Mealey's Reinsurance
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July 14, 2022
Parties In Florida Reinsurance Dispute Lose Bid For Entry Of Confidentiality Order
ORLANDO, Fla. — Saying “the Court discourages unnecessary stipulated motions for confidentiality orders,” a federal magistrate judge in Florida on July 11 denied a request from the parties in a self-insured intergovernmental risk management association’s breach of contract dispute against a reinsurer to enter a confidentiality order similar to one issued by the panel before which they are pursuing nonbinding arbitration.
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July 14, 2022
Judge Vacates, Remands Crop Reinsurance Agency’s Action In Revenue Insurance Row
MINNEAPOLIS — Granting relief in a form that neither party argued for, a Minnesota federal judge on July 11 vacated and remanded for reconsideration an amendment at the center of the suit that farmers of dark red kidney beans filed against government entities including the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC), a federal agency that reinsures crop insurers.
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July 13, 2022
Writ Of Execution For $585M Issued In Personal Guaranty Case Involving Reinsurance
DURHAM, N.C. — Following notice by plaintiff Universal Life Insurance Co. (ULICO) that its latest motion for prejudgment attachment has been withdrawn, a North Carolina federal court on July 8 issued a writ of execution requiring the defendant to pay ULICO more than $585 million pursuant to a personal guaranty involving a reinsurance agreement.
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July 13, 2022
Counterclaims Asserted, Challenged In Reinsurer’s Breach Of Contract Suit
DALLAS — After the defendant in a reinsurer’s breach of contract suit on June 16 filed an answer in Texas federal court and alleged that the reinsurer itself breached two contracts, the reinsurer on July 8 moved for dismissal of those counterclaims, arguing failure to state a claim.
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July 11, 2022
4th Circuit Denies Release Request In Alleged Bribery Case But Issues Mandate
RICHMOND, Va. — Following its ruling ordering a new trial for two individuals who were convicted in relation to an alleged $2 million bribery scheme, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 6 denied a request by a multinational insurance and reinsurance management company’s founder for immediate release but granted his alternative request to issue the court’s formal mandate.
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July 07, 2022
Receiver: Modified Rehab Plan For Reinsurer Would Raise Rates For Some YRT Business
WILMINGTON, Del. — The receiver for Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. in Rehabilitation (SRUS) on June 30 asked a Delaware state court to approve a modified plan of rehabilitation that includes remediative rate increases (RRIs) to correct the “underpricing” of some of its Yearly Renewable Term (YRT) business that was deemed largely responsible for the reinsurer’s financial distress.
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July 06, 2022
Citing Reinsurance Terms, 11th Circuit Declines To Infer ‘Follow-The-Fortunes’
ATLANTA — Saying that “[t]he Reinsurance Agreement contains language that is plainly inconsistent with the follow-the-fortunes doctrine” and declining to infer application of the doctrine, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on June 29 affirmed a ruling involving possessory interest and the duties to defend and indemnify.
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June 30, 2022
4th Circuit Finds Instructional Error, Orders New Trial For Alleged Bribery Scheme
RICHMOND, Va. — Ruling that the trial court erred in instructing the jury and that error was not harmless, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on June 29 ordered a new trial for a multinational insurance and reinsurance management company’s founder and a company consultant who were convicted in relation to an alleged $2 million bribery scheme.
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June 30, 2022
Consideration Of Alternative Summary Judgment Bid Deferred In Reinsurance Row
GALVESTON, Texas — Following a June 24 stipulation in which the parties agreed to defer consideration of a challenged part of the defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a health maintenance organization (HMO) excess reinsurance dispute regarding heart transplant reimbursement, a Texas federal magistrate judge on June 27 denied as moot a bid under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(D) to deny or defer ruling on that section.
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June 29, 2022
Parties Dispute Conditional Privilege In Amended Reinsurance Interference Suit
CHICAGO — Defendants in a suit alleging tortious interference with reinsurance contracts on June 9 asked an Illinois federal court to dismiss the case, 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; in opposition filed June 23, the insurer contends that the complaint states a claim for “exactly the type of malice Illinois law seeks to prevent.”
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June 29, 2022
With Bermuda Buyout Completed, Liquidators Ask To Close Bankruptcy Case
NEW YORK — Saying that Bermuda schemes of arrangement have been fully administered and that the buyout transaction is completed, the joint provisional liquidators (JPLs) for a Bermuda reinsurer and related entities collectively known as CATCo Group on June 9 asked a federal bankruptcy court in New York for an order closing the Chapter 15 cases.
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June 29, 2022
Confidentiality Order Entered Before Settlement Conference In Reinsurance Row
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut federal magistrate judge on June 28 granted a reinsurer’s June 22 motion for entry of a confidentiality order regarding certain documents produced for purposes of a settlement conference in the suit over almost $7 million in facultative reinsurance billings.
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June 29, 2022
Judge Denies Discovery Request On Communications About California’s McHugh Decision
FRESNO, Calif. — In a June 23 order partly granting a motion to compel discovery in a putative class case over allegations that a life insurer violated provisions of the California Insurance Code, a California federal magistrate judge ruled in part that a request for communications that the insurer provided to employees, policy holders and reinsurers regarding a California Supreme Court decision “is not proportional to the needs of this case.”
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June 28, 2022
Penalty, Disclosure Claims In Microcaptive Case Are Related, Tax Attorney Argues
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Arguing that both claims she asserts stem from the refusal of the Internal Revenue Service “to follow the will of Congress regarding the proper tax treatment of microcaptive insurance companies,” a tax attorney on June 24 filed opposition in Florida federal court to all aspects of the U.S. government’s motion to sever or bifurcate the claims in her suit and stay discovery on one of them.
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June 27, 2022
School District Proposes New Claims In Case Involving Self-Insurance Pool
DENVER — A school district on June 21 sought leave to add breach of contract claims to its suit over insurers’ alleged failure to reimburse for liability claim settlements, asserting that the grounds for such claims “became evident” through research on pending motions for dismissal; in a June 23 text-only entry, a Colorado federal magistrate judge set a motion hearing for July 20.
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June 27, 2022
Excess Insurer, Joint Powers Authority Agree To Settle Liability Apportionment Suit
LOS ANGELES — Following mediation, a joint powers authority and an excess insurer in a dispute over a $16.8 million settlement for an accident between two fire departments notified a California federal court on June 24 that they have agreed to settle the matter.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.