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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • June 24, 2022

    Self-Insured Plan Class Certified In ACA Transitional Reinsurance Program Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A judge in the U.S. Federal Claims Court on June 22 granted an unopposed motion for class certification in a suit challenging contributions assessed under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) on self-administered, self-insured employee health and welfare benefit plans.

  • June 24, 2022

    Conditional Privilege Raised Against Amended Reinsurance Interference Suit

    CHICAGO — After Stonegate Insurance Co. on May 19 filed an amended complaint in Illinois federal court asserting a single claim of tortious interference with contract in a reinsurance dispute, the defendants on June 9 moved for dismissal, arguing in part that the insurer has not met its burden of overcoming the conditional privilege they enjoy as agents for the reinsurer in question.

  • June 24, 2022

    Railroad Wants To Raise ‘Nonparty Preclusion’ In Injunctive Relief Suit

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Following a ruling that allowed only two partial claims to proceed, a railroad company on June 14 moved in Illinois federal court for leave to file a second amended complaint (SAC) for declaratory and injunctive relief, saying that it wants to add a count “based on the ‘nonparty preclusion’ doctrine.”

  • June 24, 2022

    Insurer, Reinsurer Sue Parent Company For More Than $5M Under Tax-Sharing Agreement

    RALEIGH, N.C. — An insurer and a reinsurer that are in rehabilitation sued their parent company in North Carolina federal court on May 26 over what they allege is its refusal to pay them more than $5 million they are due under a tax-sharing agreement (TSA), asserting claims for breach of contract, conversion, embezzlement and unfair and deceptive trade practices.

  • June 20, 2022

    Arbitration Panel Issues Confidentiality Order; Similar Sought In Federal Court

    ORLANDO, Fla. — The parties in a self-insured intergovernmental risk management association’s breach of contract dispute against a reinsurer on June 16 asked a federal court in Florida to enter a confidentiality order similar to one issued by the panel before which they are pursuing nonbinding arbitration.

  • June 20, 2022

    Rule 56(D) Invoked Against Summary Judgment Motion In Reinsurance Row

    GALVESTON, Texas — Following a hearing, a Texas federal magistrate judge on June 16 directed parties in a health maintenance organization (HMO) excess reinsurance dispute regarding heart transplant reimbursement to let the court know if they have reached an agreement regarding the plaintiff’s bid under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(D) to deny or defer ruling on parts of a summary judgment motion, a minute entry shows.

  • June 15, 2022

    Judge Denies Unopposed Continuance Requests In Summons Enforcement Cases

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In separate June 6 paperless orders in three cases stemming from a single U.S. petition to enforce Internal Revenue Service summonses issued as part of a tax liability examination related to captive insurance companies, a federal judge in Florida denied the defendants’ unopposed motions to continue the briefing schedule and a hearing set for July 8.

  • June 15, 2022

    Bankruptcy Judge Gives Insurer’s Liquidators OK For Dozens Of Subpoenas

    NEW YORK — In three orders issued June 14, a New York federal bankruptcy judge authorized the joint provisional liquidators (JPLs) of Bermuda insurer and reinsurer PB Life and Annuity Co. Ltd. (PBLA) and other debtors to issue subpoenas directing production of documents to dozens of entities and individuals including debtor investment counterparties and certain non-insider third parties — of which the latter includes Google LLC.

  • June 15, 2022

    Parties In Breach Suit Against Reinsurer Dispute Motion For Partial Dismissal

    NEW YORK — After an intermediary that helps clients access the U.S. program reinsurance market filed a first amended complaint (FAC) in its suit in New York federal court against a foreign reinsurer, the parties resumed several disputes in updated filings, including May 26 and June 10 memoranda regarding a motion for partial dismissal.

  • June 14, 2022

    Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Insurer Conservatorship Suits, Splits On Abstention

    SAN FRANCISCO — Ruling 2-1 that abstention under Younger v. Harris does not apply to insurance conservatorships, members of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on June 10 affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of two suits involving the same state court proceeding under the prior exclusive jurisdiction rule; the majority said it believes that this is “the first case in this Court implicating” that rule “in connection with a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action.”

  • June 13, 2022

    Updated Briefing ‘As Needed’ Ordered In Transferred Suit Over EquityComp

    OMAHA, Neb. — In a text-only order without explanation in response to letters in which the parties disagreed, a Nebraska federal magistrate judge on June 10 ordered updated briefing “as needed” on a motion to dismiss in a transferred case over a program called EquityComp and a reinsurance participation agreement (RPA).

  • June 10, 2022

    Summary Judgment Sought In Reinsurance Row; Parties Also File Motions To Exclude

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A reinsurer on June 7 filed a motion and 146-page brief seeking summary judgment on all claims and counterclaims in a breach of contract dispute over reinsurance billings, telling an Alabama federal court that “no genuine issue of material fact exists” and arguing in part that the insurer failed to apply the plain language of the contracts and to uphold its obligations.

  • June 09, 2022

    Trial Dropped For Summary Judgment In Reinsurer’s Suit Over Defense, Indemnity

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on June 6 granted a request by both parties in a declaratory judgment suit over defense and indemnity costs that, in lieu of conducting a bench trial scheduled to start July 25, he will “decide all issues on the papers submitted in the pending motions for summary judgment, inclusive of issues of fact, if any.”

  • June 09, 2022

    Appellant To 6th Circuit: Insurers’ Allocation Violated Its Ohio All-Sums Rights

    CINCINNATI — In its appellant brief filed before the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging a summary judgment ruling, an insured argues that “insurers’ contribution and contract rights are necessarily secondary to and limited by Ohio’s all-sums doctrine and the rights it protects.”

  • June 09, 2022

    Noting $157.2M Asbestos Settlement, Insurer Files Suits Against Reinsurers

    Noting that a court recently approved its $157.2 million settlement with the state of Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures, National Indemnity Co. (NICO) on June 6 filed two suits in Nebraska federal court seeking declaratory judgment against reinsurers it said it had just billed for their portions of the loss; on June 7, NICO moved in Pennsylvania federal court to dismiss or transfer a declaratory judgment suit that one of the reinsurers had filed there over the same issue.

  • June 08, 2022

    Preliminary Injunction Motion Withdrawn In Fraudulent Transfer Suit Against Insurer

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Citing changes in the defendants’ plans, the plaintiffs in a putative class suit alleging fraudulent transfers from an insurance subsidiary that more than 1 million policyholders depend on for long-term care (LTC) insurance disability benefits informed the Delaware Chancery Court in a June 3 letter that they are withdrawing their motion for a preliminary injunction.

  • June 08, 2022

    8th Circuit In Reversal:  Arbitrator Should Consider Challenge To Contract Validity

    ST. LOUIS — Citing Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna in ruling on the interlocutory appeal, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on June 6 reversed and remanded denial of a motion to compel arbitration on cross-claims in an interpleader suit over excess collateral in an insurance-reinsurance program.

  • June 08, 2022

    Motion To Quash Third-Party Subpoena In Microcaptive Insurance Case Put On Hold

    SAN ANTONIO — In a June 7 text-only order, a federal judge in Texas granted the government’s motion to hold in abeyance a motion to quash a third-party subpoena served during discovery in a tax attorney’s suit fighting penalties assessed against her in connection with the establishment of microcaptive insurance companies.

  • June 06, 2022

    North Carolina Judge Tosses Insolvent Insurer’s Legal Malpractice Claim

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina judge on May 24 granted a law firm’s summary judgment motion in a legal malpractice claim filed against it by the owner of an insolvent insurer, finding that the owner failed to provide evidence that the firm could have changed the result of a trial court’s judgment in an underlying $12,849,193.20 judgment against the owner for breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud, constructive fraudulent transfer and unfair and deceptive trade practices.

  • June 01, 2022

    Forum Selection Clause Invoked In Breach Suit Over Captive Insurance Claim

    DENVER — Citing a mandatory forum selection clause and arguing in part that they are subject to general or specific personal jurisdiction in Tennessee but not in Colorado, the defendants in a breach of contract dispute regarding a captive insurance company on May 23 moved in Colorado federal court to dismiss or transfer the suit against them.