United States

Subscribe to United States via RSS

A federal court in Florida ruled this fall that a D&O policy does not cover the insured company’s costs in responding to an SEC investigation, nor its internal investigation costs in response to a whistleblower complaint. …
Read More Court Holds That D&O Policy Does Not Cover Internal Investigations Or Costs In Responding to SEC Investigations

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling denying the motion of plaintiffs-appellants (collectively “LSED”) to compel arbitration of a dispute with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. (“MLPFS”), finding that LSED waived its right to arbitrate by litigating the case for nearly a year before filing its motion. …
Read More Second Circuit Determines Party Waived its Right to Arbitrate

A recently-filed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaint asserts that a company’s social media policy, which forbids employees from engaging in certain activities on the Internet, violates federal labor law. …
Read More NLRB Complaint Asserts That Employer’s Social Media Policy Violates Federal Labor Law

On December 8, 2010, the United States House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 3987, the Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010, to exempt lawyers, doctors, accountants, and other professionals from the Red Flags* Rule.  Having been approved by both Houses of Congress, the Act requires only President Obama’s signature to become law. …
Read More Congress Passes Act to Exclude Attorneys, Other Professionals From Reach of Red Flags Rule

The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently ruled that the state’s statute governing insurance companies’ claims settlement practices applies to captive insurers.  See Lemos v. Electrolux North America, Inc., et al., No. 09-P-943 (Mass. App. Dec. 2, 2010). …
Read More Massachusetts Appeals Court Holds That Bad Faith Statute Applies To Captive Insurers

This updates our June 1, 2010 posting.  The Texas Department of Insurance (“TDI”) has officially banned the use of discretionary clauses in insurance contracts with an order issued on December 3, 2010 (the “Order”).  The ban is the result of a petition filed by the Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel (OPIC) on October 28, 2009 requesting the ban.  Subsequent to the petition, the TDI held a public hearing on July 12, 2010. …
Read More UPDATE: Texas Bans Use Of Discretionary Clauses In Insurance Contracts

This updates our November 1, 2010 posting.  On December 6, 2010, the New Jersey Senate Commerce Committee passed S.168 (the “Bill”) by a vote of 4-0, which would permit a captive insurance market to exist in New Jersey.  The Bill is based on Vermont’s captive insurance bill, which is viewed as the state model with the best design for the captive insurance market so far. …
Read More New Jersey Senate Makes Progress On Captive Insurance Bill

Lawmakers returned to Washington last week to continue the lame-duck session of the 111th Congress, clearing a short-term solution to the pending Medicare cuts for physicians. Meanwhile, the President’s bipartisan fiscal commission finalized and released a report aimed at greatly reducing the federal deficit, though the details of the plan proved to be unpopular among those affected by the corresponding spending cuts. …
Read More Healthcare Update: Healthcare News From Capitol Hill and The Department of Health and Human Services – December 6, 2010

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (“GCCF”) — the agency responsible for doling out the $20 billion fund that was set up by BP as a result of the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident (the “Spill”) — has issued its Protocol for the submission and resolution of Interim and Final Claims. …
Read More BP Spill Update: GCCF issues Protocol for Interim and Final Claims