Earlier this month, Florida passed House Bill 301 to remove the cap on the amount of fees that may be charged by a surplus lines broker in connection with the procurement of surplus lines insurance for a prospective insured. Instead of the old cap of a maximum of $35 per policy, surplus lines brokers will be able to charge any fee that is “reasonable” and disclosed to the insured in advance.
Read MoreThe Surplus Lines Law Group held its spring meeting on Friday, April 5 in Biloxi, Mississippi. A number of presentations were given at the meeting, including updates on the trends around the nation with respect to the diligence search requirement, international tax and cybersecurity issues, as well as a presentation by this author as to the challenges surrounding placing group insurance coverage on a surplus lines basis (including unique hurdles applicable to risk purchasing groups).
Read MoreA California Court of Appeal recently affirmed a trial court’s denial of an insurer’s motion to compel arbitration, finding that the trial court had the authority to decide the issue of the enforceability of an arbitration agreement, and that the arbitration agreement at issue, which had not been filed with the California Insurance Commission, was void.
Read MoreA bill designed to enhance consumers’ rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) is making its way through the California State Senate.[1] State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson introduced Senate Bill 561 (the “Bill”) on February 22, 2019, and the Senate referred it to the Committee on Judiciary on March 7, 2019.
Read MoreLocke Lord’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Newsletter provides topical snapshots of recent developments in the fast-changing world of privacy, data protection, and cyber risk management. For further information on any of the subjects covered in the newsletter, please contact one of the members of our privacy and cybersecurity team.
Read MoreAll eyes have been focused on the federal mid-term elections and the impact on the U.S. House and Senate. Post-mortems by the pundits have begun. See Locke Lord’s take on the mid-terms. The divided government in Washington, D.C. may well stymie efforts to regulate the insurance industry at the federal level, except in very limited circumstances where bi-partisan accord can be achieved.
Read MoreOn October 19th the CDI gave a 45 day notice of a public hearing to be held on December 3, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. at the CDI’s offices in Sacramento. The hearing is to consider amending the California Code of Regulations to eliminate the use of gender in private passenger automobile insurance rating in California pursuant to the authority granted by California Insurance Code section 1861.02(a)(4).
Read MoreLast month, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 315 into law. AB 315 is California’s version of the growing national trend to regulate pharmacy benefit managers (“PBMs”). PBMs are entities that not only manage prescription drug benefits under health insurance plans, including drug utilization review, drug plan formulary development, selecting pharmacies for prescription drug networks, and determining reimbursements for those pharmacies, but also operate mail order and specialty pharmacies themselves.
Read MoreCalifornia has written letters to at least fifty California-licensed insurers requesting information on any existing or planned initiatives to increase the diversity of the insurer’s board.
Read MoreOn August 31, 2018, the California Legislature passed a number of bills addressing various issues related to wildfires that have ravaged the state in recent years. The following bills relate to insurance in connection with past and future wildfires.
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