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

Mealey's Reinsurance

October 16, 2024
Parties Brief Dispute Over Which Legal Fees Fall Under Reinsurance Contract

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama federal judge has ordered an insurer to respond to a reinsurer’s objections to parts of declarations it submitted in summary judgment briefing concerning disputed legal fees.
October 14, 2024
Bid To Dismiss Louisiana Direct Action Against Reinsurers Ruled Premature

NEW ORLEANS — A motion to dismiss direct-action claims against unnamed reinsurers asserted in a third-party complaint has been denied as premature, with a Louisiana federal judge saying the key factor is whether the contract at issue is one of indemnity or liability.
October 14, 2024
Suit Against Captive Reinsurer, Others Follows Alleged Board Upheaval

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Alleging in part that board upheaval left a captive reinsurer “under the management of inexperienced board members,” a risk retention group (RRG) sued three entities it claims it long had a close relationship with, asserting claims in a District of Columbia federal court for breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and tortious interference with business relations.
October 14, 2024
Owners Of Aircraft Valued At More Than $222M Sue Insurers In State Court

STAMFORD, Conn. — Claiming breach of contract and bad faith, five entities that own two freighter planes that they allege a Russian cargo airline has refused to return after the invasion of Ukraine have filed a suit in Connecticut state court against more than two dozen “insurers, underwriters, underwriting managers, and insurance subscribers of coverage in the international aviation insurance market.”
October 10, 2024
Judge: FCIC Determination Requirement Applies To Tobacco Farmer’s Claims

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Ruling that a Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) “determination requirement applies to all claims seeking extra-contractual damages related to a federally reinsured crop insurance policy,” a North Carolina federal magistrate judge ordered a farmer to show cause why his suit should not be dismissed pending compliance with that requirement.
October 10, 2024
Florida Panel Dismisses Reinsurer’s Appeal From Insolvency Proceeding

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In a brief per curiam disposition, a Florida appellate panel partly dismissed and partly affirmed an offshore reinsurer’s appeal of the denial of its motion to lift an automatic stay in a workers’ compensation insurer’s liquidation and to compel arbitration.
October 10, 2024
Standing, Adequacy Of RICO Allegations Disputed In Reinsurer’s Lawsuit

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge has dismissed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act lawsuit without prejudice against more than a dozen defendants that a reinsurer alleged took part in purportedly fraudulent workers’ compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits.
October 10, 2024
Claims Objection Bar Date Extension Granted In Liquidation Of Vesttoo

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge has granted a motion to extend the claims objection bar date by 180 days to April 7 in the Chapter 11 liquidation of Vesttoo Ltd. and its dozens of affiliates.
October 08, 2024
Argument Is Set In 7th Circuit Interlocutory Appeal Over Preclusion Dispute

CHICAGO — Argument has been set for Nov. 6 in an interlocutory Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case challenging a dismissal ruling in a dispute over whether mine subsidence claims are barred by claim and issue preclusion.
October 08, 2024
7th Circuit Sets Argument In Reinsurers’ Arbitration Estoppel Dispute

CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument for Nov. 5 in reinsurers’ appeal concerning the effects of prior arbitration, which involves asbestos-related liabilities; the dispute also includes a dismissal motion that is based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
October 03, 2024
Alter Ego Liability Theory Rejected In Ruling On Summary Judgment Motions

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ruling on two motions for summary judgment on cross-claims in a suit involving reinsurance and related agreements, a California federal judge rejected an alter ego argument, granting one motion fully and the other partially.
October 02, 2024
English Appellate Court Rules Against Reinsurer In COVID-19 ‘Catastrophe’ Case

LONDON — Rejecting both main arguments a reinsurer advanced in a dispute over business interruption losses, a panel of the Court of Appeal of England and Walesagreed with a lower court’s ruling that under the reinsurance agreement, the COVID-19 pandemic is a “catastrophe” and an “Hours Clause” doesn’t exclude individual losses that continue to develop more than 168 hours after they first occur.
September 30, 2024
Reinsurer’s Declaratory Judgment Suit Is Tossed For Lack Of Contractual Privity

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Ruling in part that a reinsurer “failed to plead privity or third-party beneficiary status” and therefore failed to state any claims, a New York federal judge on Sept. 27 dismissed the lawsuit in which the reinsurer sought a declaratory judgment regarding state court litigation arising from a building’s partial collapse.
September 27, 2024
Farmers, USDA Spar Over Decision Regulators Made On Remand Of Crop Insurance Row

BAY CITY, Mich. — Farmers and federal regulators are again sparring in a Michigan federal court over a crop insurance dispute involving a dry-bean revenue endorsement (DBRE), with issues of contention now including whether the court retains jurisdiction after having awarded attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) and whether regulators followed the court’s directions on remand.
September 27, 2024
Judge Denies Cross-Motions In Reinsurance Dispute Over Sex Abuse Case Settlements

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge sided with an interlocal cooperative on a policy interpretation dispute but denied the parties’ cross-motions in a Sept. 26 ruling, concluding that “the language of the aggregation provision specifically covers ‘[a]ll claims based on or arising out of sexual abuse by an employee’ — including those claims that are not themselves allegations of sexual abuse.”
September 26, 2024
Claims Objection Bar Date Extension Sought In Liquidation Of Vesttoo

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge has been asked to extend the claims objection bar date by 180 days in the Chapter 11 liquidation of Vesttoo Ltd. and its dozens of affiliates.
September 25, 2024
Regulators Win Summary Judgment In Crop Insurance Good Farming Practices Row

LUBBOCK, Texas — Saying in part that the record doesn’t support the claim that a good farming practices determination was made arbitrarily or capriciously, a Texas federal judge granted summary judgment for federal regulators in a crop insurance case.
September 25, 2024
Judge Grants Extension In $1B RICO Insurance Fraud Scheme Involving Magnate

RALEIGH, N.C. — Without providing an explanation, a North Carolina federal judge granted defendants’ motion for an extension to file answers to an amended complaint in a suit accusing them of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) violations related to their purported participation in a $1 billion scheme to defraud now-insolvent insurers once owned by former insurance magnate Greg Lindberg.
September 25, 2024
Couple Urges 5th Circuit To Say Ross Remains Its Standard For Insurance Cases

NEW ORLEANS — Asking the Fifth Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a U.S. Tax Court ruling concerning what they unsuccessfully argued were microcaptive insurance arrangements entitled to tax benefits, appellants contend in their opening brief that the Internal Revenue Service and Tax Court “restricted the meaning of the term ‘insurance’ contrary to Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court precedent.”
September 24, 2024
Judge Grants DOJ’s $1.45M Forfeiture Bid In Bribery Case Against Insurance Magnate

STATESVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on Sept. 23 granted the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) motion for the preliminary forfeiture of two bank accounts totaling $1,454,758.45 seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation while investigating a case resulting in a retrial at which the former owner of now-insolvent insurers was again convicted of bribery and conspiracy, finding that the government established the required nexus to show that the seized proceeds were related to the crimes.
September 24, 2024
Discovery Ruling Issued In Asbestos Coverage Row Involving Insolvent Insurer

OMAHA, Neb. — A Nebraska federal magistrate judge granted in part National Indemnity Co. (NICO)’s motion to compel discovery of an insurer in its suit seeking to enforce obligations by multiple insurers, one of whom is now insolvent, for the liability NICO incurred related to claims for asbestos exposure, finding that the attorneys’ eyes only designation (AEO) must be removed from discovery material due, in part, to the insurer’s failure to “articulate why an AEO designation is the right tool to prevent this harm.”
September 19, 2024
Appeal Is Filed Over Dismissal Of Case Ruled Untimely In ACA Reinsurance Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dismissal of a group health plan’s claims regarding allegedly illegal exactions made under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is being appealed to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
September 18, 2024
Status Conference Sought In Arbitration Awards Row In Reinsurance Dispute

NEW YORK — Months after briefing concluded on pending cross-petitions in an arbitration awards dispute involving attorney fees and whether there was a probability or a possibility of an excess judgment in the underlying case, a reinsurer on Sept. 17 asked a New York federal court for “a status conference to determine whether the parties may supply the Court with any additional materials to resolve this cross-petition.”
September 18, 2024
Magistrate Partly Grants Motion To Quash Discovery On Reinsurance, Reserves

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Partly granting an insurer’s motion to quash in a breach of contract and bad faith suit over home damage purportedly caused by hurricanes, a Louisiana federal magistrate judge cited two other decisions in ruling that that certain reinsurance and reserve information and the requested prior deposition testimony are within the scope of permissible discovery.
September 17, 2024
U.S. Tax Court Now Has 8 Rulings For IRS, 0 Against In Microcaptive Insurance Rows

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Sept. 16 ruling that he said brought the court’s record on purported microcaptive insurance cases to 8-0 in favor of the commissioner of Internal Revenue, a U.S. Tax Court judge found that the corporation that paid purported premiums “achieved no transfer of risk”; that the putative reinsurer “accomplished no meaningful distribution of risk”; and that “the arrangements at issue did not remotely resemble insurance in the commonly accepted sense.”