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On June 27, 2011, the Obama Administration nominated Roy Woodall as a voting member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”).  If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he would become the first voting member of FSOC with a background in insurance, meeting the Dodd-Frank requirement that a voting member with insurance experience be named to the panel. …
Read More Roy Woodall Nominated as Voting Member of FSOC

Last week, the New York State Assembly gave the final approval to a bill, S.B. 5811 and A.B. 8464, that would exempt large commercial insurance policies from certain rate and form approval requirements. …
Read More New York Exempts Large Commercial Insurance Products From Rate and Form Approval Requirements

Federal Investigation

Federal lawmakers recently called on several agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), to investigate whether the natural gas industry has provided an accurate picture to investors of the long-term profitability of their wells and the amount of gas these wells can produce. …
Read More Hydrofracking Under Fire: Federal and State Lawmakers Turn Up Heat on Natural Gas Industry and NY Attorney General Issues Subpoenas to Five Companies

Munich Reinsurance America was reinsured under a treaty in which National Casualty Corporation and Employers Insurance Company of Wausau, among others, participated as reinsurers.  The treaty contained an arbitration clause that provided as follows: …
Read More Federal Court Finds that Treaty’s Consolidation Language is for Arbitrators to Interpret

The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently concluded that an insured could not claim property insurance benefits following a fire at its restaurant, because the insured had actual knowledge that its fire-suppression system was no longer functional, and because the insured had exclusive control over the system’s maintenance. …
Read More Massachusetts Court Rules for Carrier in Property Dispute, Orders Return of Advance

A recent decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has left resounding implications for insurers with respect to benefit plans under ERISA.  In Cyr v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co., case number 07-56869, an en banc panel of the Court held that insurers can be sued directly under ERISA by plan participants even when not acting as the plan administrator. …
Read More Insurer Sued Directly Under ERISA

On Wednesday, June 22, 2011, New York State Insurance Department (“NYSID”) Superintendent James Wrynn announced that the NYSID entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) with the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (“FINMA”), Switzerland’s financial regulator. …
Read More New York State Insurance Department Announces Cooperation Agreement with Switzerland

This updates our June 14 blog post.

The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (“NCOIL”) has proposed amendments to the Beneficiaries’ Bill of Rights Model Act relating to payment of life insurance proceeds to beneficiaries. …
Read More NCOIL Proposes Amendments to the Beneficiaries’ Bill of Rights Model Act relating to Payment of Life Insurance Benefits

Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge’s Insurance and Reinsurance Department recently published its latest Newsletter, Insurance & Reinsurance Review –  June 2011, which contains nine articles about various topics in the insurance and reinsurance industry. …
Read More Insurance & Reinsurance Review – June 2011