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The Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved two bills on November 5, 2009.  The first bill, the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2009 (S. 1490), amends the federal criminal code to make fraud in connection with the unauthorized access of sensitive personally identifiable information (“PII”) subject to federal racketeering charges. 

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Read More Senate Panel Approves Data Breach Bills

On November 10, 2009, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“AICPA”) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of its nearly 350,000 certified public accountant members against the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to seek an injunction barring the FTC from applying its Red Flags Rule to AICPA members. 

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Read More Accountants Seek Injunction to Bar FTC Red Flags Rule Enforcement

Healthcare reform efforts headed into another weekend showdown, as the Senate kicked-off consideration of its legislation with a key procedural vote on Saturday evening.  The timing of that vote was solidified once Democratic leaders released their merged healthcare reform bill last Wednesday – ending weeks of negotiations and speculation over what shape the bill would take. 

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Read More Last Week in DC: The Healthcare Reform Debate – November 23, 2009

After weeks of debate on the various legislative pieces of a large-scale financial regulatory overhaul, the House Financial Services Committee was expected to complete its work this week.  However, a committee vote to approve the final piece of the overhaul – the systemic risk bill (H.R. 3996) – was postponed Thursday when Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) withheld their support for the measure. 

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Read More Completion of Financial Regulatory Overhaul Delayed in House, Federal Reserve Auditing Provision Added

Reversing the intermediate appellate court, New York’s highest court recently granted summary judgment in favor of two excess insurers based upon their policies’ prior knowledge exclusion. 

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Read More NY Court of Appeals Applies Pennsylvania Law to Bar Coverage For Malpractice Claim Pursuant To Prior Knowledge Exclusion

The New York Supreme Court, Erie County, recently held that a lawyers’ professional liability policy constitutes a “policy or contract insuring against liability for injury to person” within the meaning of Insurance Law § 3420(a)(3)-(4). 

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Read More NY Lower Court Holds That Insurance Law § 3420(a) Applies to Lawyer’s Claims-Made Malpractice Policy

Section 984 of the “Discussion Draft” of the new financial regulation legislation sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christoper Dodd (D-Conn) proposes to amend the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PSLRA”) to allow investors a private right of action to sue “any person that knowingly or recklessly provides substantial assistance to another person in violation of [the Securities Exchange Act of 1934].” 

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Read More Proposed Financial Regulation Bill Would Allow Investors to Sue “Aiders and Abettors”

Recently, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that where a policy’s exclusion clearly precluded coverage, the insurer could not be held liable under Pennsylvania’s statute for bad faith denial of coverage. 

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Read More Third Circuit Holds That Lack of Coverage Precludes Bad Faith Claim and That Failure to Follow “Best Practices” Is Not Bad Faith

Following the House’s November 7 vote on healthcare reform, the Senate now faces increasing pressure to vote on a bill this year, as evidenced by the words of both the current President and a former President last week.  In the House, Members spent the week in their congressional districts, in recess for Veterans Day. 

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Read More Last Week in DC: The Healthcare Reform Debate – November 16, 2009