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

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