As reported here, recent amendments to the annual privacy notice requirement under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (the “GLBA”) contained in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (“FAST”) Act eliminated the requirement for financial institutions to provide annual privacy notices under GLBA under certain circumstances. At its spring meeting held April 4…

Read More NAIC Gets the Ball Rolling to Streamline GLBA Annual Privacy Notices

A bill that would mandate coverage of breast cancer screenings by breast tomosynthesis is currently pending before Connecticut’s General Assembly. HB 5233 would give female insureds over age 35 the option to have their mammograms done by tomosynthesis, which creates a three-dimensional picture of the breast; a traditional mammogram only…
Read More Bill That Would Mandate Coverage of Certain 3D Mammograms Pending Before Legislature

Celeste Koeleveld, former chief of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, has been appointed general counsel at the New York State Department of Financial Services (“Department”). Most recently, Ms. Koeleveld served as executive assistant corporation counsel at the New York City…

Read More Celeste Koeleveld appointed general counsel at New York Department of Financial Services

As we have previously reported here, one of the requirements under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015 (“TRIPRA”) is that the Department of Treasury must report to Congress on the effectiveness of the legislation. In furtherance of this mandate, the Federal Insurance Office (“FIO”) issued a…

Read More FIO issues voluntary TRIA data call; NAIC to proceed with mandatory separate request

Key Legislative Bills Passed by Georgia Assembly in 2016 Legislative Session, which Adjourned March 24, 2016, subject to Governor’s signature or veto by May 9, 2016:

Life Insurance Agent Protection for Advising on Alternatives to Policy Lapse or Surrender HB 193 – amends Georgia Insurance Code by creating new Section…

Read More Key Legislative Bills Passed by Georgia Assembly in 2016 Legislative Session

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a Virginia federal district court’s summary judgment ruling for the insured under a CGL policy, finding that the insurer had a duty to defend a third-party lawsuit alleging failure to properly secure electronic storage of medical records. Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Portal …
Read More Fourth Circuit Affirms CGL Duty to Defend for Medical Records Breach

On December 12, 2015 leaders from 195 countries signed a historic accord which requires countries to submit their long-term emission-cutting plans by 2020 in an effort to limit global warming to no more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The article discusses the fact that insurers not only face…
Read More The NAIC’s Center for Insurance Policy and Research (CIPR) publishes article on the Implications of a Warming World on the Insurance Industry

Early this month, the NAIC Cybersecurity (EX) Task Force released a preliminary working and discussion draft of an Insurance Data Security Model Law. While praise worthy in its effort to provide uniformity for data security and breach notification requirements among the states, at least with respect to the insurance industry…

Read More NAIC Preliminary Draft Insurance Data Security Model Law Draws Praise and Criticism

The European Commission has recently issued a Report announcing its preliminary view that the Insurance Block Exemption Regulation (“IBER”) should not be renewed when it expires on March 31, 2017. The IBER provides an exemption from Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits…
Read More European Commission Proposes Non-renewal of the Insurance Block Exemption Regulation

Three recent decisions (March 3, 2016) by a New York State Division of Tax Appeals administrative law judge help to clarify the taxation of unauthorized insurance companies subject to New York State taxation.

New York State has over recent years changed in certain significant regards both the substantive law and…

Read More New York State Clarifies Taxation of Unauthorized Insurance Companies