Governor Martin O’Malley announced the appointment of Therese Goldsmith as Maryland Insurance Commissioner, effective June 13, 2011.  Ms. Goldsmith has most recently served as commissioner of the Public Service Commission of Maryland. …
Read More Therese Goldsmith Appointed as Maryland Insurance Commissioner

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the state’s workers’ compensation statute does not bar a lawsuit by a subcontractor’s employee against the general contractor, even if the employee previously collected workers’ compensation benefits from the general contractor’s insurer.  See Wentworth v. Henry C. Becker Custom Bldg., No. SJC-10806 (May 23, 2011). …
Read More Massachusetts High Court: Workers’ Comp Bar Does Not Apply to Subcontractor Employee’s Suit Against General Contractor

In Römer v Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg (Romer), a reference was made to the European Court of Justice (the ECJ) for a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of Council Directive 2000/78/EC (concerning a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation) (the Directive) and of European legislation relating to discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in employment and occupation. …
Read More EU: European Court of Justice Rules That Same-Sex Couples Should Enjoy Equal Pension Rights

EAPD’s Privacy and Data Protection Group is pleased to announce that the newest edition of its White Paper, “Everyone’s Nightmare: Privacy and Data Breach Risks,” has been prepared. The paper discusses legal and regulatory data security and breach notification developments, exposures presented by data breaches, recent major breaches and court decisions, and lines of insurance potentially impacted. …
Read More Everyone’s Nightmare: Privacy and Data Breach Risks

The U.S. Supreme Court recently denied a reinsurer’s request to hear a dispute that concerned, among other things, whether a cedent’s party-appointed arbitrator should be disqualified from serving in a subsequent arbitration involving related parties and issues. …
Read More Supreme Court Denies Reinsurer’s Petition to Hear Arbitrator Disqualification Case

Business partners BHP Billiton Ltd. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. were recently hit with a series of proposed class actions in Arkansas alleging their hydraulic fracturing (“hydrofracking”) operations and compression stations are contaminating nearby groundwater, soil, water wells and air as well as causing dangerous seismic activity. …
Read More Hydrofracking: Recent Flurry of Class Actions in Arkansas

Last year, the Law Commission questioned whether Section 53 of the Marine Insurance Act 1906 (the MIA) should be reformed (Issues Paper 8) and whether Section 22 of the MIA should be repealed (Issues Paper 9). A summary of responses to each of these papers has been published. …
Read More UK: Insurance Contract Law Reform – Responses to Issues Papers 8 and 9 Issued

As part of a coordinated national investigation, California state insurance regulators held a hearing on May 23, 2011 to probe one particular life insurer’s claims settlement practices. Just as in the Florida hearing described in our May 20, 2011 advisory, at issue was the life insurer’s use of the Social Security Death Master File (DMF), a publically-available database containing information on deceased Americans. …
Read More Client Advisory – California Announces Investigation of Life Insurers’ Use of Social Security Death Master List and Compliance With Unclaimed Property Laws

Following the Court of Appeal decision in their application to the Court for directions to enable them to identify client money and its traceable proceeds (as previously reported here), the administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) sought further directions regarding the further work to be carried out, the evidence to be prepared and the identification of appropriate respondents and sought a protective costs order. …
Read More UK: High Court Tells Lehman Administrators to Await Supreme Court Decision

CMS UNVEILS THREE NEW ACO INITIATIVES

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) – part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – recently announced three new initiatives related to the Medicare Shared Savings Program and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). …
Read More Healthcare Update: ACO Update; Senators Express Face-To-Face Concerns