loss portfolio transfer (LPT) reinsurance contract.

  • August 13, 2025

    Preliminary Approval Of Class Settlement, Certification Granted In RESPA Suit

    FRESNO, Calif. — A federal judge in California preliminarily granted approval of a class action settlement and conditional class certification in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) case, authorizing class members to receive $875 in cash compensation per affected loan with an estimated gross settlement award totaling $30.5 million.

  • August 13, 2025

    Recognition Doctrine Decision Spurs Supplemental Briefs In Oil Seizure Row

    NEW YORK — A collection of reinsurers disputing whether the 2020 seizure of crude oil at a Venezuelan port arose from an “insurrection” as defined in its marine cargo reinsurance contract with CITGO Petroleum Corp. filed a supplemental brief in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals citing a decision in an analogous case, arguing that it supports their claim that the recognition doctrine should not have been used to grant partial summary judgment to CITGO on the insurrection element; CITGO responded that the case is distinguishable because it was “limited by the New York Convention, which does not apply here” and maintains that the summary judgment should stand.

  • August 12, 2025

    Amici Support 4th Circuit Review Bid Re Standing Ruling In Lawsuit Over PRT

    RICHMOND, Va. — A petition for permission to file an interlocutory appeal to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals regarding a ruling that retirees had standing to file a putative class lawsuit that is part of a much-watched recent string of Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) is unopposed and has garnered two supporting briefs from amici curiae; among other things, the retirees allege that the use of offshore captive reinsurers makes annuity providers riskier.

  • August 12, 2025

    Tax Firm Asks Texas Federal Court To Compel IRS To File Administrative Record

    DALLAS — A tax consulting firm moved to compel the filing of the administrative record in its challenge to an Internal Revenue Service final rule on certain microcaptive insurance arrangements, arguing that he agency raised arguments in its dismissal motion that cannot be resolved without the record and has not provided satisfactory reason for withholding the record despite producing it in a related case involving the same rule.

  • August 11, 2025

    Liquidated Reinsurer, Insurer Terminate Trust Agreement, Resolve Unpaid Claims

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Chancery Court approved a stipulation between the receiver for a stock reinsurance company and a life insurer, authorizing the liquidation of a trust account and the distribution of up to $8,562,944 to satisfy claims asserted under a reinsurance agreement.

  • August 11, 2025

    Judge Refuses To Dismiss Chemical Company’s Coverage Suit Arising From Explosion

    BEAUMONT, Texas — A federal judge in Texas denied an insurer’s motion to dismiss a sustainable chemical company’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking to obtain coverage for the full value of its business interruption loss caused by an explosion at a Texas plant, finding that the company sufficiently pleaded a right to sue the insurer “based on an implied agreement outside the Reinsurance Agreement.”

  • August 08, 2025

    General Agent’s Bid For Reconsideration Fails, But Insurer’s LUTPA Claim Tossed

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge denied a managing general agent’s (MGA) motion to reconsider the dismissal of its counterclaim in a case centered on a disputed fronting agreement, holding that the motion “essentially rehashes the core argument the Court considered and rejected in its order and reasons,” but granted the MGA’s alternative motion for partial judgment on the pleadings and dismissed a life insurer’s claim that the MGA violated Louisiana law.

  • August 08, 2025

    Suit Against Captive Insurer, Other Entities Voluntarily Dismissed, Terminated

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge terminated a case involving a risk retention group (RRG) and three entities it sued for breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and tortious interference with business relations after the parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal.

  • August 06, 2025

    Insurer, Ex-CEO Seek Discovery Stay In Suit Over Alleged Claims Reserve Scheme

    DALLAS — A delisted insurer and its former CEO asked a Texas federal court to stay discovery pending resolution of the former CEO’s motions for partial summary judgment on advancement of incurred legal fees and dismissal of the insurer’s counterclaims, claiming that the decisions could alter the scope of discovery in a case centered on allegations that the former CEO manipulated the insurer’s claims reserves, resulting in financial losses from a terminated loss portfolio transfer (LPT) reinsurance contract.

  • August 06, 2025

    Vesttoo-Related Fraud Actions Consolidated For Discovery, Pretrial Proceedings

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge ordered the consolidation of a third case similar to two other previously consolidated cases that involve alleged fraud tied to the collapse of nonparty Vesttoo Ltd., directing that discovery and pretrial proceedings be coordinated after the parties in the third case consented to consolidation and to deferring briefing schedules on pending motions to dismiss.

  • August 05, 2025

    Parties Ordered To Submit Briefing Schedule In SEC Fraud Row With Insurance Mogul

    WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — After reviewing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s status report, a North Carolina federal judge on Aug. 4 issued a docket-only order advising the parties to submit a briefing schedule within 10 business days of insurance mogul Greg Lindberg or a co-defendant being sentenced in related criminal proceedings to the SEC’s suit alleging that Lindberg, his advisory services company and its former executive defrauded clients of more than $75 million.

  • July 31, 2025

    Expedited Proceedings Vacated In Reinsurance Dispute After Regulatory Disapproval

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware state vice chancellor vacated a prior order for expedited proceedings, finding that the risk of irreparable harm that justified expedition in April no longer exists after North Carolina regulators denied approval of disputed transactions involving an alleged illegal reorganization that transferred policies from a pool with more than $1 billion in assets to a new, unrated insurer with limited capitalization.