Last month, Solicitor General Paul D. Clement filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court siding with non-issuer defendants in a securities class action case. The case, entitled Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta, No. 06-43 (U.S. Sup. Ct.), involves securities class action claims brought by shareholders against two third-party suppliers based on certain transactions between those suppliers and the issuer, Charter Communications, Inc. (“Charter”). 

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Read More Solicitor General Comes Out In Favor Of Non-Issuer Defendants In Securities Class Action Case

The United States Federal District Court for the Central District of California recently held that there was no bad faith where the insurer had a reasonable basis upon which to genuinely dispute the insured’s claim. 

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Read More California Federal Court: No Bad Faith Just Because Arbitrator Awards More Than Insurer Had Offered to Pay

California Governor Schwarzenegger is expected to sign into law SB 430, a bill that will set the commitment of participating insurers to fund the California Earthquake Authority (“CEA”) at $1.3 billion. 

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Read More Funding Agreement for Earthquake Authority between the California Legislature and Homeowners Insurers Awaits Approval by Governor

The Delaware Supreme Court recently held that a group of directors incurred a “Loss” under their company’s director and officer liability (D&O) policies even though the directors were indemnified by a company shareholder for the defense costs and settlements in the underlying cases. 

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Read More Delaware Supreme Court: At Home Directors Suffered A “Loss” Despite Being Indemnified By AT&T

The California Department of Insurance (“DOI”) has issued a bulletin clarifying Assembly Bill 1639, which takes effect January 1, 2008.  The new law affects resident and non-resident producers transacting surplus lines business. 

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Read More California Department of Insurance Clarifies New Surplus Broker License Requirements

NERA Economic Consulting recently issued a report entitled “Recent Trends in Shareholder Class Action Litigation: Filings Stay Low -Average Settlements Stay High-But Are These Trends Reversing?” (the “NERA Report”). 

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Read More NERA: Securities Class Action Filings Remain Low, Average Settlements Remain High, But These Trends May Not Last

The Wall Street Journal reports that the SEC will hold a roundtable in the spring of 2008 on issues relating to shareholder litigation reform, including the role played by insurers in indemnifying companies and individuals and the cost of paying for attorneys fees in securities class action lawsuits. 

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Read More SEC to Explore Shareholder Litigation Reform

On September 19, 2007, a paper entitled The Assault on the McCarran-Ferguson Act and the Politics of Insurance in the Post-Katrina Era, by Lawrence S. Powell, Ph.D., was presented at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies conference. 

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Read More NAMIC Policy Paper on the Repeal of McCarran-Ferguson

Over two years ago, the European Commission (“EC”) initiated an inquiry into the state of competition in the European Union (“EU”) business insurance industry.  In explaining the purpose of the inquiry, the EC notes in its Final Report that “[t]aking into account indications that competition in this sector within the common market may be restricted or distorted, the sector inquiry aimed at further investigating the sector and the practices concerned with a view to ultimately identifying any concrete restrictive practices or distortions of competition that may fall within the scope of Articles 81 or 82 of the Treaty.” 

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Read More European Commission Issues Final Report on Business Insurance Industry

On Monday, September 24, 2007, the SEC and Federal Reserve issued a press release  announcing final joint rules (originally proposed in December 2006) to implement certain provisions of the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act. 

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Read More The SEC and Federal Reserve Announce Final Joint Rules on Exemptions for Banks from the Definition of a Broker