The High Court recently handed down a judgment in which a claims control clause in a reinsurance contract was held not to be breached by the conduct of the reinsured in agreeing to pay the insured their retention and the share of one reinsurer who had been involved in settling that part of the claim. …
Read More UK: Actions of Insurers in Respect of the Retention and One Reinsurer’s Share did not Breach Claims Control Clause

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts recently held that where title insurers pursue litigation to cure defects to a title, they do not have a broad duty to defend any uncovered counterclaims against the insured. See GMAC Mortgage, LLC v. First American Title Ins. Co., No. SJC-11161 (Apr. 4, 2013). …
Read More Massachusetts High Court Holds That Title Insurers Do Not Have Broad Duty To Defend Counterclaims

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) is seeking comments on natural catastrophes and the current state of the market for insurance of natural catastrophe perils in the United States. FIO has also called for submission of papers analyzing natural catastrophes and the catastrophe insurance market. …
Read More FIO Solicits Comments on Availability of Insurance for Natural Catastrophes

In Koransky, Bouwer & Poracky, P.C. v. The Bar Plan Mutual Ins. Co., No. 12-1579 (7th Cir. Apr. 2, 2013), the Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment against an Indiana law firm and in favor of its malpractice insurer, as the firm’s notice of claim to the insurer was untimely. …
Read More The Seventh Circuit Bars Malpractice Coverage for an Insured Law Firm Despite the Firm’s Subjective Belief That it Represented its Client Correctly

This case concerned which one of two insurers was liable for the losses caused by damage to economiser blocks which were to be incorporated in two boilers on a new energy-from-waste facility near Slough. The blocks were manufactured in Romania and transported by road or by road and sea. On installation at the facility, testing revealed cracking in the rows of tubing contained in the blocks. …
Read More UK: Causation and Inherent Vice: Court of Appeal Dismisses Appeal in Ace European Group Ltd v Chartis Insurance UK Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 224

At the Spring Meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the NAIC Reinsurance Task Force announced that the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) requested that the NAIC conduct a survey on access to reinsurance data. …
Read More NAIC to Conduct Survey on Access to Reinsurance Data on Behalf of FIO

On April 17, 2013, the Florida Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance approved SPB 7152 as committee bill SB 1888 (the “Bill”). The Bill would eliminate Florida’s no-fault personal injury protection (“PIP”) coverage requirements, which were reformed just last year as the result of serious negotiations. …
Read More Florida Senate Committee Approves Bill Repealing No-Fault Law