Joseph G. Murphy, the acting Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner, has been named the new Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner.  Murphy temporarily took over the duties of insurance commissioner after Nonnie Burns stepped down in September 2009. …
Read More New Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Named

On November 27, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that failure to warn claims directed at generic pharmaceutical manufacturers are not preempted by federal law. 

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Read More Eight Circuit Rejects FDA Preemption Defense Raised by Generic Drug Manufacturers

As previously reported here, the Scottish Court of Session rejected insurers’ challenges, by way of judicial review, to the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009 by a judgment handed down by Lord Emslie on 8 January 2010. …
Read More UK: Insurers Appeal Decision by Scottish Court to Reject Challenge Over Compensation for Pleural Plaques

The Ponemon Institute, a privacy and information management research firm, released its fifth annual U.S. Cost of a Data Breach Study (the “Study”).  According to the Study the cost of a data breach increased two dollars from last year to $204 per compromised record.  Although the number of reported data breaches decreased (657 in 2008 and 498 in 2009), the  average total cost of a data breach rose from $6.65 million in 2008 to $6.75 million in 2009. 

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Read More Study Shows Cost of Data Breaches Increases

On January 27, 2010, the American Medical Association, American Dental Association, American Osteopathic Association, and the American Veterinary Medical Association sent a letter to the FTC Chairman, Jon Leibowitz, requesting that the FTC announce that the Red Flags Rule will not be applied against licensed health care professionals until at least 90 days after the final resolution of the American Bar Association (ABA) lawsuit (as we reported here) and commit that, if the final resolution of the ABA lawsuit is that the Red Flags Rule will not be applied to attorneys, the FTC will not apply the Red Flags Rule to licensed health care professionals either. …
Read More Medical Professionals Continue to Challenge the FTC’s Enforcement of the Red Flags Rule

In Mr Peter Crowson v HSBC Insurance Brokers Ltd (unreported), the Judge, in considering an application to strike out the claimant’s claim, held that an individual who is not in a contractual relationship with an insurance broker may have rights of action in tort and/or contract where the insurance to be arranged is also for his benefit. 

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Read More UK: Third Parties May Have Rights of Action Against Insurance Brokers

As the White House and Congress focused their attention on the release of President Obama’s FY 2011 Budget and the new jobs agenda, healthcare reform efforts took a back seat last week.  Despite the priority shift, off the record chatter and closed door meetings continued, as speculation grew over if and how Democrats would be able to revive their stalled priority in the coming months. …
Read More Last Week in DC: The Healthcare Reform Debate – February 8, 2010

The difficult market conditions and the consequent increased chance of insolvency of regulated entities prompted the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to carry out firm visits over the last 6 months to a range of investment and insurance broker firms to assess their compliance with the client money rules contained in the Client Asset Sourcebook (CASS) of the FSA Handbook. 

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Read More UK: Financial Services Authority Issues Client Money and Asset Report

The Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS) has recently announced that it has agreed to further enhance supervisory cooperation with the Swiss insurance supervisor, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). 

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Read More EU/UK: The Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors and the Swiss Insurance Supervisor Agree to Enhance Supervisory Cooperation