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Mealey's Reinsurance

  • April 19, 2024

    Plaintiffs Win Little In Suit Over Business Deal Involving Reinsurance Distributor

    MIAMI — Following a bench trial over “a failed business relationship” involving a managed health care reinsurance distribution company, a Florida federal judge ruled for the defendants on claims for breaches of an asset purchase agreement (APA) and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, but found that the plaintiffs proved breach of employment agreements based on disparaging comments and salary miscalculations.

  • April 18, 2024

    English Panel Upholds Stay In Dispute Over Which Reinsurance Agreement Controls

    LONDON — Upholding the stay of an English case in a reinsurance dispute and saying “the parties began by playing cricket but then switched to baseball,” a three-justice panel of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales agreed with a lower court that the operative agreement calls for arbitration in New York.

  • April 18, 2024

    Chapter 11 Liquidation Plan Becomes Effective In Vesttoo Bankruptcy Cases

    WILMINGTON, Del. — In a notice outlining several bar dates, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors told a Delaware federal bankruptcy court that a Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for Vesttoo Ltd. and its dozens of affiliates went into effect after conditions precedent were “satisfied or waived.”

  • April 17, 2024

    IRS Adds To String Of Tax Court Wins In Case Over Purported Microcaptives

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In line with the handful of U.S. Tax Court rulings in similar cases, a judge has sustained Internal Revenue Service determinations regarding two purported microcaptive insurance companies, concluding that they “failed to distribute risk and were not selling insurance in the commonly accepted sense,” so the purported premiums cannot be deducted as insurance expenses on federal income taxes.

  • April 16, 2024

    Tax Attorney, Government Seek Consent Judgment In Microcaptive Penalty Row

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Asking a Florida federal court to enter a consent judgment in their dispute over penalties for purported promotion of abusive tax shelters in the form of microcaptive insurance companies, a tax attorney and the federal government tell a Florida federal court in an April 15 motion that their settlement agreement includes the attorney’s “payment of $5,200,000, inclusive of payments already made.”

  • April 16, 2024

    Rehab Plan Approved Over Workers’ Comp Insurer’s Objections In California Court

    REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Rejecting numerous objections from California Insurance Co. (CIC), a California state judge approved a rehabilitation plan that she said the state insurance commissioner described as being “designed to . . . complete CIC's exit from the state on terms that protect the Company, policyholders, and the public.”

  • April 11, 2024

    English Justice: Unlikeliness Of Fair Trial In Russia Supports Denying Stay Bids

    LONDON — An English justice considering dozens of aviation insurance coverage cases that arose after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has concluded that — despite Russian law and exclusive jurisdiction clauses (EJCs) outlined in reinsurance slips — they should continue in the English court rather than being stayed to give effect to those clauses.

  • April 11, 2024

    Rehabilitator’s Counterclaims Are Partly Dismissed In Row With Independent Auditor

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge granted partial dismissal of a rehabilitator’s counterclaims against an outside auditor in a dispute involving a run-off insurer, ruling that some claims are time-barred and that the rehabilitator didn’t state a claim for breach of fiduciary duty.

  • April 11, 2024

    Farmers To 6th Circuit: Vacate Parts Of Dismissal Ruling In Crop Insurance Case

    CINCINNATI — Alleging in their opening brief that a crop insurer and the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) “are squeezing New Heights out of business with their never-ending stalled investigation,” farmers ask the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to vacate parts of a dismissal ruling and remand.

  • April 10, 2024

    Reconsideration Bid Denied, Default Judgment Granted In Reimbursement Dispute

    OMAHA, Neb. — Deciding against a Brazil-based reinsurer on two motions in a March 9 amended ruling, a Nebraska federal judge entered judgment for plaintiff National Indemnity Co. (NICO) on all claims in a suit over reimbursement for a settlement reached with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposure.

  • April 10, 2024

    Jury Rules Against Government In Tax Penalty Row Over Purported Microcaptives

    FORT MYERS, Fla. — After a jury found for the plaintiffs in consolidated cases over whether their involvement with purported microcaptive insurance companies constituted promotion of abusive tax shelters, a Florida federal judge ordered the government to refund the penalties they paid, with statutory interest.

  • April 09, 2024

    Summons Reissued To Investment Firms Whose Owners Defrauded Now-Insolvent Insurers

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal court reissued a summons to Malta-based investment firms Standard Advisory Services Ltd. and Standard Financial Ltd., which, along with their former directors, are defendants in a $1 billion Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit accusing them of participating in a scheme to defraud now-insolvent insurers and their policyholders by using policyholder money to purchase non-insurance companies and to divert policyholder money.

  • April 08, 2024

    N.C. High Court Grants Filing Extension To Insolvent Insurers’ Buyer In Fraud Row

    RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Supreme Court on April 5 granted an extension to the purchaser of now-insolvent insurers and his affiliated companies to file a reply brief in their appeal of an appellate court’s decision affirming a judgment for fraud against them.

  • April 08, 2024

    Another Set Of Retirees Challenges AT&T Pension Risk Transfer Under ERISA

    BOSTON — A second set of retirees has filed a putative class case in Massachusetts federal court challenging a May 2023 AT&T pension risk transfer (PRT) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • April 04, 2024

    Lead Plaintiff Is Appointed In Suit Over Alleged Securities Violations

    NEW YORK — An investor who alleges that he lost approximately $56,250 due to stock declines after a Bermuda-based insurance holding company reported an error involving the reinstatement premium for a specialty casualty reinsurance treaty has been appointed lead plaintiff of a putative class action under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

  • April 03, 2024

    Federal Jury Trial Starts In Tax Penalty Row Over Purported Microcaptives

    FORT MYERS, Fla. — A jury trial has begun in consolidated cases involving promotion of purported microcaptive insurance companies, with a Florida federal judge denying four motions in limine to exclude evidence, preclude use of the term “tax shelter” and use judicial estoppel to prevent the government from taking a certain position in this case.

  • April 03, 2024

    Magistrate Judge Finds Reinsurer Liable For $2M In Damages In Reimbursement Row

    DALLAS — Concluding that a ceding insurer met the “subjective” notice standard in the parties’ agreement and that a reinsurer failed to show that it was prejudiced by the timing of the notice, a Texas federal magistrate judge dismissed the reinsurer’s claims with prejudice and granted the insurer summary judgment on its counterclaims.

  • April 02, 2024

    Judge: Recapture Didn’t Eliminate Jurisdiction In Arbitration Confirmation Case

    NEW YORK — Ruling that recapture did not eliminate the court’s subject matter jurisdiction, a New York federal judge granted a reinsurer’s petition to confirm a final arbitration award in a dispute over its decision to raise certain premiums, also denying the parties’ motions to seal information related to confidential arbitration proceedings.

  • April 02, 2024

    Reinsurer Wins Collateral Estoppel Ruling In Defense Costs Dispute With Insurer

    DETROIT — Saying that collateral estoppel applies because the “issue was actually litigated and decided during” the plaintiff insurer’s arbitration with a different entity, a Michigan federal judge ruled for a reinsurer in a defense costs dispute concerning asbestos lawsuits.

  • March 29, 2024

    Judge Nixes Fraud, Specific Performance Claims In Reinsurer’s Breach Lawsuit

    FORT WORTH, Texas — Granting motions for dismissal of all but two claims in a reinsurer’s case over allegedly inflated provisional commissions and breach of various agreements, a Texas federal judge called the case “a lesson in Murphy’s Law for unwitting contractees” and ruled that “bad looks cannot support a fraud claim where the resulting harm was merely contractual.”

  • March 28, 2024

    Receiver Of Reinsurer In Liquidation Proposes Proof Of Claim Procedures

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The receiver for life and health reinsurer Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. (SRUS) filed motions to set bar dates for two types of claims under proof of claim (POC) procedure proposals filed in the Delaware Chancery Court.

  • March 27, 2024

    N.C. High Court Tosses Clarification Bid In Fraud Row With Insolvent Insurers

    RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Supreme Court dismissed insurers’ motion for clarification of the high court’s order granting a petition for supersedeas regarding an appellate court’s decision affirming a judgment for fraud against the purchaser of now-insolvent insurers and his affiliated companies.

  • March 27, 2024

    Some Of Railroad’s Claims Survive Dismissal In Mine Subsidence Preclusion Row

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A railroad company’s claims for certain declaratory and injunctive relief regarding mine subsidence claims survive after an Illinois federal judge on March 26 partly granted a dismissal motion and rejected the argument that the second amended complaint (SAC) is futile.

  • March 27, 2024

    Dismissal Stipulated Before Jury Trial In Reinsurance Breach Of Contract Row

    LOS ANGELES — Parties in a reinsurance billing suit over a variety of claims that had been progressing toward a jury trial in California federal court have filed a one-paragraph March 26 stipulation dismissing the case in its entirety “with prejudice and without costs.”

  • March 26, 2024

    Insurers Win Summary Judgment On Bad Faith Claim In Case Over Settlement

    CINCINNATI — Ruling that Marginian v. Allstate Ins. Co. “plainly bars” the sole remaining bad faith claim under Ohio law “[a]nd no amount of discovery could change that,” an Ohio federal judge granted summary judgment for defendant insurers in litigation over the settlement of a third-party personal injury lawsuit.