This week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) promulgated additional rules affecting the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (“TRIA”), which had been recently reauthorized in late 2015 (the “Rules”). Of particular note is that, in accordance with the recent reauthorization, Treasury is obligated to collect data on the terrorism market
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Jurisdictions
Public Hearing Scheduled Regarding Proposed Illinois Rescission Rule
The Illinois Department of Insurance (“DOI”) will hold a public hearing on December 19 in Chicago regarding proposed amendments to the Illinois Administrative Code that address insurance policy rescissions. The DOI proposed the amendments in light of numerous complaints regarding rescissions based on an alleged misrepresentations or material changes in…
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No Thanksgiving Vacation for This Arbitration Award
A New York Federal Court recently rejected a cedant’s request to vacate an arbitration award on the grounds that it was in manifest disregard of the law or because the umpire failed to disclose his prior representation of the reinsurer. The court determined that the cedant failed to clear the…
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Rhode Island Regulation 68, Voluntary Restructuring of Solvent Insurers Act
Recently Rhode Island revised its Voluntary Restructuring of Solvent Insurers Act as implemented by DBR Regulation 68. This was, in many respects, modeled after the UK’s Part VII Transaction, which, subject to court approval, enables an insurance company to transfer/novate a book of business (and divest itself of all residual…
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Captive Insurance Arrangements Taking Advantage of Section 831(b) Election May Be Required to Report to the IRS
The Internal Revenue Service on November 1 issued Notice 2016-66, which requires information reporting with respect to certain insurance or reinsurance transactions involving captive insurance companies that claim the benefits of an election under Section 831(b) of the Internal Revenue Code available to certain small insurance companies, often referred to…
Elected Insurance Commissioners
New insurance commissioners were elected in 5 states. Delaware elected Democrat Trinidad Navarro. Montana elected Republican Matthew Rosendale. North Carolina elected Republican Mike Causey. North Dakota elected Republican Jon Godfread. Washington re-elected Democrat Mike Kridler.
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Vermont Issues Proposed Captive Rule
The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation recently issued a proposed rule on Regulation C-81-2. The proposed rule, which will be the subject of a public hearing on December 5, clarifies annual reporting requirements of Vermont-domiciled captive insurance companies by adding details to the annual audit and certification of loss reserves.
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Locke Lord’s Zach Lerner, Associate in the New York office, Co-Authors “The Privacy Shield and its Impact on U.S. Insurance Companies” for FORC Fall 2016 Edition
The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (the “Privacy Shield”) has been promulgated through a joint effort between the United States (the “U.S.”) and the European Union (the “EU”) in order to facilitate the transfer of personal data from the EU to U.S. companies. The Privacy Shield officially went live on August 1…
Florida Supreme Court Advises the Eleventh Circuit that A STOLI Policy Cannot Be Rescinded After the Contestability Period
The U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals certified 2 questions under Florida law to the Florida Supreme Court relating to 3 STOLI life insurance policies. The Florida Supreme Court rephrased (and conflated) the 2 questions and stated the issue to be, “Can a party challenge the validity of a life…
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Georgia appellate court: no continuous trigger when policy responds to occurrences, not property damage, during the period
A Georgia appellate court has ruled that there is no continuous trigger of coverage for an environmental claim when the subject policy responds to occurrences, not property damage, during the policy period. The insured sought coverage from the insurer for costs arising from a 1976 turbine fuel leak. The lower…
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