Mealey's Reinsurance
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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November 08, 2023
Debtors In Vesttoo Bankruptcy Cases Note Agreement With Unsecured Creditors
WILMINGTON, Del. — In a Nov. 7 objection to conversion to Chapter 7, Chapter 11 debtors Vesttoo Ltd. and 48 affiliates tell a Delaware federal bankruptcy court that they hope to close on a sale of assets “around December 1” and “if such a sale is not possible or cannot come together in that time frame . . . will have worked with [the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors] toward a singular liquidating plan.”
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November 07, 2023
Discovery Will Start In Crop Insurance Row Despite Regulators’ Stay Bid
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Without explanation, a Michigan federal judge denied a motion to stay discovery as to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) until resolution of their dismissal bid in a suit over crop insurance claims that the plaintiffs say have not been adjusted in more than three years.
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November 01, 2023
Reinsurer Makes Disputed Intervention Bid In Row Between Insurer And Agent
NEW ORLEANS — A captive cell reinsurer seeking to intervene in a dispute between an insurer and a managing general agent (MGA) in Louisiana federal court argues in an Oct. 31 reply brief that it “has satisfied the Fifth Circuit’s four-part test for intervention as a matter of right.”
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November 01, 2023
8th Circuit Denies Panel Rehearing In Qui Tam Crop Insurance Case
ST. LOUIS — A petition for panel rehearing of a qui tam crop insurance case in which a ruling against relators was upheld has been denied without explanation; in seeking rehearing, the relators argued that the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals “overlooked facts in the record” and “misapprehended the import” of United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu Inc.
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November 01, 2023
Judge: Purported Reinsurance Contract’s Existence Adequately Pleaded
HONOLULU — A Hawaii federal judge on Oct. 31 denied a dismissal motion in a dispute over a purported reinsurance policy, ruling that a challenged breach of contract counterclaim “is plausible on its face, setting forth enough detail to explain the existence of a contract.”
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October 31, 2023
Conversion To Chapter 7 Sought For Vesttoo Bankruptcy Cases By U.S. Trustee
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge on Oct. 30 set a Nov. 8 hearing on a motion to convert the jointly administered Chapter 11 cases of Vesttoo Ltd. and 48 affiliates to Chapter 7 cases.
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October 31, 2023
Plaintiff Wins Interpretation Dispute In Long-Term Care Insurance Benefits Row
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A Montana federal judge on Oct. 30 granted partial summary judgment for the plaintiff in a suit over long-term care insurance benefits, concluding “narrowly” that the policy rider at issue “does not categorically exclude coverage for care provided by a family member” and also ruling that one defendant is bound by that interpretation because of a reinsurance agreement.