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

Mealey's Reinsurance

December 12, 2023
Summary Judgment Bid Mostly Fails In Suit Over Reinsurance Distributor Deal

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge on Dec. 11 mostly ruled against insurance brokerages in a case over their acquisition of a managed health care reinsurance distribution company and employment of that company’s members, granting summary judgment only “as to one theory of breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.”
December 12, 2023
2nd Circuit Rejects Direct-Benefits Estoppel Argument In Arbitration Bid

NEW YORK — Affirming denial of a reinsurer’s petition to compel arbitration with a school district under an agreement the district is not party to, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a Dec. 11 summary order ruling that the reinsurer didn’t “show that it may avail itself of the direct benefits estoppel theory under Texas law.”
December 07, 2023
COMMENTARY: Fire & Rain: 2023 Key Decisions & Developments Impacting The Wide World Of Insurance

By Scott M. Seaman, Pedro E. Hernandez and Lisa M. Roccanova
November 30, 2023
Judge Orders Former CIO To Pay $75,000 To Resolve Insolvent Insurers’ RICO Suit

RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge issued an order finding a former chief investment officer (CIO) liable and ordering him to pay $75,000 to insolvent insurers in a $1 billion Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act suit accusing him, the owner of the insurers and other individuals and affiliated companies of participating in a scheme to defraud the insurers and their policyholders by using policyholder money to purchase non-insurance companies and to divert policyholder money to the owner.
November 29, 2023
Judge Directs Production Of Reinsurance Info In Suit Over Fire Loss Coverage

NEW YORK — Rejecting an insurer’s argument that reinsurance information isn’t relevant to a breach of contract suit over fire-related claims, a New York federal judge on Nov. 28 directed that the requested information be produced unless there was another reason to withhold or redact it.
November 29, 2023
On Remand, Parties Dispute Expert Exclusion Bids In RESPA Class Lawsuit

FRESNO, Calif. — Parties in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) class action involving captive reinsurance agreements are sparring in California federal court over expert testimony regarding whether the plaintiffs have standing under an economic harm theory.
November 29, 2023
Federal Judge OKs Revised Responses To RFAs In Breach Case Involving Reinsurance

NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Saying in part that the move “promotes the presentation of the merits of the action,” an Indiana federal magistrate judge allowed plaintiffs in a breach-of-contract case involving a quota share reinsurance agreement to amend their responses to requests for admissions (RFAs).
November 28, 2023
Dismissal Bid Disputed In Reimbursement Row Over Reinsurance Contract

OMAHA, Neb. — Sparring with one defendant over claims pertaining to a reinsurance contract purportedly issued decades ago, an insurer on Nov. 27 urged a Nebraska federal court to deny a dismissal motion in its suit over reimbursement for a settlement with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures.
November 27, 2023
Unsecured Creditors Propose Liquidation Plan For Vesttoo And Its Affiliates

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors has proposed a Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for the jointly administered cases of Vesttoo Ltd. and 48 affiliates in Delaware federal bankruptcy court, with a Dec. 13 objection deadline.
November 27, 2023
Lloyd’s And U.S. Subsidiary File Trademark Infringement, Defamation Lawsuit

HOUSTON — Two entities connected with “an insurance and reinsurance market that is the most famous brand in the insurance underwriting field” have filed a suit in Texas federal court asserting claims including defamation and trademark infringement against an individual and a corporation and LLC they say he registered in Texas and California.
November 22, 2023
Reinsurance Brokers Resolve Bribery Investigations Via Agreements With DOJ

MIAMI — U.K.-based reinsurance brokers Tysers Insurance Brokers Ltd. and H.W. Wood Ltd. will pay criminal penalties under deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) they entered to resolve charges in Florida federal court relating to what the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says was a scheme to bribe officials of the Ecuadorian government between roughly 2013 and 2017.
November 21, 2023
Hedge Fund Gets ‘Crumbs,’ Not ‘Cookies,’ In Delaware Ruling On Nonpublic Info

WILMINGTON, Del. — Saying a hedge fund “only demonstrated its entitlement to a few crumbs,” a vice chancellor of the Delaware Chancery Court on Nov. 20 ruled that it is entitled to little of the nonpublic information it seeks on a captive reinsurer that issued dividends totaling approximately $1.2 billion.
November 20, 2023
Reinsurers Fail To Stop New Arbitration By Citing Previous Arbitrations

CHICAGO — Ruling that “a dispute over the preclusive effect of a prior arbitration is arbitrable,” an Illinois federal judge granted an insurer’s motion to compel arbitration and dismissed the case filed by reinsurers without prejudice.
November 20, 2023
U.S. High Court Denies Insurance Regulator’s Review Bid In Corporate Privacy Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As urged by the U.S. government, the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 20 denied a petition by the Delaware Department of Insurance (DDOI) for review of a corporate privacy case involving microcaptive insurance company information and the McCarran-Ferguson Act (MFA).
November 17, 2023
Judge In Securities Fraud Case Orders Probation For Former Hedge Fund Exec

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — One of three former hedge fund executives that a New York federal jury found guilty of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud has been sentenced to nearly a year of probation for an alleged scheme involving a reinsurer.
November 16, 2023
Shareholder Quotes Accounting Error Report In Suit Alleging Securities Violations

NEW YORK — Quoting a press release in which a Bermuda-based insurance holding company said it “‘identified an error in the accounting for reinstatement premium’” of a specialty casualty reinsurance treaty, an individual who bought shares in the preceding months filed a putative class action under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
November 16, 2023
With Deal Proposed In Reinsurance Collateral Row, Debtors Seek Closure Order

ST. LOUIS — Limited liability companies that owned and operated dozens of Jack in the Box restaurants under franchise agreements have asked a federal bankruptcy court in Missouri to close their jointly administered Chapter 11 cases.
November 16, 2023
Supersedeas Bond Order In Personal Guaranty Case Gives Defendant A Choice

DURHAM, N.C. — Adopting a recommendation over the defendant’s objections, a North Carolina federal judge set a supersedeas bond of either $524 million or $225 million in a case where the defendant is appealing a judgment requiring him to pay more than $585 million pursuant to a personal guaranty for a reinsurance agreement.
November 15, 2023
Brokers’ Dismissal, Stay Bids Are Disputed In Row Over Coverage, Fraud Claims

NEW YORK — Claims against brokers are the focus of briefing in a row over whether policies obtained for a facility in Afghanistan are insurance or reinsurance and whether fraud or negligence were involved, with the brokers arguing in New York federal court that the claims should be dismissed or stayed and the plaintiffs contending that the claims are sufficiently stated and there is “no legal basis” for a stay.
November 15, 2023
Collapsed Hedge Fund’s Co-Founder Appeals Offset Ruling To 2nd Circuit

NEW YORK — A co-founder of the collapsed hedge fund Platinum Partners who argued that application of New York offset law should reduce his liability to zero has filed an appeal in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals over a ruling that left him liable for just under $2.8 million.
November 14, 2023
Conversion Bid Denied, Exclusivity Terminated In Vesttoo Bankruptcy Cases

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge has denied without prejudice a U.S. trustee’s motion to convert the jointly administered Chapter 11 cases of Vesttoo Ltd. and 48 affiliates to Chapter 7 cases.
November 13, 2023
Government, Class Report Agreement To Settle 1 Appeal In ACA Reinsurance Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Parties in an appeal concerning a $185,230,024.42 judgment against the government have told the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that they “have agreed to settle this matter,” with a settlement framework approved by both sides in the litigation over the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
November 10, 2023
Insurer Is Granted Clerk’s Entry Of Default Against Brazilian Reinsurer

OMAHA, Neb. — An insurer has obtained a clerk’s entry of default in its Nebraska federal court suit seeking reimbursement from a Brazil-based reinsurer for a settlement the insurer reached with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposure.
November 10, 2023
Summary Judgment Bids Are Filed In Tax Penalty Row Over Microcaptive Arrangements

FORT MYERS, Fla. — In consolidated cases involving promotion of purported microcaptive insurance companies, the plaintiffs tell a Florida federal court that they deserve summary judgment because the government hasn’t showed that they “knowingly made false or fraudulent statements,” and the government seeks “[t]o simplify trial” by obtaining partial summary judgment “on three parts of its claims or Plaintiffs’ defenses.”
November 08, 2023
2nd Circuit Sets Argument On Ruling That Direct-Benefits Estoppel Doesn’t Apply

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has allotted each side 10 minutes for oral argument on Dec. 4 in a reinsurer’s appeal over denial of its bid to compel arbitration with school districts, which failed because the districts are not party to the agreement containing the arbitration provision and a federal judge ruled that direct-benefits estoppel does not apply to the districts’ claims.