On July 9, 2021, President Biden signed the Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. The Order, breathtaking in scope, asserts as a key goal the desire to improve the lives of consumers through...more
7/21/2021
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Unfair Labor Practices
2015 saw approximately one-third of U.S. states join the first state, Maryland, in issuing guidance to property and casualty insurers with respect to price optimization; action by the National Association of Insurance...more
Nearly one-third of the U.S. states have now issued directives on the use of price optimization to determine insurance rates and, to date, most states have taken a skeptical view of the practice. Meanwhile, at the national...more
Regulatory activity on price optimization appears to be coming to a head. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Casualty Actuarial and Statistical (C) Task Force is continuing to gather input, with all...more
The Supreme Court held today that the Fair Housing Act (FHA) not only prohibits intentional discrimination, but also establishes liability for practices that result in a disparate impact on minority groups. Texas Department...more
“Price optimization,” a practice that uses predictive modeling and data analytics in pricing insurance products, continues to draw the attention of state regulators, consumer advocates, and class action plaintiffs. ...more
The California Insurance Commissioner issued a notice on February 18, 2015 to more than 750 property and casualty insurers doing business in California, announcing that “any use of Price Optimization in the ratemaking/pricing...more
On February 9, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) released a Report on Cyber Security in the Insurance Sector (Report), summarizing the results of a survey completed by 43 insurers about their cybersecurity...more
On February 3, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Risk Alert prepared by its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) that summarizes the results of a sweep of more than 100 broker-dealers...more
In Braun v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a $187 million jury verdict in favor of class action plaintiffs. The rationale of the ruling raises the concern that Pennsylvania state courts may...more
Late this summer, the Massachusetts Treasurer demanded mutual fund records on a nationwide basis as part of a multistate unclaimed property audit. Thirty-five (35) states are involved in the audit, but the Treasurer has...more
On August 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held in Vander Luitgaren v. Sun Life Ass. Co. of Canada, No. 13–2090, 2014 WL 4197947 (1st Cir. Aug. 26, 2014), that an insurer, acting as a claims administrator,...more
Insurance companies are increasingly the subject of Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawsuits. Any insurance company that communicates with its customers, job applicants, and others by phone or text using an automated...more
In a recently issued notice of rulemaking, the Idaho State Treasurer’s Office has proposed a temporary rule that, if permanently adopted, would alter two key definitional provisions in the state’s unclaimed property laws...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has confirmed that proof of death is a reasonable requirement for payment under a life insurance policy, and is a prerequisite to monies becoming “payable” under unclaimed...more
In Chadbourne & Parke LLP v. Troice, the U.S. Supreme Court held on February 26, 2014, that the victims of Allen Stanford’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme can proceed with their claims against law firms, insurance brokers,...more
With the first month of the year behind us, this report outlines major insurance topics that we will be watching throughout 2014.
Forces, trends and events that we believe will affect regulation, transactions and...more
This week the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Mississippi ex rel. Hood v. AU Optronics Corp. that parens patriae actions in which the State is the sole plaintiff are not “mass actions” under the Class Action Fairness...more
In a substantial victory for the life insurance industry on the unclaimed property issue, a West Virginia Circuit Court has held that insurers have no duty to search the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File...more
In the first federal appellate decisions addressing cost of insurance (COI) charges in life insurance policies, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals handed two victories to insurers in opinions issued December 13, 2013. In...more
During its recently concluded October 2012 term, the Supreme Court of the United States decided seven cases that are likely to have a significant impact on class action practice. This term’s decisions addressed evidentiary...more
This morning the United States Supreme Court affirmed class certification in Amgen, Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds , a securities fraud case. The question presented was whether plaintiffs seeking class...more