Jurisdictions

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On October 15, 2012, Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas B. Leonardi announced a thirty (30) day public comment period in connection with the National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc.’s (NCCI) filing for proposed 2013 voluntary loss costs and assigned risk rates. …
Read More Connecticut Insurance Department Requests Public Comments on NCCI’s Proposed Rate Increases

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the statute of repose created under the General Aviation Revitalization Act (“GARA”) provides an aircraft’s individual component parts’ manufacturers the same protections as the aircraft manufacturer itself, even where the part in question is used and becomes incorporated on a later delivered aircraft that is not entitled to protection. …
Read More When Used Parts are as Good as New – Ninth Circuit Rules GARA’s Statute of Repose Trigger Date Applies Equally to Both

On October 24, 2012, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts affirmed that an excess insurer’s liability extends only to the amount of loss that exceeds the amount of coverage available from underlying insurance, and not, under usual circumstances, to the total amount of loss. …
Read More Massachusetts Appeals Court Rejects Insured’s Bid For Recovery of Hurricane Katrina Losses Exceeding Stated Property Value Under Excess Policy

In Ace European Ltd & 5 ors v (1) Howden Group (2) Howden North America Inc (formerly Howden Buffalo Inc) [2012] EWHC 2427 (Comm), Mr Justice Field upheld his prior order granting permission to the claimant insurers (the Claimants), to serve proceedings seeking declaratory relief, out of the jurisdiction. …
Read More UK: ACE and Others to Serve Proceedings on Howden Out of Jurisdiction

In Parker and Parker v National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society Ltd [2012] EWHC 2156 (Comm), the High Court held that the Defendant insurers, National Farmers Union (NFU), could not avoid the claim of the First Claimant, Mrs. Parker, for the non-disclosure of the Second Claimant, Mr. Parker. The claim related to damage caused to a property and its contents by fire. …
Read More UK: Breach of a Condition Precedent Sufficient for Defendant Insurer to Avoid a Claim and Successfully Counterclaim

PHYSICIAN GROUPS PROPOSE PERMANENT “DOC FIX”
In an October 15 letter, the American Medical Association (AMA) and more than 100 other medical societies and physicians’ organizations urged Congress to consider a permanent replacement for the Medicare physician payment system. Under the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula used for Medicare Fee Schedule payments, doctors’ reimbursements for services are scheduled to be cut by 27% as of January 1, 2013. …
Read More Healthcare Update: Physician Groups Propose Permanent “Doc Fix”; HIPAA/HITECH Enforcement Expected to Increase in 2013

On October 17, the SEC filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against hedge fund Yorkville Advisors LLC, as well as its President Mark Angelo and CFO Edward Schinik.  The action, brought by the SEC’s Asset Management Unit, is the latest alleged fraud brought to light by its “Aberrational Performance Inquiry,” which uses risk analytics to identify returns from hedge funds that appear to be too good to be true. …
Read More SEC’s Asset Management Unit Continues to Probe Valuation Methods of Hedge Funds with Latest Case Against Yorkville

Richard McCarthy and Eric Hermanson, attorneys in Edwards Wildman’s Insurance and Reinsurance Department, discussed the ramifications of the Stringfellow ruling in Law360. In the article, “Insurers See Ways Around Calif.’s Landmark Stacking Ruling,” Hermanson commented that the Stringfellow ruling was based on a fairly close reading by the California Supreme Court of the language in the 1966 [standard policy] form and that the Stringfellow holding will not apply automatically to alternate policy language, such as was in effect after 1986. …
Read More Edwards Wildman’s Richard McCarthy and Eric Hermanson Discuss Impact of Stringfellow Ruling in Law360

We previously reported on AB 999. This bill revises the premium rate development process for long-term care insurance in order to address the dissatisfaction of policyholders with rate increases on in-force coverage.
Read More California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones Has Sponsored Seven Bills That Have Been Enacted and Will Become Effective on January 1, 2013

Financial lines insurers may want to take a closer look at revenue-sharing agreements between pension plan administrators and the mutual funds they offer plan participants as investment options, in the wake of a Connecticut federal court’s decision to certify a class action against ING Life Insurance & Annuity Company. …
Read More Alleged Mutual Fund Kickback Case Allowed to Proceed as Class Action