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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • 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.

  • July 30, 2025

    Oral Argument On Motion To Compel Set In Case Centered On Fronting Arrangement

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal magistrate judge scheduled oral argument for Aug. 20 on a managing general agent (MGA)’s motion to compel in litigation concerning a disputed fronting agreement involving it and an insurer; the magistrate judge also dismissed as moot the insurer’s motions to quash and expedite discovery proceedings because both parties were ordered to “meet and confer to schedule the depositions for August 2025.”

  • July 28, 2025

    U.S. Tax Court Clarifies, Maintains Ruling In Favor Of IRS In Microcaptive Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Stating that “the Court failed to fully clarify two important issues” in a March opinion, a U.S. Tax Court judge issued a supplemental memorandum opinion in a consolidated case maintaining that a purported captive insurance arrangement could not exclude premiums from income during the 2015 and 2016 tax years because it is not considered insurance and that it must recognize $781,977 in income for the 2015 tax year because the provisions allowing deferral of unearned premiums do not apply to entities that are not insurance companies.

  • July 28, 2025

    Financer Appeals Intervention Denial To 7th Circuit In Reinsurance Dispute

    CHICAGO — A vehicle service contract financer appealed to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after an Illinois federal judge denied its motion to intervene in a reinsurance dispute between an insurer and reinsurer, with the judge saying the financer lacked a “legally protectable interest to intervene as of right” and was not a necessary party to the litigation, which it sought to dismiss.

  • July 25, 2025

    Calif. Judge Grants Commissioner’s Demurrer As To 2 Claims In Pass-Through Row

    LOS ANGELES — Holding that California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara acted within his authority to issue property insurance pass-throughs but determining that exhausting administrative remedies was not necessary for judicial review, a California judge partially sustained and partially overruled Lara’s demurrer in response to a consumer research and advocacy organization’s complaint that accused Lara of issuing two unlawful insurance bulletins that authorize member insurers of the California FAIR Plan to recoup assessments from policyholders.

  • July 25, 2025

    5th Circuit Affirms Ruling For IRS In Tax Row Over Purported Microcaptives

    NEW ORLEANS — Upholding a ruling for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in a federal tax dispute over purported microcaptive insurance arrangements, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals interpreted part of the Internal Revenue Code “to determine when supervisory approval was required, an issue of first impression in this circuit.”

  • July 24, 2025

    California Court OKs Publishing Ruling Re Rehab Plan For Workers’ Comp Insurer

    SAN FRANCISCO — The First District California Court of Appeal on July 23 granted a request for publication of an initially unpublished opinion upholding a nonconsensual rehabilitation plan for a workers’ compensation insurance carrier; the plan was approved as part of conservation proceedings brought by California’s insurance regulator and includes options to resolve dozens of reinsurance participation agreement (RPA) lawsuits.

  • July 24, 2025

    Vendor Dismisses Insurer From Breach Of Contract Claim; 1 Defendant Remains

    NEW YORK — The plaintiffs in dispute involving reinsurance and a warehouse in Afghanistan filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in a federal court in New York, dismissing its breach of contract claim against an insurer; the dismissal is without prejudice with each party to bear their own attorney fees and costs.

  • July 23, 2025

    PHL Rehabilitator Requests Moratorium Order Modification, Cites ‘Financial Strain’

    WATERBURY. Conn. — Stating that a moratorium order that affects payments of benefits or investment obligations for policies issued by PHL Variable Insurance Co. “may present financial strain on certain policyholders,” the insurer’s rehabilitator filed a motion on July 22 to modify the order in a Connecticut court, seeking to allow eligible holders of nonvariable universal life policies alternative options for the full cost of insurance or premium charges, and enable fixed indexed annuity holders to access part of their account value.

  • July 23, 2025

    Judge Orders Disposition Of Proceeds In Insurance Magnate Money Laundering Case

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on July 22 approved a consent motion filed by a court-appointed special master to dispose of the proceeds from the sale of Irish software companies 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.

  • July 23, 2025

    Interlocutory Appeal Certified On Standing In PRT Case That Survived Dismissal

    GREENBELT, Md. — Part of a key ruling in 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 headed to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after a Maryland federal judge on July 22 granted an opposed motion to certify for interlocutory appeal.

  • July 23, 2025

    Federal Judge Dismisses Purchaser’s Suit Over Forced Deal Involving Reinsurer

    NEW YORK — Finding in part that a claim asserted under the Securities Exchange Act “may be domestic but is so predominantly foreign as to be extraterritorial,” a New York federal judge dismissed federal securities claims with prejudice and declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over state fraud and breach of contract claims in an insurer’s suit over its forced April 2024 purchase of the equity of reinsurer JRG Reinsurance Co. Ltd.

  • July 22, 2025

    Businessman Argues Guaranty Is Void, Moves To Dismiss Breach Of Contract Suit

    NEW YORK — A Florida businessman seeks dismissal in a federal court in New York of a  reinsurer’s breach of contract complaint relating to a personal guaranty agreement on a defaulted $34.4 million loan, arguing that the guaranty lacks consideration and violates the statute of frauds, qualifying the agreement as a “gratuitous promise” and rendering it unenforceable.

  • July 18, 2025

    Government Seeks Dismissal Of Captive Insurance Refund Dispute For Improper Venue

    TULSA, Okla. — Arguing that the action was filed in an improper judicial circuit and inconsistent with principal place of business evidence, the U.S. government moved to dismiss a complaint filed in a federal court in Oklahoma by the owners of a steel building manufacturer who claim that the Internal Revenue Service improperly disallowed a legitimate business expense related to a captive reinsurance arrangement.