Last fall, we posted about a New England furniture company that, backed by prize indemnification insurance, offered customers the chance to get their furniture purchase for free if the Boston Red Sox won the World Series.  Click here.  We later posted about the approximately 30,000 fans that won reimbursement of their furniture purchase when the Red Sox defeated the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.  Click here. 

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Read More Risk Management? Red Sox Will Have To Sweep The World Series This Year For Fans To Get Free Furniture

On April 4, 2008, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced that his office reached an agreement regarding certain consumer protections with four of the nation’s largest wireless telephone carriers, as well as a provider of cellular phone insurance protection policies.  Under the agreement, key terms in the cellular phone protection plans will be more clearly disclosed to consumers. 

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Read More Maryland Attorney General Obtains Clearer Disclosure for Cellular Phone Protection Plans

Michael Travaglini, who oversees the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, recently voiced his disagreement with California Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s plan to form a state-owned bond insurer, saying that pension funds should not be in the business of insuring securities.  “I am very glad that in Massachusetts we are prohibited by our enabling statutes [from creating a bond insurer],” Travaglini said.  He continued, “I’m in the investment business, not the lending business in any way, shape or form. 

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Read More Massachusetts State Pension Fund Will Not (and Cannot) Form Bond Insurer

New York Superintendent of Insurance, Eric Dinallo, recently revealed that the New York State Insurance Department is working “avidly” to alleviate the capital crisis at bond insurer FGIC.  FGIC was the subject of ratings downgrades by both Fitch Ratings and S&P earlier this year. …
Read More Dinallo: NY is Working “Avidly” to Solve the Crisis at FGIC

The FSA has restated the UKs support for the creation of a single market in financial services in Europe, and has called for further development of the existing arrangements for regulatory cooperation among national regulators. The recommendation was contained in the latest edition of what the FSA described as its ‘new look’ International Regulatory Outlook (IRO). 

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Read More UK: Regulatory: The Financial Service Authority (FSA) Calls for Increased Co-Operation in Europe

Last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded MBIA Insurance Corp. and its subsidiaries from AAA to AA, stating that the bond insurer’s pro-forma claims paying resources at year-end 2007 now fall below Fitch’s AAA capital targets by $3.4 to $3.8bn.  Instead, Fitch concluded that MBIA’s pro-forma claims paying resources fall squarely within its standards for AA capital. 

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Read More Fitch Downgrades MBIA to AA

In a closely-watched case stemming from the demise of the Australian HIH insurance group,  the UK House of Lords has ruled in McGrath & Anor & Others v Riddell and Others [2008] UKHL 21 that the English assets of four companies in that group, which are in liquidation in Australia and in ancillary insolvency proceedings in England, must be remitted to Australia for distribution under Australian insolvency law. 

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Read More UK House of Lords’ Ruling Assists Foreign Liquidators

In Government of the French Community, and Walloon Government v Flemish Government Case C-212/06, ECJ (Grand Chamber), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) determined that Flemish legislation limiting eligibility to a care insurance scheme was contrary to European provisions concerning the right to freedom of movement within the European Community (EC) in so far as the care insurance scheme included a residence requirement that excluded persons who worked in the Flemish region or in the bilingual Brussels-Capital, but who resided in another part of the national territory (ie the French or German speaking region). 

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Read More European Court of Justice Considers the Validity of Flemish Legislation Limiting Eligibility to a Care Insurance Scheme

In Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions (UK) Ltd v Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd [2008] EWCA Civ 286, Tyco had negligently caused damage to a Rolls-Royce plant during the course of constructing a sprinkler system. Tyco admitted negligence but claimed that it was not liable for the damage because Rolls-Royce was obliged, by virtue of a provision in the construction contract, to take out joint insurance indemnifying the parties in respect of Specified Perils, which included the said damage. 

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Read More The English Court of Appeal Construes the Meaning of a Clause for Joint Insurance in a Construction Contract