Mealey's Reinsurance
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May 03, 2023
Plaintiffs Update Bid For Third-Party Complaint Against Reinsurers In Crash Case
MIAMI — The day after updating their proposal for adding claims against reinsurers in a plane crash case in which settlements were reached over an $844 million default judgment, plaintiffs filed a notice in Florida court that the hearing on their motion was canceled.
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May 02, 2023
Dismissal, Transfer Bids Disputed In Reinsurer’s Suit Over Alleged Breaches
SAN FRANCISCO — Arguing issues including which state’s law applies to certain claims, a reinsurer has opposed transfer and dismissal bids by defendants in its case in California federal court alleging a fraudulent scheme to inflate provisional commissions and breach of various agreements.
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May 02, 2023
Hostile/Warlike Action Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For Cyberattack Losses
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals panel on May 1 held that insurers and reinsurers failed to demonstrate that a “Hostile/Warlike Action” policy exclusion applied to bar coverage for insureds’ losses arising from a June 2017 malware/cyberattack, affirming a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the insureds.
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May 01, 2023
Diocese Seeks Liquidation Of Insurer, Reinsurer, Cites ‘Looting’ By Management
WILMINGTON, Del. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., seeks a writ of mandamus from the Delaware Superior Court to compel the Delaware insurance commissioner to start liquidation proceedings against Arrowood Indemnity Co., asserting that the commissioner is aware of the insolvency and must start liquidation and remove the current management, which purportedly “has been intentionally looting the company.”
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May 01, 2023
Lloyd’s Subscribers Want Suit Over $44.9M In Losses From Afghan Facility Dismissed
NEW YORK — After some defendants said they want to seek dismissal of a lawsuit over whether the plaintiffs obtained insurance or reinsurance and whether any fraud or negligence was involved, a New York federal judge set a pre-motion conference for May 23.
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April 28, 2023
Parties Stipulate To Withdrawal Of Reinsurer’s Appeal Of Defense Costs Ruling
NEW YORK — An appeal to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a long-running dispute over defense costs for asbestos liabilities has been withdrawn by stipulation of the parties.
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April 27, 2023
Summary Judgment Ruling Splits Out Allocation Row In Reinsurance Dispute
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — In an April 26 opinion addressing just one claim in a complex breach of contract suit over reinsurance billings, an Alabama federal judge said the existence of factual disputes and absence of contractual terms governing how to proceed in such instances mean that the reinsurer should be denied summary judgment and the claim should go to trial.
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April 26, 2023
Insurer Dismisses Suit Seeking To Compel Arbitration Over Reinsurance Security
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Noting that the plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice, a Connecticut federal judge on April 25 ordered closure of the suit that sought to compel arbitration over an alleged $22,738,571 deficiency in required security for reinsurance agreements.
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April 25, 2023
DOJ Enters Nonprosecution Agreement With Brazilian Reinsurer Over Alleged Scheme
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Brazilian reinsurance company IRB Brasil Resseguros S.A. (IRB) announced April 24 that they entered a nonprosecution agreement (NPA) under which IRB will pay $5 million to shareholders who sold stock on March 4, 2020, after a false claim that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. had made a substantial investment in the company.
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April 25, 2023
Liquidators To Appeal Denial Of Bid To Enforce Stay As To N.C. Judgment
NEW YORK — In an April 24 notice of appeal, the joint provisional liquidators (JPLs) of Bermuda insurer and reinsurer PB Life and Annuity Co. Ltd. (PBLA) and other debtors said they are challenging a New York federal bankruptcy judge’s ruling that a North Carolina court’s judgment and related activities do not violate an automatic stay entered under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
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April 24, 2023
3rd Circuit Rules Against Delaware Regulators In Case Over Microcaptive Info
PHILADELPHIA — Affirming a decision for the United States in a case that “pits Delaware’s authority to protect corporate privacy against the power of the IRS to enforce the tax laws of the United States,” a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 21 ruled that a threshold requirement for application of reverse-preemption under the McCarran-Ferguson Act (MFA) was not met.
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April 24, 2023
Review Of 6th Circuit FAA Exclusive Remedy Rulings Over Crop Rows Sought
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of similar rulings, two farms say their cases “present several fundamental questions about the relationship between private agreements and the FAA [Federal Arbitration Act] . . . in the context of contractual language that is found in every federally sanctioned crop insurance policy.”
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April 24, 2023
After Settlement Report, Reinsurance Broker Dismisses ‘Coordinated Raid’ Cases
Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Company LLC has voluntarily dismissed related suits in Texas and New York federal courts over what it had alleged was a “coordinated raid” that created “a mirror image business.”
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April 20, 2023
Government Gets Deadline Extensions In Tax Attorney’s Microcaptive Insurance Suit
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In the two latest orders in a case involving a penalty related to microcaptive insurance companies, a Florida federal judge partly granted the government’s motion to push back the trial date and mostly rejected the plaintiff’s assertion of attorney-client privilege in a discovery dispute.
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April 20, 2023
Federal Judge Handles Partial Summary Judgment Bids In Reinsurance Billings Suit
LOS ANGELES — Partly granting each side’s motion in a reinsurance billings suit involving dozens of claims, a California federal judge ruled in part that a defendant is entitled to declaratory judgment on just one of four disputed interpretations.
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April 20, 2023
Florida Federal Magistrate Grants Ex Parte Application Related To Reinsurance Row
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Finding that the statutory requirements are met and “the discretionary factors favor granting the Application,” a federal magistrate judge in Florida granted an insurer’s ex parte application for judicial assistance to obtain evidence for use in a foreign proceeding involving an alleged reinsurance policy.
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April 19, 2023
Parties Discuss 8 Cases, Advance Arguments In ACA Reinsurance Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Notable filings in a U.S. Court of Federal Claims case over the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) include a status report outlining the parties’ positions on eight similar suits commenced in the last few months by entities that say they are SISAs — self-insured, self-administered employee health and welfare benefit plans.
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April 19, 2023
Magistrate Upholds Adverse Decision In Crop Insurance Policy Interpretation Row
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Upholding government agencies’ decision in a crop insurance dispute involving federal reinsurance, the term “farming activities” and the structure of a farming operation, a federal magistrate judge in California ruled that interpretation of an ambiguous term was reasonable and the agencies’ decision was not arbitrary or capricious.
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April 17, 2023
Plaintiffs Resume Bid For Third-Party Complaint Against Reinsurers In Crash Case
MIAMI — Describing a bid for leave to file a third-party complaint against it as “rife with procedural, jurisdictional, and substantive defects,” a reinsurer urged a Florida court to deny the long-pending motion in a plane crash case in which settlements were reached over an $844 million default judgment.
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April 17, 2023
Reinsurer’s Receiver Tells Delaware Court Of Negotiations With ‘Major Counterparty’
WILMINGTON, Del. — In an April 14 update to the Delaware Court of Chancery on addressing the impact of higher-than-expected mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other causes on a proposed rehabilitation plan, the receiver for Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. in Rehabilitation (SRUS) reports pursuing negotiations with “a major counterparty."
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April 17, 2023
Magistrate Bifurcates Bad Faith, Unfair Practices Claims In Coverage Row
PADUCAH, Ky. — Granting an opposed motion filed by the defendants in a coverage dispute involving a reinsurer, a Kentucky magistrate judge on April 14 found bifurcating and staying discovery on a bad faith claim and a claim of violating the Kentucky Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act (KUCSPA) to be appropriate.
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April 14, 2023
Bankruptcy Judge Stays Adversary Proceeding After Ruling In Main Case
NEW YORK — After denying a motion in a bankruptcy case to enforce a stay, a New York federal bankruptcy judge stayed an adversary proceeding for declaratory judgment that four North Carolina insurers filed against Bermuda insurer and reinsurer PB Life and Annuity Co. Ltd. (PBLA) and other debtors.
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April 14, 2023
Dismissal, Remand Argued In Dispute Over Arbitrator In Reinsurance Row
NEW YORK — Parties in a lawsuit seeking replacement of an arbitrator in a proceeding concerning two reinsurance contracts between Bermuda-based entities have filed competing motions in New York federal court, with one seeking remand and the other seeking dismissal.
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April 12, 2023
IRS And Treasury Department Propose Microcaptive Transaction Regulations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Some microcaptive transactions would be "listed transactions” and others would be “transactions of interest,” and both categories would have to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service under proposed regulations issued by the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department.
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April 12, 2023
Bankruptcy Judge Denies Liquidators’ Bid To Enforce Stay As To N.C. Judgment
NEW YORK — Ruling against the joint provisional liquidators (JPLs) of Bermuda insurer and reinsurer PB Life and Annuity Co. Ltd. (PBLA) and other debtors, a New York federal bankruptcy judge said a North Carolina court’s judgment and related activities do not violate an automatic stay entered under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.