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On August 14, 2009, Governor Paterson announced the appointment of James J. Wrynn to serve as Superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department (the “Department”).  He will succeed Eric Dinallo who resigned from the Department on July 3 to accept a visiting professor position at New York University. 

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Read More Governor Paterson Announces Appointment of New York Superintendent of Insurance

The Obama Administration unveiled the final portion of its sweeping financial regulatory reform effort last week, when the Treasury Department released its over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives proposal.  The draft legislative proposal – sent to Capitol Hill on August 11 – seeks to bring transparency to the field of OTC derivatives, and to provide regulators with tools to prevent abuses such as manipulation and fraud in such markets. 

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Read More Administration’s Final Regulatory Reform Proposal Released

This updates our March 30, 2009 posting.  On July 27, 2009, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) released a revised draft of the Reinsurance Regulatory Modernization Act of 2009 (the “Act”), which was the result of a proposal adopted at its 2008 Winter Meeting to modernize reinsurance regulation. 

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Read More NAIC Releases Second Draft of Federal Legislation for Implementation of Reinsurance Regulatory Modernization Framework

On August 10, 2009, New York Governor David Patterson signed legislation continuing the freeze on medical malpractice rates.  In addition to the premium rate freeze, the legislation also suspended an anticipated surcharge.  The Legislature projected that without the freeze, medical malpractice rates would have increased by as much as 30% for some physicians. 

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Read More New York Freezes Medical Malpractice Rates For Additional Year

On July 9, 2009, a Texas federal court awarded in excess of $5.5 million in damages to an insured under a second-layer excess insurance policy, for claims arising out of Hurricane Katrina related damage. One of the main issues in contention was whether the second-layer excess insurer’s liability attached even if the underlying insurers had paid out their full limits of liability because they did not correctly determine coverage. 

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Read More Katrina: $5.5 Million in Damages Awarded by Texas Federal Court to an Insured Under a Second-Layer Excess Insurance Policy Regardless of Whether the Underlying Insurers Properly Paid their Limits

A state appellate court in Louisiana recently increased a trial court’s award against an insurer in connection with a Hurricane Katrina-related bad faith claim, finding that the trial court had misinterpreted the statutory penalties available to the plaintiff. 

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Read More Louisiana Appeals Court Increases Trial Court Award to $1.3 Million in Statutory Penalties in Katrina Bad Faith Case

The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut recently granted in part an insurer’s motion to dismiss on the basis that the insured could not prove a violation of the Connecticut Unfair Insurance/Trade Practices Acts because allegations of multiple unfair practices in dealing with a single insurance claim are not sufficient to constitute a “general business practice.” …
Read More Connecticut Federal Court: Multiple Unfair Practices in the Handling of a Single Insurance Claim do not Constitute a “General Business Practice”

Two D&O insurers have asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota to lift an automatic stay in a bankruptcy proceeding pending against their insureds so that the insurers can pursue their coverage defenses as counterclaims against the insureds in a pending declaratory judgment action. 

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Read More D&O Insurers Seek Relief from Automatic Stay in Order to Assert Coverage Defense Counterclaims Against Investment Firm Insureds

As the House of Representatives prepared to leave for its month-long August recess last week, Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) introduced legislation to repeal a controversial tax deduction used by foreign reinsurers.  The bill, H.R. 3424, would disallow the deduction for excess non-taxed reinsurance premiums with respect to United States risks paid to affiliates. 

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Read More Insurance and Financial Regulatory Reform Update