A new bill proposed last week in the Rhode Island Senate would establish one of the first state health benefits exchanges.  Such exchanges, as contemplated by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), will permit individuals and small businesses to compare health insurance plans and purchase coverage. …
Read More Rhode Island Health Insurance Exchange Proposed

Again reviving a coverage claim by a former bank director against her D&O insurer, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit performed a useful service by closely analyzing the policy’s grant of coverage and exclusionary clauses.  The result is a reminder to carriers, insureds, and counsel alike that they must pay careful attention to the actual language used in an insurance policy when deciding whether coverage exists for a particular claim. …
Read More Eighth Circuit Emphasizes Importance of Reading D&O Policy Language

The body of California law standing for the general proposition that insurers may be able to recoup defense costs expended for non-covered claims continues to grow.  In a December decision, a federal judge in San Jose granted an insurer’s request for reimbursement of approximately $11 million that the insurer had paid to its insured under a reservation of rights. …
Read More California Continues to Permit Carriers to Recoup Defense Costs for Non-Covered Claims

An interim consultation paper was launched this month by the London Market Group (LMG) as part of its Future Processing Model project.  The idea behind both the project and consultation is the ongoing modernisation of the processes used by the London market, in order to make it more efficient and competitive.  The consultation paper looks beyond current modernisation initiatives to potential development over the next 10 years. …
Read More UK: London Market Group Interim Consultation Paper Issued

As we reported earlier in the week, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) has begun filing lawsuits against the directors and officers of banks that it now holds in receivership .  The lawsuits are consistent with previous public statements in which the FDIC committed to try to recover, from the directors and officers of these failed banks, some of the $2.5 billion lost to bad loans in recent years.  It seems likely that that the D&O policies issued to those directors and officers will be called upon to respond to these lawsuits. …
Read More FDIC Continues Lawsuits Against Directors & Officers of Failed Banks

A federal district court in Iowa recently held that a lawsuit against a city for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations did not trigger certain insurance policies issued to the city, because the relevant events did not occur during the policy periods. …
Read More Federal Court Rules That Malicious Prosecution Suit Did Not Trigger Policies, Applying “Manifestation” Trigger

MGN Limited v the United Kingdom (Application no. 39401/04) 18 January 2011 European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), concerned an alleged breach of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) in relation to the reimbursement of a “success fee” payable under a Conditional Fee Arrangement (CFA). Under Article 10 of the Convention, everyone has the right to freedom of expression without interference. …
Read More European Court of Human Rights Raises Serious Doubts as to the Recoverability of Success Fees under CFAs

In R.G. Wegman Const. Co. v. Admiral Ins. Co., No. 09-2022, 2011 WL 117086, 5 (7th Cir. 2011), the Seventh Circuit considered whether a carrier’s duty of good faith to its insured required it to give timely notice that potential damages may exceed the policy’s limit.  This case is significant because it explores a positive duty in the good faith context. …
Read More Breach of Good Faith: 7th Circuit Holds Insurer must Notify Insured of Risk of Liability in Excess of Policy Limits