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

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

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.” 

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Read More Lead Plaintiff’s Counsel Pleads Guilty Over Missing Securities Class Action Settlement Funds

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

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. 

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Read More Texas Windstorm Insurance Bill Passes

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. 

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Read More Southern District of New York Holds Excess Insurer Liable for Reimbursement of Foreign Defense Costs, Despite Policy’s Exclusion of Duty to Defend

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). 

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Read More EU: The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) Publishes Report on Credit Rating Agencies Code of Conduct

A recent Lloyd’s Market Bulletin ref: Y4280 (14 May 2009) gives details of three individuals who, when changing employment to a competitor, committed various breaches of their obligations to their previous employer. Alistair Mark Mellis and Ksenya Mazalova were involved in the appropriation of documents from their previous employer for use in their new employment. Mr Mellis, who had not yet moved to his new employer, also provided underwriting assistance to Ms Mazalova. 

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Read More UK: Regulation: Notice of Censure Published by Lloyd’s Enforcement Board in Relation to Ark Syndicate Management (ASM) Employees

Late last month, the Connecticut legislature passed S.B. 301 (the “Act”), which requires group health insurers to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders.  Specifically, policies must provide coverage for treatments that are medically necessary and prescribed by a licensed physician, licensed psychologist or licensed clinical social worker. 

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Read More Connecticut Passes Autism Coverage Legislation

In a recent decision of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Apple & Eve, LLC v. Yantai North Andre Juice Co., Ltd., No. 07-CV-745 (JFB)(WDW) (E.D.N.Y. April 27, 2009), the Court found that the defendant had waived its right to arbitration, thereby rendering the arbitration clause null and void under Article II of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”). 

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Read More E.D.N.Y Rules that Party Waived Right to Arbitrate in China