Senator Grassley, the top republican on the senate finance committee, sent a letter to the nation’s largest providers of long-term care insurance requesting information on claim processing.
First Circuit: Under Puerto Rico Law, A Plaintiff Must Ordinarily Introduce Expert Testimony Concerning Standard Of Care To Prevail On Defective Or Negligent Design Claim
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently held that, where a design is beyond the common experience or knowledge of the average layperson, a defective or negligent design case cannot succeed unless the plaintiff presents evidence “as to the relevant standard of care for the design and the way(s) in which the defendant’s design fell below that standard.”
Ninth Circuit Finds Evident Partiality In Arbitrator’s Failure To Investigate Potential Conflicts Arising From New Employment
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Recently, in New Regency Productions, Inc. v. Nippon Herald Films, Inc., No. 05-55224 (9th Cir. Sept. 4, 2007), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a district court’s vacatur of an arbitration award based upon evident partiality of the arbitrator, holding that an arbitrator has a duty to investigate possible conflicts arising from new employment and an obligation to disclose that employment to the parties.
Pending U.S.-Korea Treaty Could Expand U.S. Insurance Market
Industry analysts have proclaimed that the Free Trade Agreement (“FTA”) between the United States and South Korea represents one of the most commercially significant expansions of the U.S. insurance market in recent history . The FTA was executed on June 30, 2007 and is presently awaiting congressional approval.
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Katrina Business Interruption Loss Suit
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
A medical clinic located in New Orleans, Spine Care East, LLC, filed suit in a federal district court in Louisiana on August 24, against its insurer, Hanover Insurance Company. In the Complaint (click here to review the Complaint), Spine Care alleges that Hanover acted in bad faith by failing to properly compensate Spine Care for its business interruption losses sustained in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Rhode Island Proposes That Paint Makers Fund a $2.4 Billion Lead Abatement Plan
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Following a Rhode Island jury’s verdict in 2006 that three manufacturers of lead paint created a public nuisance when they manufactured and sold the paint, the state’s Attorney General, Patrick C. Lynch, has filed a plan to abate lead in houses and buildings in Rhode Island.
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Investors Representing $1.5 Trillion in Assets Call upon the SEC to Require Full Corporate Climate Risk Disclosure
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
On September 18, 2007, a broad coalition of large institutional investors, state officials and environmental groups filed a petition for interpretive guidance with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission titled Request for interpretive guidance on Climate Risk Disclosure, No. 4-547.
Florida State Court Denies Defendant Insurance Brokers’ and Insurers’ Motions to Dismiss Insured’s Complaint Alleging Anticompetitive Behavior Finding, In Part, That McCarran-Ferguson Act Does Not Bar Claim
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Posted in Antitrust, United States
On September 24, 2007, the Hon. Judge Kenneth Stern issued an Order denying defendants’ (insurance brokers and insurers) motion to dismiss an insured’s second amended complaint (the “Complaint”).
Judge Dismisses Federal RICO Claims in Insurance Brokerage Antitrust Case
By Troutman Pepper Locke on
Posted in Antitrust, United States
In a 73-page exhaustive treatment of RICO pleading standards, Chief Judge Brown of the District of New Jersey dismissed with prejudice the federal RICO claims levied by putative class plaintiffs against most of the nation’s large insurers and insurance brokers.
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BREAKING NEWS: Prudential Sues State Street Over Mortgage Related Losses
Prudential Financial, Inc. announced yesterday that one of its subsidiaries has filed a lawsuit against State Street & Trust Corp. and State Street Global Advisors over losses allegedly suffered by Prudential clients in two bond funds managed by State Street. The suit accuses State Street of “radically” changing its investment strategies for the two funds without disclosing those changes to Prudential or its clients.
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