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Mealey's Insurance Insolvency

  • March 27, 2025

    Policy Owners Ask Connecticut Court To Affirm Setoff Rights In Rehabilitation Row

    HARTFORD, Conn. — Asset managers holding matured insurance policies filed a memorandum requesting that a Connecticut state court affirm that policy owners may apply unpaid death benefit claims as setoffs against ongoing premium obligations during a life insurer’s rehabilitation, arguing that such rights are mandated under state and common law; in a response filed two weeks later, the rehabilitator argues that that stance is “meritless.”

  • March 27, 2025

    Extended Report Response Time Granted In Insurance Magnate Money Laundering Case

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge granted insurance magnate Greg Lindberg’s motion for an extension to file objections to a presentence investigation report after he 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.

  • March 26, 2025

    Report Adopted, Dismissal Denied In $300M Class Ponzi Suit Against Wells Fargo

    MIAMI — Agreeing with a magistrate judge’s “well-reasoned findings,” a Florida federal judge adopted the magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and denied Wells Fargo’s dismissal motion in a putative class action alleging that Wells Fargo aided and abetted fraud in a “massive” Ponzi scheme purportedly orchestrated by owners of insurers, some of which are now in receivership, resulting in elderly investor victims losing more than $300 million after scheme operators sold them promissory notes secured by collateral in stranger-oriented life insurance policies (STOLIs).

  • March 25, 2025

    Judge Authorizes Payment Of Over $126K For Fees, Expenses In Insurer Bankruptcy

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy court judge granted an application for compensation and reimbursement to a trustee’s legal counsel in an insolvent insurer’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding, authorizing the trustee to pay his counsel $126,307.16, which includes $125,438 in compensation.

  • March 25, 2025

    Parties: Settlement Reached In Guaranty Association Repayment Obligation Row

    RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Insurance Guaranty Association  (NCIGA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), its secretary and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) advised a North Carolina federal court that they have reached a settlement in the NCIGA’s suit seeking a determination that the NCIGA is not a primary plan required to reimburse DHHS and CMS under the federal Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) statute.

  • March 19, 2025

    Panel Affirms Order To Enforce $18,000 Settlement Against Guaranty Association

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Without explanation, a Florida appellate court affirmed a lower court order granting a homeowner’s motion to enforce a remaining $18,000 settlement against the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA), which was substituted as a defendant in the homeowner’s breach of contract suit against his insurer in receivership after the homeowner purportedly executed a release approved by the insurer.

  • March 18, 2025

    Oral Argument Sought In Challenge To Rehab Plan For Workers’ Comp Insurer

    SAN FRANCISCO — Both parties have requested oral argument in the First District California Court of Appeal in a workers’ compensation insurance carrier’s challenge to a nonconsensual rehabilitation plan that was approved as part of conservation proceedings brought by California’s insurance regulator and includes resolution of dozens of reinsurance participation agreement (RPA) lawsuits.

  • March 18, 2025

    Insurance Mogul Ordered To ‘Pay Disgorgement’ In SEC Fraud Suit Against Him

    WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge entered judgment against insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, a former owner of insurers in liquidation and rehabilitation, requiring him to “pay disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and prejudgment” in response to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s motion for judgment, with Lindberg’s consent, in its suit alleging that he, his advisory services company and its former executive defrauded clients of more than $75 million.

  • March 14, 2025

    South Carolina Regulator Loses Reconsideration Bid In Administrative Law Court

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina Administrative Law Court judge has allowed the continued operation of Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Co. (ACL) and ACL’s captive reinsurer, Southern Atlantic Re Inc. (SAR), by rejecting a request to reconsider an earlier order.

  • March 12, 2025

    Split Louisiana Appeals Court Affirms Denial In Guaranty Association Coverage Row

    NEW ORLEANS — A split Louisiana appellate court on March 11 granted the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association’s (LIGA) application for supervisory writ seeking review of a lower court ruling denying LIGA’s exception of prescription in homeowners’ insurance coverage dispute over purported damages from Hurricane Ida but denied relief, finding that the lower court correctly denied LIGA’s exception of prescription because “the order of insolvency triggered the relevant prescriptive period.”

  • March 07, 2025

    Notice Of Canceled Mediation Filed In Windstorm Damage Insurance Dispute

    SARASOTA, Fla. — A mediator filed a notice in a Florida state court advising that a mediation conference has been canceled in a homeowner’s wind damage coverage suit against the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) in which the homeowner asserts that FIGA was automatically substituted for her now-insolvent homeowners insurer upon the insurer’s insolvency.

  • March 07, 2025

    Insurance Mogul Files Response To Summary Judgment In SEC Fraud Suit Against Him

    WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, a former owner of insurers in liquidation and rehabilitation, filed in a North Carolina federal court a response to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s motion for summary judgment in its suit alleging that he, his advisory services company and its former executive defrauded clients of more than $75 million.

  • March 06, 2025

    Del. Chancery Court Approves Stipulation Resolving Reinsurance Agreement Dispute

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Chancery Court approved a stipulation between the receiver for a stock reinsurance company and a life insurance company, allowing the receiver to liquidate at least $58.4 million from a trust account and to distribute at least $49.6 million to the life insurance company.

  • March 05, 2025

    Panel Affirms Judgment For Mortgagee In Hurricane Coverage Row Involving Builder

    GRETNA, La. — A Louisiana appellate court affirmed a lower court’s ruling granting summary judgment to a mortgagee in a builder’s suit seeking payment for repairs made on the mortgagor’s home for Hurricane Ida damage after the homeowner’s now-insolvent insurer allegedly approved the builder’s proposal, finding that the criminal statute at issue in the suit does not create a duty by the mortgagee regarding payment to the borrower’s contractors.

  • March 04, 2025

    Rehabilitator Consents To Intervention To Resolve Setoff Rights Dispute

    HARTFORD, Conn. — The rehabilitator of life insurance company PHL Variable Insurance Co. and various subsidiaries that reinsured its liabilities reached a stipulated agreement allowing a trio of asset managers to intervene in the Connecticut action so that the court can determine setoff rights.

  • March 04, 2025

    Reinsurer Answers Liquidator Assignee’s Breach Of Contract Counterclaim

    NEW YORK— A London-based reinsurer has filed an answer in a federal court in New York to a breach of contact counterclaim brought by the assignee of the liquidator of an insolvent insurer concerning decades-old asbestos claims; the counterclaim was brought by the assignee after the reinsurer successfully petitioned for a stay of arbitration.

  • February 26, 2025

    Homeowner Sues Florida Insurance Guaranty Association To Recover For Water Damage

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Seeking coverage for alleged water damage to his home, a Florida homeowner filed a breach of contract suit in a Florida state court against the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) as the purported statutory guarantor for his now-insolvent homeowners insurer, United Property & Casualty Insurance Co.

  • February 26, 2025

    4th Circuit Approves Attorney Fees After Not Reviewing Black Lung Benefits Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals approved an award of $6,200 in attorney fees to a former employee of a coal mine operator for whom an administrative law judge (ALJ) issued an order requiring the operator to pay black lung benefits to him.

  • February 26, 2025

    Hail Damage Suit Against Insolvent Insurer Set For Dismissal Docket In Texas Court

    GALVESTON, Texas — A court administrator filed a notice in a Texas state court placing on the dismissal docket a homeowner’s breach of contract suit against a now-insolvent insurer over its purported failure to cover hail damage.

  • February 25, 2025

    Attorneys, Firm Get OK To Dismiss Appeal Of Civil Contempt Order

    NEW YORK — Voluntary dismissal of an appeal of a civil contempt order was granted in a Feb. 24 opinion issued by a New York federal judge; the bankruptcy court ruling at issue arose in an adversary proceeding in the liquidation of Bermuda insurer and reinsurer PB Life and Annuity Co. Ltd. (PBLA) and other debtors.

  • February 25, 2025

    Show Cause Order Issued For Auto Accident Settlement Involving Inactive Insurer

    POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — A New York state justice issued a show cause order regarding a petition for court approval of a settlement for injuries sustained by a child of an insured in an auto accident, for which a $30,000 settlement offer was made by the insurer pursuant to an underinsurance claim.

  • February 21, 2025

    Magistrate Restricts Access In Asbestos Coverage Dispute Involving Insolvent Insurer

    OMAHA, Neb. — A Nebraska federal magistrate judge granted a motion filed by National Indemnity Co. (NICO) to restrict access to documents containing expert reports in its suit seeking to enforce obligations by defendants it calls reinsurers — one of which is now insolvent — for liability NICO incurred related to claims for asbestos exposure.

  • February 21, 2025

    Status Report Filed In 1st Circuit By Puerto Rico Insurance Commissioner

    BOSTON — In status report filed in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Puerto Rico insurance commissioner and the auxiliary rehabilitator of a health insurer informed the court that a court hearing a case under Title III of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act is currently considering an objection filed by Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board opposing requests by two plaintiffs in related cases before a Puerto Rico federal court asking the Title III court to allow their cases to proceed to trial.

  • February 21, 2025

    Legal Counsel Seeks Over $126K For Fees And Expenses In Insurer Bankruptcy Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Legal counsel for a trustee for estates in an insolvent insurer’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding filed an application in Delaware federal bankruptcy court seeking compensation and reimbursement of expenses for a total of $126,307.16.

  • February 20, 2025

    Guaranty Association Agrees To Inspection Of Homeowner’s Wind Damaged Property

    BARTOW, Fla. — The Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) filed a notice in a Florida state court agreeing to an inspection of property purportedly damaged in a windstorm in a homeowner’s suit asserting that FIGA, as the alleged statutory obligor for his now-insolvent homeowners insurer, breached its obligations under state law by failing to adequately compensate the insured for his loss.