On July 15, 2009, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania preliminarily approved a $32 million settlement of a subprime related securities class action against RAIT Financial Trust, RAIT’s directors and officers, Grant Thornton, and Piper Jaffray. …
Read More Court Gives Preliminary Approval to RAIT’s Settlement of a Subprime Related Securities Class Action

On August 24, 2009, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York preliminarily approved a $150 million settlement of a subprime-related securities class action pending against Merrill Lynch and several of its directors and officers styled, Louisiana Sheriff’s Pension and Relief Fund v. Conway et al. …
Read More Court Gives Preliminary Approval to Merrill Lynch’s Settlement of a Subprime-Related Securities Class Action

On 9 September 2009 Lloyd’s issued Market Bulletin Y4311 (click here to see a copy of the bulletin), informing the market that Lloyd’s has published a Service Companies Code of Practice. Codes of practice are issued by Lloyd’s under provisions in the Underwriting Byelaw and offer more detailed guidance to market participants on the standards Lloyd’s requires them to meet. …
Read More Lloyd’s Publishes Service Companies Code of Practice

According to industry reports, Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner, Nonnie S. Burnes, recently announced her plan to resign from the Insurance Department to become a senior university fellow at Northeastern University, where she earned her law degree. …
Read More Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Steps Down for Position in Academia

Today, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy introduced legislation to eliminate the federal antitrust exemption for health insurance and medical malpractice insurance companies. …
Read More Legislation Introduced to Eliminate Federal Antitrust Exemption for Health Insurance and Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies

As previously reported, here, on August 8, 2007, a jury convicted ex-Brocade CEO Greg Reyes for violating federal securities laws by failing to properly account for backdated options.   On August 18, 2009, the Ninth Circuit reversed Reyes’s conviction based on prosecutorial misconduct (but did not dismiss Reyes’ indictment). 

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Read More Ninth Circuit Reverses Reyes’ Conviction for Options Backdating

On July 31, 2009, the SEC filed a civil enforcement action against  NSP,  NSP’s CEO Douglas Faggioli, and NSP’s former CFO, Craig D. Huff, arising out of alleged bribes  that NSP made to Brazilian customs officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 

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Read More Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc., (“NSP”) and Two of NSP’s Officers Settle FCPA Enforcement Action

In an August 10, 2009  decision, the Delaware Supreme Court held that under certain circumstances, a D&O insurer may reasonably withhold its consent to settle a Claim. 

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Read More Delaware Supreme Court: Under Certain Circumstances, a D&O Insurer May Reasonably Withhold its Consent to Settle

In the last week of August, 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) officially published their final rules concerning consumer notification of breaches of protected health information (“PHI”). Congress mandated that both rules be issued under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. 

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Read More Final Rules Issued for Breach of Electronic Health Information