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

As previously discussed here,  and here, the estate of Amanda Satterfield brought suit against Alcoa for her death from mesothelioma at the age of 25.  The suit alleged that her death was the result of secondhand exposure to asbestos clinging to her father’s work clothes, who was an Alcoa employee. 

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Read More Secondhand Asbestos Lawsuit Settled After Decision by Tennessee Supreme Court

Last month, the Uruguayan government made minimum automobile insurance coverage mandatory for all vehicles.  Nonetheless, insurers are not obligated to sell the mandatory coverage and some 40% of the nation’s automobiles do not have the obligatory minimum coverage. 

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Read More Uruguay: Market Watchful As Implications Of Mandatory Automobile Coverage Remain Unclear

Following a nation-wide search, Michael Bemi, Chair of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (the “VCIA”) Board of Directors recently announced that the VCIA has selected Richard Smith as the new President of the VCIA. 

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Read More New Vermont Captive Insurance Association President

As President Obama renewed his push for financial services regulatory reform during yesterday’s speech on Wall Street, new reports offered a glimpse of Congress’ potential timeline for action. 

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Read More Anticipated Legislative Action on Financial Regulatory Reform

Yesterday, the New York State Insurance Department (“NYSID”) issued a press release announcing that it will hold public hearing on Wednesday, September 16, regarding life insurance and annuity sales practices.  The hearing is particularly concerned with sales practices as they apply to seniors, and will focus on suitability (i.e. whether a particular product is appropriate for an individual consumer). 

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Read More New York Announces Public Hearing on Life Insurance and Annuity Sales Practices