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On April 9, 2010, Iowa’s governor Chet Culver signed measures (Senate File 2201) designed to create greater transparency and disclosure of health insurance premiums, and to expand the rights of consumers prior to any rate increases by insurance companies. …
Read More Iowa Enacts Law Requiring 30-Day Rate Hike Notice from Health Insurers

On March 11, 2010, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court decision permitting an insured to shift the burden of primary coverage for various securities-related claims to its previous insurer by purchasing an extended reporting period (ERP) and adding an endorsement to its current primary policy making it specifically excess of the prior policy. 

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Read More Sixth Circuit Upholds An Insured’s Decision to Amend its Current Policy So As to Render A Prior Policy the Sole Primary Insurance

On October 16, 2009, in a lawsuit brought by owners of property along the Mississippi Gulf coast that sustained damage from Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the plaintiffs have standing to assert public and private nuisance, trespass and negligence claims against the defendants who caused the emission of greenhouse gases which are alleged to have ultimately added to the ferocity of Hurricane Katrina. 

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Read More Katrina: Claims To Continue Against Defendants Who Allegedly Caused the Emission of Greenhouse Gases That Added to the Ferocity of Hurricane Katrina

A federal jury in Boston recently returned a verdict against Pfizer Inc. in connection with claims that Pfizer unlawfully promoted off-label uses of its anti-epilepsy drug Neurontin.  The plaintiffs, a group of hospitals and HMOs, claimed that Pfizer had fooled them into believing that Neurontin was effective in the treatment of bipolar disorder, neuropathic pain and other conditions. 

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Read More Jury Awards $141 Million Against Pfizer in Connection With Off-Label Use of Neurontin

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans have sued the Massachusetts Division of Insurance (DOI) after the DOI’s decision last week to reject most proposed rate increases for small businesses for the current calendar quarter. 

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Read More Massachusetts Health Insurers Sue Over Rejected Rate Increases