On June 12, 2007, a New York appellate court reversed a lower court’s decision and held that a reinsurer was not required to follow the fortunes of a cedent’s loss allocation on a single occurrence “per site” basis, finding that such allocation, which allowed the cedent to exceed the facultative reinsurance contract’s $1 million per-occurrence deductible with respect to certain sites, was unreasonable. 

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Read More Reinsurer Not Obligated to Follow Cedent’s Settlement Allocation

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the S.D.N.Y. today granted 13 of 16 KPMG partners’ motions to dismiss the indictments brought against them by federal prosecutors concerning allegedly fraudulent tax shelters at KPMG. …
Read More Breaking News: Government’s Indictments Against 13 KPMG Partners Dismissed

In a previous entry, we discussed a recent Katrina-related whistleblower suit filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana.  As we discussed, the lawsuit claims that a number of insurers allegedly misrepresented claims to the National Flood Insurance Program so as to limit their exposure, and was filed by Branch Consultants on behalf of the U.S. government. …
Read More Government Will Not Intervene in Katrina Whistleblower Lawsuit

As previously discussed here, on July 2, 2007, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the S.D.N.Y. requested, to assist in his decision on defendants’ motions to dismiss, that the federal prosecutors in the KPMG tax shelter case estimate the reasonable costs of a defense for the KPMG partners.  The U.S. Attorney’s office recently responded. 

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Read More Update: Federal Prosecutors and Defense Counsel Estimate Criminal Defense Costs for KPMG Partners

New York’s highest court recently considered whether, within the context of a CGL policy, liability must be determined before an additional named insured is entitled to a defense in an underlying personal injury action.  Affirming the decision below, the New York Court of Appeals held that additional insured coverage is not contingent upon a liability finding, and that the obligation of an insurer to provide a defense to an additional named insured under the policy exists “to the same extent as it does to a named insured.” 

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Read More Duty to Defend Additional Insured

With Judge Breyer having postponed ruling on his motion to dismiss until at least July 19, ex-Brocade CEO Greg Reyes’ defense has gone forward this week.  Among the defense’s witnesses this week were two of Brocade’s founders, Seth Neiman and Paul Bonderson, and Jason Gold, formerly a fund manager at one of Brocade’s top investors. 

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Read More The Brocade Trial: Reyes Defense Goes On The Offensive — “Stock Options Costs Are Irrelevant To Investment Decisions”

Managing Agency Partners (“MAP”) recently launched one of the broadest forms of terrorism coverage available since 9/11, a physical damage and liability cover that includes nuclear, biological and chemical risks and both first-party and third-party clean up and decontamination costs. 

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Read More LLoyd’s Insurer Launches Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Cover

Recently, a magistrate judge presiding over an insurance coverage case involving more than a dozen insurers and one insured granted the insured’s motion to compel production of documents and information pertaining to reinsurance, loss reserves, claims handling manuals, and document retention policies. 

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Read More District Court Orders Insurer to Produce Reinsurance, Reserve and Other Claims-Related Information

The Connecticut General Assembly recently enacted legislation (Public Act 07-113), signed into law by Governor M. Jodi Rell on June 12, to prohibit health insurers or HMOs (termed “health care centers” under Connecticut law) from engaging in the practice of “post-claim underwriting.” 

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Read More Connecticut Outlaws Post-Claim Underwriting by Health Insurers

New York’s highest court recently considered whether a plaintiff and defendant who enter into a high-low agreement in a multi-defendant action (frequently referred to as a “Mary Carter Agreement”) must disclose the terms of that agreement to the court and the remaining parties.  While these agreements are used routinely, with and without disclosure to all parties, this appears to have been an issue of first impression in NY. 

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Read More Non-Agreeing Defendants Must be Told of High-Low Mary Carter Agreements with Plaintiff or Risk Reversal