A federal district court in Virginia recently ruled that under Virginia law, an insured may not recover punitive damages in connection with a bad faith claim against its insurer.  TIG Insurance Co. v. Alfa Laval, Inc., Civil Action No. 3:07CV683 (E.D.Va., March 5, 2008).  The court explained that under Virginia law, a bad faith action against an insurer is a contract action, not an independent, willful tort for which punitive damages might be appropriate. …
Read More Virginia Federal Court Rules that Punitive Damages Are Unavailable in Insurance Bad Faith Case

In the latest development arising from recent concerns regarding auction rate securities, the New York Attorney General has reportedly launched a wide-ranging criminal investigation by serving subpoenas on 18 firms, including UBS AG, Citigroup, Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. …
Read More Auction Rate Securities Update: New York Attorney General Issues Subpoenas To 18 Firms

The Connecticut General Assembly’s transportation committee has recently approved Senate Bill 288 (the “Bill”), which prohibits auto insurers from recommending, requesting or requiring policyholders use certain auto repair facilities.  The Bill also prohibits insurers from providing economic advantages to policyholders on the basis that they use certain facilities. …
Read More Connecticut Act Concerning an Insured’s Right to Choose Auto Repairer

Yesterday, Missouri Governor, Matt Blunt, nominated Doug Ommen to the state’s Administrative Hearing Commission (the “Commission”).  The Commission is a neutral, independent, administrative tribunal.  The Commission hears cases that are appeals from decisions of other Missouri agencies, as well as cases that an agency or private person brings before the Commission. 

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Read More Doug Ommen Nominated to Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission

Tesco Stores Ltd v Constable & others [2008] EWCA Civ 362 concerned an appeal against an order of Mr Justice Field under which Field J determined that, on a proper construction of a public liability section of a standard project insurance package, Tesco was not entitled to an indemnity in respect of sums that it was liable to pay under the terms of a deed of covenant for economic loss to a third party affected by its activities. 

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Read More English Court of Appeal Affirms a Decision of the High Court Concerning the Interpretation of a Public Liability Insurance

In In re Sketchers U.S.A., Inc. Securities Litigation,  05cv55980 (9th Cir. April 10, 2008),  the Ninth Circuit applied the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights Ltd., 551 U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 2499 (2007) and found that plaintiffs failed to plead scienter, as required by the PSLRA. 

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Read More Ninth Circuit Applies Tellabs

The Supreme Court of Louisiana recently overturned a Katrina-related Louisiana state appellate court decision, and held that an insurer’s flood exclusion was not ambiguous and that coverage could be denied for water damage sustained to an insured’s property on the basis of this exclusion. 

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Read More Louisiana Supreme Court Overturns Prior State Court Decision and Holds that Insurer’s Flood Exclusion is Unambiguous

Last week, the Iowa Senate unanimously voted (49-0) to pass Senate File 2392 as amended by the Iowa House which, if signed by the Governor, would revise Iowa’s viatical settlements act to address stranger originated life insurance (“STOLI”) transactions. 

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Read More Iowa Adopts STOLI Legislation

On April 16, 2008, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises held a hearing on proposals on insurance regulatory reform. …
Read More Examining Proposals on Insurance Regulatory Reform

The Commission has begun a public consultation to investigate the functioning of the Insurance Block Exemption Regulation (BER) and the impact on the various insurance markets in the European Union (EU). …
Read More EU: European Commission (the Commission) to examine the use of insurance block exemption regulation