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The Connecticut Insurance Department (the “Department”) has rescinded Bulletin S-12 regarding de-minimis gifts to insurance clients and prospective clients.  Bulletin S-12, issued on December 24, 2008 and which we previously reported on here, had offered guidance to insurance practitioners regarding Connecticut’s anti-rebating law (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 38a-825). 

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Read More Connecticut Insurance Department Rescinds Anti-Rebating Bulletin

An insurer was recently granted summary judgment against its insured based on a commercial general liability insurance policy’s total liquor liability exclusion (“TLLE”). …
Read More Connecticut Superior Court Grants Summary Judgment for Insurer Based on Total Liquor Liability Exclusion

On June 4, 2009, Representatives Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Tom Price (R-GA) introduced H.R. 2733, the Indexed Annuities and Insurance Products Classification Act of 2009 (the “Bill”), in the U.S. House of Representatives.  If adopted, the Bill would nullify Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 151A which sought to classify indexed annuities as securities and subject them to federal regulation. …
Read More House of Representatives Introduces Bill to Nullify SEC Rule Regulating Indexed Annuities as Securities

This blog updates our April 24, 2009 posting.  The Texas Legislature adjourned last week without passing Senate Bill 1007 or  companion House Bill 2203 (the “Bills”) that would have authorized the continued operation of the Texas Department of Insurance (“TDI”). …
Read More Texas Legislature Adjourns Without Reauthorizing the Department of Insurance

More than $9 million of the $65.8 settlement fund in the Bisys Group securities class action is missing.  At a hearing in late April before Southern District of New York Judge Jed Rakoff,  lead plaintiff’s counsel, Gene Cauley, advised “the funds are presently unavailable to be delivered,” and when asked why, counsel responded by saying that “if I go into anymore detail, I think I might violate a privilege against self-incrimination.” 

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Read More Lead Plaintiff’s Counsel Pleads Guilty Over Missing Securities Class Action Settlement Funds

On May 26, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Merck’s petition for a writ of certiorari in the securities class action regarding Merck’s Vioxx disclosures.  The issue that the Supreme Court will address is what is required to establish “inquiry notice” sufficient to trigger the running of the two year statute of limitations for private securities lawsuits brought under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. …
Read More U.S. Supreme Court to Decide “Inquiry Notice” Standard

On June 1, 2009, Texas legislators unanimously passed HB 4409, An Act Relating to Emergency Preparation and Management (the “Act”).  The Act represents a compromise between the House and Senate to improve the funding structure for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (“TWIA”), a state-chartered organization that provides wind and hail insurance coverage to 229,000 homeowners and businesses on the Texas Gulf Coast when insurance companies exclude it from their homeowners and other property policies. 

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Read More Texas Windstorm Insurance Bill Passes

Wyeth, a pharmaceutical and health care product manufacturer, purchased 20% of its excess product liability insurance from one insurer in the 1980s.  Starting in 1988, a subsidiary of Wyeth, John Wyeth & Brother, Ltd., was named as a defendant in over 11,000 product liability actions in the United Kingdom and Ireland because of its manufacture and prescription of Ativan and other drugs containing benzodiazepine. 

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Read More Southern District of New York Holds Excess Insurer Liable for Reimbursement of Foreign Defense Costs, Despite Policy’s Exclusion of Duty to Defend

Late last month, the Connecticut legislature passed S.B. 301 (the “Act”), which requires group health insurers to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders.  Specifically, policies must provide coverage for treatments that are medically necessary and prescribed by a licensed physician, licensed psychologist or licensed clinical social worker. 

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Read More Connecticut Passes Autism Coverage Legislation