This updates our June 12, 2012 blog posting.

The California State Legislature has unanimously passed SB 1216 and SB 1448, both of which follow model laws recently put forth by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”). …
Read More UPDATE: California State Legislature Approves NAIC Model Laws Regarding Enterprise Risk and Collateral Reduction for Alien Reinsurers; Bills with Governor for Signature

The Supreme Court may hear arguments this fall regarding whether former plan beneficiaries can bring ERISA claims against the plan’s investment adviser without pre-suit demands, and whether those same parties can bring claims under Sections 47(b) of the Investment Company Act. …
Read More Supreme Court Petitioned to Hear Appeal of 401(k) Fee Suit Involving Insurers’ ERISA Plans

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently dismissed most of the claims in the long-running litigation over transfer agent fees collected on the Smith Barney family of funds.  See In re Smith Barney Transfer Agent Litig., No. 05 Civ. 7583 (WHP) (decision available here). …
Read More Transfer Agent Fee Litigation Saga (Almost) Comes to an End

In Faraday Reinsurance Co Ltd v Howden North America Inc & Anor [2012] EWCA Civ 980, the Court of Appeal ruled that the judge at first instance, Judge Beatson, was entitled to conclude that English proceedings would serve a useful purpose when he refused to set aside a service out of the jurisdiction of negative declaratory proceedings by Faraday against Howden. …
Read More UK: Court of Appeal Affirms Decision to Refuse to Set Aside Service Out of Jurisdiction

The California Supreme Court last week handed down a major ruling endorsing the “all-sums-with-stacking” approach for insurance coverage in long-tail environmental claims. …
Read More California Adopts “All-Sums-With-Stacking” Rule in Decision that Maximizes Coverage Available to Policyholders

On August 6, 2012, Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA) signed into law a nearly 350-page bill that builds on the health reform legislation signed into law by Gov. Mitt Romney in 2007, and supports the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The legislation’s cost containment provisions are estimated to save Massachusetts up to $200 billion in healthcare costs over the next 15 years. …
Read More Client Advisory – Massachusetts Governor Signs Healthcare Payment Reform Bill

The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, issued a ruling this past week in which it adopted a “clear approach” for determining the difference between direct and derivative claims.  The decision clarifies heretofore murky New York law on the topic.  A copy of the slip opinion, Yudell v. Gilbert, 2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 05896 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dep’t Aug. 7, 2012), is available here. …
Read More New York Adopts Delaware’s “Tooley Test” for Distinguishing Between Derivative and Direct Actions

In JP Morgan Chase & Co. v Indian Harbor Ins. Co., 2012 NY Slip Op 4702 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dep’t June 12, 2012), the New York Appellate Division, applying Illinois law, held that an insured was unable to access numerous excess layers due to its failure to show that the exhaustion provisions in the excess policies had been satisfied. …
Read More New York Appellate Division Affirms Lower Court’s Ruling That Excess Insurers Have No Payment Obligations Where The Insured Fails to Satisfy Conditions Precedent to Exhaustion

State insurance regulators working through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) joined their counterparts from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to further regulatory cooperation on issues impacting both countries. The U.S.-China Insurance Regulation Seminar was held in Qingdao, China on July 24th and 25th, 2012.  This seminar is the eighth time that such talks have been held between the parties. …
Read More NAIC-CIRC Dialogue Advances

The New York State Court of Appeals has ruled that additional insureds are not entitled to coverage under a general liability policy if that policy is rescinded due to the named insured’s material misrepresentations. …
Read More New York Court Holds That Additional Insureds Are Not Entitled To GL Coverage Where The Policy Is Rescinded Due To The Named Insured’s Material Misrepresentations