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The Kansas Senate has passed a bill, S.B. 560, that would allow property/casualty insurers to increase rates up to 12% without regulatory approval.  The bill was based on the National Conference of Insurance Legislators’ (“NCOIL”) Flex-Rating Model Act.  The version passed by the Kansas Senate differs slightly from the NCOIL Flex-Rating Model Act, in that it also allows property/casualty insurers to decrease rates by any amount, rather than establishing a 12% floor. …
Read More Kansas May Adopt Flex-Rating For Property/Casualty Insurers

Two weeks ago the Florida House of Representatives’ Jobs and Entrepreneurship Committee unanimously passed a bill, requiring insurers, which participate in Florida’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (“Cat Fund”), to purchase reinsurance from the private market.  The bill specifically seeks to eliminate last year’s $12 billion increase in Cat Fund coverage. 

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Read More Florida House Committee Passes Legislation to Expand Private Reinsurance Market

As we previously reported here, Leonard Crouse, long time Vermont Deputy Commissioner of the Captive Insurance Division (the “Division”), is set to retire from his post on June 1, 2008.  On February 29, 2008, the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration issued a press release announcing that David F. Provost, assistant chief examiner in the Division, will succeed Crouse as the Division’s Deputy Commissioner. …

Read More David Provost Named Deputy Commissioner of Vermont Captive Insurance Division

The U.S. Attorney’s office has decided not to intervene, at this time, in United States of America, ex rel. Rigsby v. State Farm Ins. Co., a Katrina-related whistleblower lawsuit filed in federal court in Mississippi. …
Read More U.S. Government Chooses Not to Intervene in Hurricane Katrina Whistleblower Lawsuit but Reserves its Rights to Intervene at a Later Date

Last week, Judge Barbara Jones of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that a policy exclusion in the Port Authority’s Policy effectively barred coverage for damage done to all but one of the buildings at the World Trade Center complex and the PATH train station. 

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Read More Federal Judge Rules That Policy Exclusion Severely Limits Port Authorities’ WTC Claims

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently upheld the dismissal of a claim by two individuals against an insurance agent who sold them renters’ insurance because they failed to file their claim within one-year after they learned about, or should have known, the facts that gave rise to their claim. …
Read More Fifth Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Claims Against Insurance Agent based on Louisiana’s One-Year Statute of Limitations

Craig Stewart (Boston) and Antony Woodhouse (London) of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP are attending the 16th annual ABA TIPS Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee mid-year meeting in Marina Del Rey. They report that the meeting is very well attended and is currently in full flow with representatives from 31 different states, Puerto Rico, Canada and, of course, the U.K. 

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Read More Report from ABA TIPS Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Mid-Year Meeting in Marina Del Rey, CA

In late 2007, an Ohio federal court ruled that an insurer defending itself in a lawsuit over its denial of coverage of a computer hacking claim against one of its insureds should not be forced to disclose any information regarding its own unrelated security breach or about how it handled similar computer hacking claims with other policyholders. 

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Read More Ohio Federal Court Judge Denies Motion to Compel Production of Information as to Other Claims and Security Breaches In Computer Hacking Case