An insurer was recently granted summary judgment against its insured based on a commercial general liability insurance policy’s total liquor liability exclusion (“TLLE”).
Read More Connecticut Superior Court Grants Summary Judgment for Insurer Based on Total Liquor Liability Exclusion
House of Representatives Introduces Bill to Nullify SEC Rule Regulating Indexed Annuities as Securities
On June 4, 2009, Representatives Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Tom Price (R-GA) introduced H.R. 2733, the Indexed Annuities and Insurance Products Classification Act of 2009 (the “Bill”), in the U.S. House of Representatives. If adopted, the Bill would nullify Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 151A which sought to classify indexed annuities as securities and subject them to federal regulation. …
Read More House of Representatives Introduces Bill to Nullify SEC Rule Regulating Indexed Annuities as Securities
Foreign Companies Take Note: Costa Rican Regulator Clarifies Insurance Laws and Regulations Regarding Prohibitions Against Unauthorized Insurance Business, Cross-Border Insurance Exception, Surplus Lines and 4% Premium Tax
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Posted in Latin American Developments, Regulatory
As discussed here, the government monopoly over the Costa Rican insurance market was ended in the Fall of 2008. Soon thereafter, the Costa Rican government began promulgating regulations governing the newly opened market (see here). …
Read More Foreign Companies Take Note: Costa Rican Regulator Clarifies Insurance Laws and Regulations Regarding Prohibitions Against Unauthorized Insurance Business, Cross-Border Insurance Exception, Surplus Lines and 4% Premium Tax
Fitch Report: Costa Rica’s Economic Outlook is Stable
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Posted in Latin American Developments
Fitch recently affirmed Costa Rica’s credit rating as stable. It also affirmed the following: long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at “BB”; long-term local currency IDR at “BB+”; short-term IDR at “B”; country ceiling at “BB+”. …
Read More Fitch Report: Costa Rica’s Economic Outlook is Stable
Texas Legislature Adjourns Without Reauthorizing the Department of Insurance
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Posted in Regulatory, United States
This blog updates our April 24, 2009 posting. The Texas Legislature adjourned last week without passing Senate Bill 1007 or companion House Bill 2203 (the “Bills”) that would have authorized the continued operation of the Texas Department of Insurance (“TDI”). …
Read More Texas Legislature Adjourns Without Reauthorizing the Department of Insurance
Lead Plaintiff’s Counsel Pleads Guilty Over Missing Securities Class Action Settlement Funds
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Posted in D&O Liability, United States
More than $9 million of the $65.8 settlement fund in the Bisys Group securities class action is missing. At a hearing in late April before Southern District of New York Judge Jed Rakoff, lead plaintiff’s counsel, Gene Cauley, advised “the funds are presently unavailable to be delivered,” and when asked why, counsel responded by saying that “if I go into anymore detail, I think I might violate a privilege against self-incrimination.”
U.S. Supreme Court to Decide “Inquiry Notice” Standard
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Posted in D&O Liability, United States
On May 26, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Merck’s petition for a writ of certiorari in the securities class action regarding Merck’s Vioxx disclosures. The issue that the Supreme Court will address is what is required to establish “inquiry notice” sufficient to trigger the running of the two year statute of limitations for private securities lawsuits brought under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. …
Read More U.S. Supreme Court to Decide “Inquiry Notice” Standard
Texas Windstorm Insurance Bill Passes
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Posted in Regulatory, United States
On June 1, 2009, Texas legislators unanimously passed HB 4409, An Act Relating to Emergency Preparation and Management (the “Act”). The Act represents a compromise between the House and Senate to improve the funding structure for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (“TWIA”), a state-chartered organization that provides wind and hail insurance coverage to 229,000 homeowners and businesses on the Texas Gulf Coast when insurance companies exclude it from their homeowners and other property policies.
Southern District of New York Holds Excess Insurer Liable for Reimbursement of Foreign Defense Costs, Despite Policy’s Exclusion of Duty to Defend
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Wyeth, a pharmaceutical and health care product manufacturer, purchased 20% of its excess product liability insurance from one insurer in the 1980s. Starting in 1988, a subsidiary of Wyeth, John Wyeth & Brother, Ltd., was named as a defendant in over 11,000 product liability actions in the United Kingdom and Ireland because of its manufacture and prescription of Ativan and other drugs containing benzodiazepine.
EU: The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) Publishes Report on Credit Rating Agencies Code of Conduct
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Posted in European Union, Regulatory
CESR has published its final report into the progress that EU based credit rating agencies’ (CRAs) have made in complying with the International Organisation of Securities Commission’s 2008 Code of Conduct Fundamentals for Credit Rating Agencies (the IOSCO Code).