A federal judge has ruled that directors and officers of a company in bankruptcy proceedings may continue to access an eroding liability policy to cover their defense costs.  The court based its decision on a close examination of the policy language, and alternatively held that the individual directors and officers had shown they were entitled to relief from the automatic stay. …
Read More Delaware Bankruptcy Court Rules That Directors & Officers May Access Eroding Policy Despite Company’s Bankruptcy

On 9 July 2010, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined David Head £10,500 for putting customers at risk of receiving unsuitable advice on Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). Head, a director of Essex based mortgage and insurance broker network, FT Compliance Services Limited, and an FSA approved person, failed properly to supervise insurance and mortgage brokers who advised on PPI sales. …
Read More UK: FSA Fines Approved Person for Unsuitable PPI Advice

The U.S. Supreme Court recently asked the Solicitor General to file a brief on behalf of the United States expressing its views on whether the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”) and the federal legislation that enforces it, the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”),  are subject to the reverse preemption provision of the McCarran-Ferguson Act. …
Read More United States Supreme Court Asks for Federal Government’s Opinion on Applicability of the McCarran-Ferguson Act to the New York Convention

In American Home Assurance Co. v. American Re-Insurance Co., No. 602485/06 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. May 27, 2010), the plaintiffs, several ceding companies, brought a declaratory judgment action against certain reinsurers (collectively, the “Reinsurers”) seeking reimbursement for portions of a settlement plaintiffs made with their insured, Monsanto Corporation. …
Read More New York State Court Finds that Follow the Settlements Doctrine Does Not Apply

Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge is a sponsor of the Reinsurance Association of America’s  reinsurance education programs. Vincent J. Vitkowsky, Partner in New York, will be presenting at the seminar “Dispute Resolution Clauses in Contracts” presented at the Reinsurance Association of America’s ReContracts program on July 22, 2010 in New York City.  If you are planning to attend the conference, please come by our booth and meet our attorneys and to network with your peers in the industry. …
Read More RAA/Contracts Conference in New York

The Law Commission has published an Issues Paper considering the insured’s post-contract duty of good faith, in particular, the law of fraudulent claims, focusing on what remedies should be available to insurers if policyholders act fraudulently. …
Read More UK: Law Commission Publishes Paper on The Insured’s Post-Contract Duty of Good Faith

ERISA litigation, once considered a dull backwater of the law, has been gaining increased interest and attention in recent years:  the result of an aging population and an increasingly sophisticated and aggressive plaintiffs’ bar. …
Read More ERISA Litigation: An Update from the ALI-ABA Conference on Financial and Insurance Litigation

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, the “Affordable Care Act”) require group health plans and insurers that provide dependent coverage to extend health care coverage to adult children until they reach age 26. …
Read More Extension of Group Health Plan Coverage to Adult Children

This panel offered the insights of a federal district court judge, defense counsel and plaintiffs’ counsel regarding Class Action Procedure, focusing on trends regarding the class certification process. …
Read More Live Blog: Class Action Procedure: The Latest Developments from ALI-ABA Conference on Insurance and Financial Services Litigation