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Mealey's Reinsurance

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.
January 28, 2025
Securities Suit Involving Reinsurance Dismissed For Lack Of Scienter

NEW YORK — Ruling that the “allegations fail to raise the required strong inference of scienter” and that further amendment would be futile, a New York federal judge dismissed a putative class action that attempted to use a reported error on the reinstatement premium for a specialty casualty reinsurance treaty — and purported statements from confidential witnesses — as the basis for securities fraud claims.
January 27, 2025
English Judge Makes Antiarbitration Injunction Final In Reinsurance Row

LONDON — In line with prior rulings in the contractual construction dispute that involves a hierarchy or “confusion” clause, a judge of the High Court of England and Wales rejected a reinsurer’s jurisdictional argument and granted a captive insurer’s request to issue an antiarbitration injunction on a final basis.
January 24, 2025
Hawaii Court Won’t Stay Allocation Proceeding Pending Subrogation Ruling

HONOLULU — Without explanation, a Hawaii Supreme Court justice denied a motion to stay a lower court’s allocation proceeding pending the resolution of 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.
January 24, 2025
Settlement In Principle Reported In Row Over Jet Leased To Russian Operator

SAN FRANCISCO — Citing “reports that Plaintiffs have reached settlements in principle with all Defendants,” a California state court judge vacated an April 7 trial date and other deadlines in an international aviation insurance coverage dispute involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
January 22, 2025
Bid To Compel Production Of Reinsurance Info Denied In Cleanup Costs Dispute

PADUCAH, Ky. — Saying in part that “neither claims manuals and guidelines nor reinsurance-related documents are relevant to Phase I of this litigation,” a Kentucky federal magistrate judge denied a motion to compel production in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs.
January 22, 2025
Judge Remands Request To Regulators In Crop Insurance Lawsuit

SOUIX FALLS, S.D. — Denying competing summary judgment motions in a crop insurance case centered on federal regulators’ refusal to issue a noncompliance determination, a South Dakota federal judge concluded that the challenged director review determination was arbitrary and capricious because it “failed to consider an important aspect of the problem”; she therefore remanded the request for a noncompliance determination directing that “the agency must provide a reasoned basis for its determination.”
January 21, 2025
10th Circuit Tosses Appeal Of Tax Court Ruling On Purported Microcaptive

DENVER — In an unpublished order citing the lack of a “final decision to review,” a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel dismissed an appeal filed by appellants who unsuccessfully sued the commissioner of Internal Revenue in U.S. Tax Court over purported microcaptive insurance.
January 17, 2025
Declaratory Judgment Suit Focuses On Reinsurance, Legionnaires’ Disease Claims

DETROIT — Alleging breach of a reinsurance agreement and seeking declaratory judgment, a captive insurer filed a lawsuit in Michigan federal court over claims concerning Legionnaires’ disease.
January 17, 2025
Argument Set For Hawaii Supreme Court Case On Wildfire Settlement Subrogation

HONOLULU — An amicus curiae group called the “Consolidated Class Plaintiffs” will take part in Feb. 6 oral argument after the Hawaii Supreme Court expanded the time allotted in the case concerning 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; additionally, a pending opposed motion seeks to stay a lower court’s allocation proceeding.
January 17, 2025
Bid To Pursue Resolution With Vesttoo Affiliate In Israel Draws Opposition

WILMINGTON, Del. — Israeli investors’ request for a Delaware federal bankruptcy court to grant relief from the injunction in the Chapter 11 liquidation of Vesttoo Ltd. and dozens of affiliates so they can pursue arbitration and/or liquidation proceedings in Israel has drawn objections that the investors argue should be rejected.
January 16, 2025
N.J. High Court Decision Is Cited In Discovery Ruling On Reinsurance Info

TRENTON, N.J. — Declining to compel production of information concerning a reinsurance policy, a New Jersey federal magistrate judge concluded that Statewide Ins. Fund v. Star Ins. Co. and the state statute that authorized a joint insurance fund (JIF) rendered the discovery requests at issue “not relevant and not proportional to the needs of the case.”
January 16, 2025
South Carolina Orders Insurer, Captive Reinsurer To Stop Writing New Business

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Documents that South Carolina regulators have made publicly available show that Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Co. (ACL) and ACL’s captive reinsurer Southern Atlantic Re Inc. (SAR) were confidentially put into administrative supervision in April 2024 and then ordered to stop writing new business by the end of 2024.