Mealey's Reinsurance : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Reinsurance

August 27, 2024
Only Direct Claim Survives Dismissal Bids In Lawsuit Over Asbestos Judgment

NEW YORK — Saying that amending those claims would be futile, a New York federal judge granted dismissal of bad faith, negligence and tortious interference claims against an insurer and a third-party claims administrator in a suit over a multimillion-dollar asbestos exposure judgment.
August 27, 2024
4th Circuit Upholds Judgment Against Insurance Mogul In $524M Guaranty Case

RICHMOND, Va. — In a brief Aug. 26 unpublished per curiam opinion, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed judgment that enforces an arbitration award for $524 million plus interest against an insurance mogul who issued a guaranty.
August 23, 2024
Amicus Deadline On Economic Substance Doctrine Extended In Microcaptive Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Tax Court judge who ordered supplemental briefing regarding the “economic substance doctrine” in consolidated cases involving purported microcaptive insurance companies and invited amicus curiae briefs “given the novelty of the issues” on Aug. 22 extended the deadline to move for leave to file a brief as amicus to Sept. 6.
August 12, 2024
COMMENTARY: Waiver Of The Right To Arbitration Without Prejudice

By Robert M. Hall
August 22, 2024
Statutory Reinsurer Urges 7th Circuit To Affirm Dismissal In Preclusion Row

CHICAGO — In an appellee brief asserting in part that the appellant “has yet to provide any justification in law, equity, or logic, why [the appellee] should not be allowed to exercise the same right as the property owner,” a statutory reinsurer urges the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a dismissal ruling in an interlocutory appeal concerning whether mine subsidence claims are barred by claim and issue preclusion.
August 22, 2024
Dismissal Recommendation In Crop Insurance Interpretation Row Draws Objections

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Objecting to a Georgia federal magistrate judge’s recommendation that a crop insurance case be dismissed because it “is simply not at a stage where the Court may properly exercise its jurisdiction,” a farm argues in part that it “has shown that going forward with the arbitration under the cloud of possibly invalid or incorrect or incomplete policy or procedure interpretations will result in a wrong arbitration decision which, under current case law, cannot be challenged.”
August 22, 2024
Reinsurer Takes Timely Notice, Other Issues To 5th Circuit In Indemnity Row

NEW ORLEANS — Fighting a $2,866,423.97 judgment that includes attorney fees, a reinsurer told the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the challenged decision “appears to be the first case to vest virtually unfettered discretion with an insured (or ceding company in this case) to decide when to notify its insurer (or reinsurer) of a claim.”
August 22, 2024
Unspecified Settlement Ends Franchisee’s Suit Involving Reinsurance Commutation

JACKSON, Miss. — Citing an unspecified settlement reached by the remaining parties, a Mississippi federal judge dismissed a case involving a franchisee and commutation of reinsurance.
August 20, 2024
Receiver Tackles Proposal Objections In Reinsurer’s Liquidation Proceeding

WILMINGTON, Del. — In a consolidated reply filed Aug. 19 in the Delaware Chancery Court, the receiver for life and health reinsurer Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. (SRUS) argues for dismissal of the objections to four proof of claim (POC) procedures he proposed in the liquidation.
August 20, 2024
Judge Closes Case Seeking To Stay Arbitration On Report Of Settlement In Principle

NEW YORK — Citing a notice “that all claims asserted herein have been settled in principle,” a New York federal judge closed a case in which the successor of an assuming reinsurer sought to stay an arbitration demand.
August 16, 2024
Tax Court Judge Sets Briefing On Economic Substance Doctrine In Microcaptive Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Saying amicus curiae briefs are welcome “given the novelty of the issues” in consolidated cases involving purported microcaptive insurance companies, a U.S. Tax Court judge ordered supplemental briefing regarding the “economic substance doctrine.”
August 16, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing Bid Based On Loper Bright In Crop Insurance Row

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied a petition in which a farm sought panel and en banc rehearing of a crop insurance dispute by arguing that Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo “effectively rejected the Panel’s deference to agency interpretations of legal questions.”
August 15, 2024
$365,000 Offer Of Judgment Accepted In Row Over Workers’ Compensation Program

OMAHA, Neb. — The defendant in a Nebraska federal court case involving the EquityComp workers’ compensation program made the plaintiff a $365,000 offer of judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 on Aug. 14, and the plaintiff accepted the offer that day.
August 14, 2024
Partial Dismissal Granted In $1B RICO Insurance Fraud Scheme Involving Magnate

RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on Aug. 13 partially dismissed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case against defendants accused of participating in a $1 billion scheme to defraud now-insolvent insurers once owned by former insurance magnate Greg Lindberg, finding that the pleadings lack specificity as to those entities indirectly owned by Lindberg.
August 14, 2024
Breach Of Contract Claim Survives In Reinsurer’s Suit Against Insurance Wholesaler

FORT WORTH, Texas — Saying that a reinsurer’s complaint “plausibly implicates the existence of a continuing breach of contract,” a Texas federal judge granted dismissal of other claims but allowed that one to proceed in a dispute involving an underlying multimillion-dollar personal injury judgment.
August 13, 2024
Panel Tosses Bid For Stay In Receivership Action Against Owner Of Defunct Insurers

RALEIGH, N.C. — Without providing an explanation, the North Carolina Court of Appeals on Aug. 12 dismissed a motion for a temporary stay in a judgment creditor’s suit seeking the appointment of a general receiver over the assets of judgment debtor Greg E. Lindberg, a former owner of insurers now in rehabilitation who was convicted of bribing the North Carolina insurance commissioner.
August 13, 2024
Judge Follows U.S. Supreme Court On Tolling Question In ACA Reinsurance Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Citing “a duty to follow intervening Supreme Court precedent” under which tolling pursuant to American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah does not apply, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge dismissed group health plans’ consolidated cases over allegedly illegal exactions made under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
August 07, 2024
Insurers, Claims Administrator Seek Dismissal Of Lawsuit Over Asbestos Judgment

NEW YORK — Sparring with a man who obtained a multimillion-dollar asbestos exposure judgment against a dissolved manufacturer, a third-party claims administrator urges a New York federal court to grant its dismissal motion, arguing in its reply brief that it “has located no legal precedent to support” the man’s theory that he is “an ‘implied assignee’” of the manufacturer.
August 06, 2024
Claims Against Defendant Insurer Alleged Owed $28.9M Are Dismissed By Stipulation

OMAHA, Neb. — Claims against one of what had been four remaining defendants in a suit National Indemnity Co. (NICO) filed over a $157.2 million settlement it reached with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures have been dismissed with prejudice under a joint stipulation that a Nebraska federal judge granted.
August 06, 2024
Parties Dispute ‘Insurrection,’ Other Issues In Post-Trial Appeal Of Oil Seizure Row

NEW YORK — A partial summary judgment ruling, judicial notice and a jury instruction on causation are all at issue in a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case filed by reinsurers who were ordered to pay CITGO Petroleum Corp. more than $72.5 million in a suit stemming from the February 2020 seizure of crude oil at a Venezuelan port and involving a marine cargo reinsurance policy.
August 05, 2024
Dismissal Bid Will Go To 7th Circuit Panel In Arbitration Estoppel Row

CHICAGO — Without explanation, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge has ordered a dismissal motion that is based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to be taken with reinsurers’ fully briefed appeal concerning the effects of prior arbitration involving asbestos-related liabilities.
July 31, 2024
D.C. Circuit Remands Reinsurer’s Bid To Enforce $33M Awards Against Argentina

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 30 remanded a reinsurer’s appeal to the lower court for “further analysis and factfinding” as to whether the court had jurisdiction over its petition to enforce two arbitral awards worth $33 million against the Republic of Argentina under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).
July 26, 2024
COMMENTARY: Cyber War Exclusions

By Peter A. Halprin and Brittany Parks
July 29, 2024
After Forced Deal, Insurer Sues Reinsurer’s Former Parent Company In Federal Court

NEW YORK — Alleging a “$300 million fraud,” an insurer sued a holding company in New York federal court, asserting claims for securities and common-law fraud and breach of contract in connection with the insurer’s April 14 purchase of Bermuda-based reinsurer JRG Reinsurance Company Ltd.
July 26, 2024
Ex-Underwriter’s Dismissal Bid Skirts Main Claim In Breach Of Contract Row

MIAMI — Noting that he does not seek dismissal of a claim that he says the bulk of the allegations relate to, a former underwriter on July 25 moved in Florida federal court for dismissal of the other two claims in a suit over conduct that an insurer alleges included greatly exceeding his authority by executing a facultative retrocession agreement to cover a risk of more than $44 million.