The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed an award of summary judgment that had been in favor of an insurer in a bad faith action regarding an uninsured motorist claim, and found against the insurer. 

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Read More Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Reverses Summary Judgment and Holds Against Insurer In Bad Faith Action Related to Uninsured Motorist Claim

In a case concerning an IRS audit — but having potentially far-reaching implications for all manner of litigation and discovery — United States v. Textron, Inc., No. 07-2631 (1st Cir. Aug. 13, 2009), the First Circuit en banc recently held that the “attorney work product” doctrine protects only documents prepared for use in litigation. 

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Read More First Circuit Narrows Scope of Attorney Work Product Privilege

On 26 June 2009, a solicitor and a recovery agent were found guilty by the District Court for offering a “no win, no fee” deal to a mother seeking compensation for her son, who was severely injured in a road traffic accident. The recovery agent was also found guilty of champerty, that is, negotiating to receive a share of  the proceeds of litigation in which he had no interest. …
Read More HK: Prohibition Against Contingent Fee Arrangement Re-Affirmed

Republic Western Insurance Company (“Republic”) reinsured certain workers’ compensation policies issued by Reliance Insurance Company.  In October 2001, Reliance was placed into liquidation under the supervision of the Liquidator.  After Republic failed to pay certain claims arising under its reinsurance treaties with Reliance, the Liquidator demanded arbitration. 

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Read More Reinsurer’s Motion to Seal Documents Related to Arbitration Granted by Pennsylvania Court

One of Brazil’s largest insurers, Porto Seguro S.A. (“Porto Seguro”), and one of the country’s leading private banks, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (“Itau Unibanco”),  recently announced an agreement to merge their residential and auto-insurance operations.  The merged entity, which will retain the Porto Seguro name, will be controlled by a new holding company to be called Porto Seguro Itau Unibanco Participacoes (PSIUPAR). 

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Read More Brazil: Porto Seguro and Itau Unibanco Agree to Merge Residential and Automobile Insurance Operations; Sul America and Bradesco Next?

This updates our July 31, 2009 posting.  On August 19, 2009, Michigan’s House Insurance Committee advanced the package of “bad faith” bills (House bills 4244, 4844, 4858, 5020, 5144-5151) by voting to toughen penalties for insurance companies that deny or delay valid claims. 

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Read More Michigan’s House Insurance Committee Advances “Bad Faith” Legislation

The administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) have been intending to propose a scheme of arrangement under the English Companies Act to enable them to distribute several billions of dollars of assets held on trust by the company in the face of difficulties in establishing who was entitled to the trust assets; in particular, they had not received responses from all potentially interested clients, could not rely on the accuracy of the company’s records and had not received all the information requested from sub-custodians and other intermediaries. 

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Read More UK: Court Rules it Has No Jurisdiction to Sanction Scheme Concerning Trust Assets Held by Lehman UK

Florida Senator Bill Nelson recently sent a letter to President Obama asking the administration to streamline federal assistance available to homeowners with allegedly tainted Chinese drywall.  Nelson requested “White House mobilization and coordination of all federal resources that could help homeowners” and stressed the need for an inter-agency Drywall Task Force to coordinate efforts and a “one-stop federal Drywall Assistance Center” that could provide information and resources directly to impacted homeowners. 

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Read More Chinese Drywall – Senators Seek Expansion of Federal Assistance for Impacted Homeowners

The first half of the month-long congressional recess has significantly dimmed hopes for a bipartisan agreement on healthcare reform in the Senate, due to contentious, rancorous town hall meetings and new polls suggesting eroding public support for the Democrats’ healthcare reform proposals. 

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Read More Bipartisan Agreement on Healthcare Reform Remains Elusive; Democrats Considering Splitting Bill into Two Pieces