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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • 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

    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 21, 2025

    Insurer, Reinsurer Reach Resolution Agreement In Indemnification Row

    NEW YORK — A dispute in a federal court in New York over indemnification between an insurer and a reinsurer stemming from clash reinsurance treaties tied to a $200 million settlement of sexual abuse claims is poised for out-of-court resolution according to a status letter filed by the reinsurer.

  • February 20, 2025

    Consolidation Bid Disputed In Case That Arose From Fronting Arrangement Deal

    NEW ORLEANS — Parties in a case arising from a fronting arrangement are disputing a motion to consolidate, with a managing general agent (MGA) arguing in a reply brief that the Louisiana federal court should focus on “the integrated nature of the transactions and agreements at issue” and that consolidation would “promote judicial economy.”

  • February 20, 2025

    Ex-CEO’s Legal Bills Case Draws Fiduciary Breach, Concealment Counterclaims

    DALLAS — Filing counterclaims against its former CEO in Texas federal court, a delisted insurer that says its shares are now “essentially worthless” alleges that his purported “scheme to doctor the claims reserves in the commercial auto line was a significant factor in” losses connected to termination of a loss portfolio transfer (LPT) reinsurance contract.

  • February 20, 2025

    United States Petition Seeks Tennessee Microcaptive Insurance Records

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The United States filed a petition in a federal court in Tennessee, seeking to compel the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) to turn over tax documents requested by the Internal Revenue Service as part of an ongoing investigation into microcaptive insurance companies and potential tax evasion.

  • February 19, 2025

    Insurer, Captive Reinsurer Prevail In Appeal Of South Carolina Regulator’s Order

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — Saying that “the evidence relied upon by the Director was unreliable, unsupported, and contrary to law,” a South Carolina Administrative Law Court judge permanently enjoined the South Carolina Department of Insurance (SCDOI) from enforcing an order “until a final decision is issued by the [SDCOI] in this matter”; the order directed Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Co. (ACL) and ACL’s captive reinsurer, Southern Atlantic Re Inc. (SAR), to stop writing new business by the end of 2024, among other things.

  • February 19, 2025

    Loan Repayment Case Stayed In Dispute Between Malta-Based Company And Insurer

    RALEIGH, N.C. —  A North Carolina federal judge granted a Malta-based company’s unopposed motion to stay a breach of contract case a now-insolvent insurer filed against it for the company’s alleged failure to make payments on a loan.

  • February 18, 2025

    Magistrate Orders Another Attempt To Resolve Discovery Row In Breach Lawsuit

    FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge ordered parties to “confer and make a good-faith effort to resolve” a discovery dispute that is the subject of a motion to compel in four reinsurers’ consolidated lawsuits against National Transportation Associates Inc. (NTA) over allegations of inflated provisional commissions and breach of various agreements.

  • February 13, 2025

    Discovery Facilitator Named In Delaware Suit Over Alleged Asset Dissipation

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A discovery facilitator has been appointed in a Delaware Chancery Court case concerning the “Agera transactions” — a complex asset-swap arrangement that the plaintiffs allege resulted in the “dissipation of at least $250 million.”

  • February 13, 2025

    Reinsurer, General Agent Dispute Reporting Requirements In Breach Of Contract Suit

    FORT WORTH, Texas — Whether a general agent had to report certain developments to a reinsurer or just to the insurer in a dispute that resulted in a multimillion-dollar personal injury judgment is the focus of partial summary judgment briefing in the reinsurer’s breach of contract suit against the general agent in Texas federal court.

  • February 12, 2025

    Government: Cases In ACA Reinsurance Dispute Were Properly Ruled Untimely

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing that U.S. Supreme Court precedents foreclose equitable tolling of the statute of limitations in Tucker Act class actions, the U.S. government urged the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a ruling that group health plans’ consolidated cases challenging exactions made under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) were untimely.

  • February 11, 2025

    Hawaii High Court Answers Questions On Subrogation Issues For Wildfire Settlement

    HONOLULU — The Hawaii Supreme Court on Feb. 10 answered three reserved questions on how the subrogation rights of property and casualty insurance carriers bear on a proposed global settlement of claims related to the August 2023 Maui wildfires, remanding the case to the Second Circuit Court of Hawaii.

  • February 11, 2025

    Reinsurer Voluntarily Dismisses Suit Concerning Alleged Claims Mishandling

    BILLINGS, Mont. — A Bermuda-based reinsurer that sought declaratory judgment and damages for claims that it alleged were mishandled and misallocated has filed a notice of dismissal without prejudice in Montana federal court regarding its suit against an insurer and third-party administrator (TPA).

  • February 11, 2025

    Proposed Deal Reported In SEC Fraud Action Against Former Brazilian Exec

    NEW YORK — Parties in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action against the former senior executive of a Brazilian reinsurance company announced an unspecified agreement in principle to settle the case, telling a New York federal court that a determination on whether the SEC commissioners “will accept the settlement offer can take several months.”

  • February 07, 2025

    Jurisdiction Issue Triggers Amended Complaint In Row Involving Legionnaires’

    DETROIT — At the direction of a Michigan federal judge who said the initial pleading didn’t adequately show diversity of citizenship, a captive insurer filed an amended complaint over claims concerning Legionnaires’ disease, alleging breach of a reinsurance agreement and seeking declaratory judgment.

  • February 05, 2025

    Reinsurer Wins Dismissal Of $844M Suit To Enforce Consent Judgments

    MIAMI — A reinsurer won dismissal with prejudice of a case that sought to enforce approximately $844 million in consent judgments entered against an airline in connection with a 2016 plane crash, with a Florida judge ruling in part that “Florida law narrowly restricts the circumstances in which an insured can ever directly pursue claims against a reinsurer to facts that are not alleged here.”

  • February 05, 2025

    5th Circuit Appeal In Crop Insurance Case Abated On Report Of Deal

    NEW ORLEANS — Days before scheduled oral argument in an appeal concerning federally reinsured crop insurance, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), statutes of limitations, tolling and estoppel, the parties reported an agreement to resolve their dispute; the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals then granted their joint motion to waive oral argument and abate the appeal for 60 days.

  • February 05, 2025

    Canadian Court Affirms Retrocessionaire’s Loss In ‘Follow Settlements’ Dispute

    TORONTO — The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal concerning a retrocession agreement’s “follow settlements” clause in a dispute over settlement of a business interruption claim, letting stand a trial court’s September 2023 ruling for a fronting reinsurer.

  • February 03, 2025

    Judge Addresses Exclusion, Summary Judgment Bids In Long-Running RESPA Suit

    FRESNO, Calif. — Under Jan. 31 orders that a judge sitting by designation in California federal court issued, a combined Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. hearing and bench trial on economic harm will be the next development in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) class action involving captive reinsurance agreements.

  • January 30, 2025

    Judge Appoints Special Master In Insurance Magnate’s Money Laundering Case

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge appointed a special master to assist with restitution that is part of a plea agreement entered into by insurance magnate Greg Lindberg, the former owner of now-insolvent insurers, who 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.

  • January 29, 2025

    Claims Dismissed In Coverage Suit Over Alleged Allision Upon Settlement Report

    NEW ORLEANS — Upon a report of a confidential settlement, a Louisiana federal judge dismissed all claims without prejudice in a coverage dispute over an alleged April 2022 allision; the dismissal followed wrangling over third-party direct action claims against reinsurers and associated discovery disputes.

  • January 29, 2025

    Repair Company’s Summary Judgment Bid Fails In Suit Over Fatal Plane Crash

    TOLEDO, Ohio — Denying summary judgment in a suit that four reinsurers filed against an overhaul and repair company over a fatal November 2019 aircraft crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an Ohio federal judge ruled that “genuine disputes of material facts related to the timeliness of the action and the potential damages . . . are for a jury to decide.”

  • January 28, 2025

    Pari Passu Advocated By Policyholders Seeking To Intervene In Rehabilitation

    HARTFORD, Conn. — A second motion to intervene has been filed in the Connecticut state court rehabilitation proceeding of life insurer PHL Variable Insurance Co. and the subsidiaries that reinsure its liabilities, this one by two policyholders who say their policies are worth millions and want a moratorium order to be modified to pay death benefits on a pari passu basis instead of capping such benefits at $300,000.

  • January 28, 2025

    Reinsurer To 6th Circuit: Arbitration Awards Can Be Basis For Collateral Estoppel

    CINCINNATI — Arguing in part that “judicial review of arbitration awards is still available under the Federal Arbitration Act,” a reinsurer urged the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a ruling that collateral estoppel applies to a defense costs dispute concerning asbestos lawsuits.