In AES Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropwer Plant LLP v Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant JSC [2010] EWHC 722 (Comm) the High Court ruled that it had jurisdiction to grant declarations and continue an anti-suit injunction to protect an arbitration clause in a contract between two Kazakhstani companies, AES Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropwer Plant LLP (AESUK) and Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant JSC (JSC). 

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Read More UK: High Court Confirms Anti-Suit Injunction to Protect an English Arbitration Clause

A California appeals court has ruled that an insurance company did not act in bad faith when it refused to reimburse a jewelry wholesaler for more than $1.5 million in property that the wholesaler claimed was mistakenly handed over to an individual who was merely posing as an armored-car agent. 

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Read More California Appeals Court Holds That Insurer Can Rely on Voluntary-Parting Exclusion to Deny Coverage to Jewelry Owner who Mistakenly Gave Away $1.5 Million in Jewels

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas recently ruled that a professional liability insurer must defend its insured, an insurance brokerage and consulting firm, against claims by victims of the alleged Stanford Financial (“Stanford”) Ponzi scheme. 

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Read More Federal Judge Rules That Professional Liability Insurer Must Defend Insurance Broker Against Ponzi Scheme Lawsuits

A federal judge in Virginia recently held that an insurer had no duty to defend its insured in a suit alleging trademark infringement, because the alleged infringement was not committed “in the course of advertising.” 

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Read More Federal Court Finds Trademark Infringement Not “In The Course Of Advertising”, Not Covered

The Unites States Department of Justice is expected to announce shortly a settlement with AstraZeneca plc over allegations that the drug manufacturer improperly promoted off-label uses of its antipsychotic drug, Seroquel.  Federal and state authorities have been investigating allegations that AstraZeneca promoted the use of Seroquel for purposes not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. …
Read More $520 Million Settlement Expected in AstraZeneca Off-Label Marketing Case

The Second Circuit recently overturned the Southern District of New York’s dismissal of a claim under § 10(b) Securities Exchange Act of 1934 relating to management fees charged to a mutual fund in Operating Local 649 Annuity Trust Fund v. Smith Barney Fund Management LLC, 595 F.3d 86 (2d Cir. 2010). 

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Read More Second Circuit Allows Securities Fraud Claim Alleging Misrepresentations Regarding Nature, But Not Amount, Of Mutual Fund’s Fees

An insurer that issued a school district liability policy to the Lower Merion School District has filed a declaratory judgment action, seeking a ruling that a recent privacy-related civil rights lawsuit against the school district is not covered by the policy. …
Read More Liability Insurer Seeks Declaration of No Coverage in School Laptop Monitoring Case

On April 23, 2010, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal gave written testimony during to a hearing held by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations regarding the nation’s financial rating agencies.  According to Attorney General Blumenthal, the three large financial rating agencies skewed their ratings of structured finance securities in order to garner more fee-based ratings business from the very same clients that were marketing those financial instruments. 

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Read More Connecticut Attorney General Labels Credit Rating Agencies as “Enablers of the Wrongdoing,” and Calls for Regulatory Reform to End their System of Compensation

The Health Care and Reconciliation Act (the “Act”), signed into law on March 30, 2010, imposes a tax on annuity income to help pay for the multi-billion dollar reform package set forth in both the Act and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law on March 23, 2010.  Specifically, the Act imposes a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on individuals who earn more than $200,000 a year, and couples who earn more than $250,000 a year. 

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Read More Health Care Legislation Imposes Tax on Annuity Income

Scandinavian Reinsurance Company Limited (“Scandinavian Re”) and St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company, St. Paul Reinsurance Company, Ltd. and St. Paul Re (Bermuda) Ltd. (collectively “St. Paul”) entered into a retrocessional agreement under which St. Paul ceded a portion of its casualty reinsurance portfolio to Scandinavian Re. …
Read More New York Federal Court Vacates Arbitration Award Based on Evident Partiality