The past year once again saw a breadth of court decisions addressing a wide variety of directors and officers and professional liability insurance coverage issues. At various levels, state and federal courts across the country issued notable decisions in this arena. In this report, we focused on topics we believe will continue to be important in the directors and officers and professional liability insurance field. We hope you find the following selection of cases to be informative and helpful.

Join Locke Lord, InsurTechNY and InsurTech Hartford for their next InsurTech Legal Academy webinar series on common licensing issues that InsurTechs face when starting up or expanding their insurance-related activities. Expectations differ between the various states, as well as the NAIC, regarding what activities do and do not require insurance producer and surplus lines broker licensure (both on an individual and entity level). Moreover, even if an InsurTech is not making a final decision on whether to accept or deny a claim, it may “cross the line” into licensable activity as well. Zach and Moya will also touch on nuances in the reinsurance intermediary space as well, which differ substantially from insurance producer licensing standards in a number of states.

Earlier this month, United States Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chair of the Banking, ‎Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, urged the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) and the ‎National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to examine the increasing role of ‎private equity and alternative investment classes in the life insurance market as well as ‎offshore reinsurance. ‎

The insurance industry experienced significant and varied forms of new legislation and regulation during the last decade. Below, we highlight what we view as the top 10 of these legal and regulatory changes.

Locke Lord’s Insurance & Reinsurance Newsletter provides topical snapshots of recent developments in the fast-changing world of insurance. For further information on any of the subjects covered in the newsletter, please contact one of the members of our Insurance team.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced on December 11, 2018 that they intend to sign a new Bilateral Agreement between the U.S. and the U.K. on Prudential Measures Regarding Insurance and Reinsurance (“Covered Agreement”).

In its press release, the U.S. Treasury

On September 20, 2018 the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued “OFAC Advisory to the Maritime Petroleum Shipping Community” to alert the shipping industry participants, including insurers, as to sanctions risks relating to petroleum shipments to or from Syria.  OFAC’s Syria Sanctions Program is