The UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced on 13 January 2011 that seven insurance companies (Ageas Insurance Limited (formally Fortis Insurance Limited), Aviva plc, AXA Insurance UK plc, Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society, RBS Insurance Group Limited, Royal Sun Alliance and Zurich Insurance plc), and two IT software and service providers (Experian Limited and SSP Limited) have offered formal commitments to limit the type of information shared through a specialist market analysis tool. …
Read More UK: OFT Competition Investigation Results in Formal Commitments from Motor Insurers to Limit Data Exchange

In Meritz Fire & Insurance Co Ltd v (1) Jan De Nul NV (2) Codralux SA [2010] EWHC 3362 (Comm), the High Court ruled that advance payment guarantees (APGs) issued by the claimant insurance company to the defendants, guaranteeing the repayment of payments made by the defendants under three shipbuilding contracts (the Contracts), were performance bonds or demand guarantees on which the claimant was liable without regard to the Contracts. …
Read More UK: High Court Considers Whether Advance Payment Guarantees Issued By Insurance Company Were Performance Bonds or Contracts of Suretyship

In Council Tower Ass’n v. Axis Specialty Ins. Co., No. 09-3900, 2011 WL 31519 (8th Cir. 2011), the Eight Circuit considered whether, under Missouri law, the falling of seven stories of a twenty-six-story exterior brick veneer was a covered “collapse” of a building. …
Read More Eighth Circuit Holds that the Collapse of Seven Stories of Decorative Brick Veneer is Not a “Collapse of a Part of a Building”

In Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, L.P. v. The Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee of Bayou Group, LLC, et al., Slip Copy, 2010 WL 4877847 (S.D.N.Y. 2010), the court denied petitioner’s motion to vacate a $20.580 million award obtained in a FINRA arbitration by The Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee of Bayou Group (“OUCCBG”). …
Read More New York Federal Judge Provides Interesting Insights Regarding Arbitration and “Manifest Disregard of the Law”

Inez Tenenbaum, the head of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said this week that the U.S. has not been able to persuade Chinese officials to agree to compensate U.S. homeowners for losses associated with Chinese manufactured drywall. …
Read More Chinese Drywall – Manufacturers Still Refusing to Compensate U.S. Homeowners

In Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co. v. Albanese Popkin the Oaks Development Group L.P., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125918 (Nov. 30, 2010), Judge Kenneth A. Marra of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ordered that the developer’s insurer has no duty to provide coverage or a defense for claims related to Chinese drywall, which were made against the developer. …
Read More Chinese Drywall – Florida Federal District Court Finds No Coverage Under CGL Policy

Suffolk Federal Credit Union (“SFCU”) brought an action against Cumis Insurance Society to recover certain losses arising under a fidelity bond.  During discovery, SFCU served interrogatories, that included a request that Cumis disclose the identity of any reinsurance agreement that might indemnify Cumis for the losses at issue. …
Read More Federal Court Orders Insurer to Produce Reinsurance Information, Despite Acknowledging Split Among Courts on the Issue

The Financial Services Authority (the FSA) has confirmed in its Final Notice dated 15 December 2010 that Barry Williams, a director at Surety Guarantee Consultants Ltd (SGC), has been fined £25,000 and banned from working in regulated financial services. …
Read More UK: Director of Specialist Underwriters Banned for Turning a Blind Eye to Fraud