In a lengthy judgment, Mr Justice Andrew Smith found that damage resulting from the grounding of the vessel “Irene EM” was caused by an insured peril and, as a consequence, was covered by insurance. The judge also held that the vessel was a constructive total loss (CTL). …
Read More UK: English High Court Holds Vessel a Constructive Total Loss

The California Court of Appeal, Third District, in Yanez v. Plummer, 2013 WL 5915639, Cal. Ct. App. 3d Dist., No. C070726 (Nov. 5, 2013) recently held that a former employee deposed in connection with a co-worker’s personal injury suit may pursue malpractice claims against in-house counsel who failed to disclose the conflict of interest created by counsel’s dual representation of the employer-railroad and the employee. …
Read More California Court of Appeal, Third District Holds In-House Attorney May Be Liable for Malpractice for Failing to Warn Employee About Conflict

On December 2, 2013, a coalition comprised of The R Street Institute, The American Consumer Institute and the National Taxpayers Union (the “Coalition”) sent a letter to the federal banking regulators at the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, FDIC, NCUA, Farm Credit Administration and Federal Reserve Board. …
Read More Industry Groups Lobby Federal Banking Regulators to Revise Proposed Regulations for Private Flood Insurance

December 18, 2013

9:00 AM EST
Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP
750 Lexington Avenue, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10022…

Read More Please Join Us – Anti-Corruption and OFAC Compliance for the Insurance Industry – Complimentary Seminar – December 18, 2013

In Equitas Limited v Walsham Brothers & Company Limited [2013] EWHC 3264 (Comm), Equitas claimed that the defendant broker, Walsham, received substantial sums (claims on outwards policies and premiums on inwards policies) which it should have remitted to the syndicates (or, after an assignment to Equitas in 1996, to Equitas). …
Read More UK: Commercial Court Considers Brokers’ Duties, Limitation and Recoverability of Funds and Investment Return

In The London Steam-Ship Owners’ Mutual Insurance Association Ltd v (1) The Kingdom of Spain (2) The French State [2013] EWHC 3188, London Steam-Ship (the Claimant) sought an English judgment pursuant to s. 66 Arbitration Act 1996 (the Act) enforcing arbitral awards it had obtained against the Kingdom of Spain and the French State (the Defendants). …
Read More UK: France and Spain Lose State Immunity in M/T “PRESTIGE” Case

The New York State Assembly recently passed a number of bills seeking to amend the state’s insurance laws. Most significantly, Assembly Bill 7455A seeks to amend New York insurance law by prohibiting insurers from using “anti-concurrent causation” clauses in homeowner and commercial insurance policies to preclude coverage for flood claims. …
Read More New York Assembly Passes Bill Prohibiting “Anti-Concurrent Causation” Clauses

In an uncontested application in English & American Insurance Company Limited, [2013] EWHC 3360 (Ch) the High Court has confirmed that section 57 of the Trustee Act 1925 (the Act) can be used by trustees to partition a trust fund in order to allow trustees to pay one class of beneficiaries without disadvantaging a smaller class of beneficiaries. …
Read More UK: English High Court Authorises Partition of Trust Fund in Scheme of Arrangement

On November 20, 2013, a bipartisan delegation from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) met with President Obama in the Oval Office of the White House to discuss issues surrounding the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act. …
Read More President Obama Urges Coordination between the NAIC and the U.S. Treasury Regarding Global Insurance Regulation

In Cohen v. American Security Insurance Co., the Seventh Circuit rang the death knell on mortgagors’ lawsuits complaining about the cost of force-place insurance bought by the mortgagors’ bank. When a bank makes a loan and takes a mortgage, the mortgagor’s real estate often is the bank’s security – that is, the bank’s assurance that its loan will be repaid, involuntarily if need be. …
Read More The Seventh Circuit Puts an End to Litigation Attacking the Cost of Force-Place Insurance