The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, applying Pennsylvania law, recently held that the fraudulent acts/willful violation exclusion contained in the subject Executive Protection Portfolio policy (the “Policy”) precluded coverage of defense costs for a criminal action and related derivative and securities lawsuits against an insured CEO.  The court also ruled that the insurer was entitled to recoup defense costs advanced. 


Read More Pennsylvania Federal Court Rules That Fraudulent Acts/Willful Violation Exclusion Bars Coverage Based on CEO’s Guilty Plea and Insurer Entitled to Recoupment of Defense Costs

In Sienkiewicz v Greif (UK) Ltd, the Court of Appeal considered the combined effect of the House of Lords’ decisions in Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services and Barker v Corus and section 3 of the Compensation Act 2006 on liability for mesothelioma claims. 
Read More UK: Court of Appeal Decision Demonstrates the Wide Applicability of the “Fairchild” Exception for Mesothelioma Claims

The Connecticut Superior Court recently granted the motion for summary judgment of a passenger’s insurer in a lawsuit concerning uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on the basis that the amount of potential coverage was capped and coverage under this excess insurer’s policy was not recoverable. 


Read More Connecticut Trial Court Dismisses Passenger’s Insurer From Uninsured Motorist Lawsuit

The Law Commission has now published the responses it has received to Issues Paper 5 “Reforming Insurance Contract Law: Micro-businesses”, published in April 2009. The Issues Paper asked whether micro-businesses should be treated like consumers for the purposes of pre-contractual information and unfair terms. 


Read More UK: Publication of Responses to Law Commissions’ Proposals Concerning Micro-Businesses

October 30, 2009 brought several noteworthy developments to the enforcement of the Red Flags Rule and finalization of the Massachusetts security regulation, all of which may affect what you must do to comply. 


Read More Recent Developments: The FTC Red Flags Rule and Massachusetts Security Regulation

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently granted an insurer’s motion for summary judgment, finding no coverage on the ground that the underlying complaint alleged solely intentional conduct that was not covered under the Errors and Omissions insurance policy at issue. 


Read More U.S. District Court Grants Insurer’s Motion for Summary Judgment, Finding No Coverage Where the Underlying Complaint Alleged Solely Intentional Conduct

In December 2008, Michael Foot (formerly of the Bank of England, the FSA and the Central Bank of the Bahamas) was appointed by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer to identify the opportunities and challenges facing the British Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey) and six Overseas Territories (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Turks and Caicos Islands). 


Read More UK: Foot Report on British Offshore Financial Centres Published

By orders dated September 1, 2009 and October 15, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted in part, and denied in part, the defendants motion to dismiss in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank et al v. Morgan Stanley et al, which names as defendants Moody’s Corporation (“Moody’s”) and McGraw Hill Companies (“McGraw Hill”) (collectively, the “Rating Agencies”). 


Read More Southern District Grants in Part and Denies in Part the Rating Agencies’ Motion to Dismiss in Subprime Suit