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The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. v. Bartlett, ___ U.S. ____ (June 24, 2013), offers welcome clarity to generic drug manufacturers: reaffirming that state tort claims against those manufacturers are preempted by the Hatch-Waxman Amendments to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”), and by the Court’s landmark decision in Pliva v. Mensing, 113 S.Ct. 2567 (2011). …
Read More Mutual Pharmaceutical v. Bartlett: The Supreme Court Reaffirms Preemption of State-Law Claims Against Generic Drug Manufacturers

The Second Circuit recently affirmed a lower court decision holding that an insurance policy exclusion barred coverage for claims against a construction company relating to a March 2008 crane collapse in Manhattan. A copy of the decision can be found here. …
Read More Second Circuit Affirms Application of Policy Exclusion in Crane Collapse Coverage Case

The Supreme Court has confirmed in Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant JSC (JSC) v AES Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant LLP [2013] UKSC 35 that English courts may order an injunction to stay foreign proceedings which have been started in breach of an arbitration agreement, even where no arbitration proceedings are proposed or underway. …
Read More UK: Supreme Court Rules on Non-European Anti-Suit Injunctions

CMS UNVEILS WEBSITE AND CALL CENTER FOR EXCHANGES

On June 24, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) unveiled a revised HealthCare.gov website and a 24-hour-a-day consumer call center to provide information on the “Health Insurance Marketplace,” commonly referred to as state insurance exchanges. The exchanges, created under the Affordable Care Act, are to begin providing coverage on January 1, 2014. Open enrollment is scheduled to begin on October 1, 2013, notwithstanding widespread skepticism. …
Read More Healthcare Update: CMS Unveils Website and Call Center for Exchanges; CMS Releases Proposed Rule on Exchange Operation

On June 20, 2013, the New York legislature passed Bills A07807A/S04329-A (the “Amendments”). The purpose of the Amendments is to adopt recent changes to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (“NAIC”) Model Holding Company System Regulatory Act (the “Model Act”). Earlier this year, the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) adopted several amendments to Insurance Regulation 52 to conform with these changes to the Model Act. …
Read More New York Passes Statutory Amendments to Holding Company Act

Sun Life Financial Inc. announced on June 21, 2013 that it expects the review by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) of investments by private equity firms in reinsurers of annuities to delay past June 30, 2013 Sun Life’s sale of its U.S. annuity business to Delaware Life Holdings, LLC, a company owned by shareholders of Guggenheim Partners. Click here for a link to Sun Life’s press release. …
Read More New York DFS Review of Private Equity Investments Delays Sun Life Transaction

In the conjoined cases of Beijing Jianlong Heavy Industry Group v Golden Ocean Group and Beijing Jianlong Heavy Industry Group v Ship Finance International Ltd [2013] EWHC 1063, Judge Mackie QC held that arbitration clauses which were included in certain guarantee contracts were enforceable, even if the guarantees themselves might be unenforceable. …
Read More UK: English High Court Rules on Separability of Arbitration Agreements

As we previously reported here, the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2013 (S. 534) was introduced to the Senate and the House earlier this year and, if passed into law, would establish the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers (“NARAB”), a nonprofit corporation to license nonresident agents and brokers. The main benefit of NARAB would be that agents and brokers who are already licensed in one state could join NARAB and become licensed in all other states. …
Read More National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act Advances on Capitol Hill

In an opinion adjudicating the insurability of claims brought under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), the Illinois Supreme Court recently ruled that public policy did not prohibit coverage of these claims. The decision is Standard Mutual Insurance Co. v. Lay, No. 114616 (Ill. May 23, 2013), and a copy of it is available here. …
Read More The Illinois Supreme Court Rules that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s Statutory Damages Are Not Punitive