It’s not often that the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in on insurance issues. That’s because the McCarran-Ferguson Act gives states the primary authority to regulate the business of insurance. So when the Supreme Court speaks on...more
Two recent decisions from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York highlight the split among circuits on whether state insurance laws that prohibit arbitration of insurance and reinsurance...more
A significant number of states prohibit or restrict the arbitration of disputes between an insurer and its policyholder and/or preclude the inclusion of arbitral provisions in insurance policies.The McCarran-Ferguson Act...more
A common question that arises in the insurance-regulatory context, including in the context of insurance scoring and modelling, is whether, and to what extent, the McCarran-Ferguson Act applies to the FCRA. The information...more
Congressional leaders continue to seek information from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning the DOJ’s efforts to enforce the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act (CHIRA), which partially repealed the...more
In this episode, partners Chris Valente and Jackie Celender, along with associates Michael Creta and Peter Ayers, discuss the impact that state anti-arbitration insurance statutes have on the enforceability of international...more
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IN A MINUTE OR LESS - The New York Convention typically requires U.S. courts to enforce written arbitration agreements covering international disputes, including arbitration clauses in contracts with...more
President Biden’s May 20, 2021 Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad set forth the Administration's policy to “organize and deploy the full capacity of its agencies to combat the climate crisis to...more
September. Synonymous with back to school, the end of summer, and the start of the NFL season. And while the Cowboys and Bucs kicked off the season this year, another epic battle was brewing out west in the corridors of the...more
Developments in Vermont Federal Issues State Issues Continued Impact of COVID-19 - The measures taken by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (the “DFR”) in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have been...more
In a dispute over whether an international insurance policy provided coverage for losses resulting from a fire that destroyed the insured property, the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico determined that the...more
Just before leaving office, former President Trump signed the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act (CHIRA) on January 13, 2021. Among other things, CHIRA amends the McCarran-Ferguson Act to repeal the federal antitrust...more
Key Points - Until recently, the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1954 made the “business of insurance,” including the business of health insurance, immune from federal antitrust laws. - The Competitive Health Insurance Reform...more
The Development: Congress unanimously passed and before leaving office, President Trump signed into law, the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act ("CHIRA"). CHIRA limits application of the McCarran-Ferguson Act, an...more
Our Antitrust and Health Care Groups examine the implications of the limited repeal of the McCarran–Ferguson Act by the just-signed Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act....more
While the bill discussed in this alert was passed by Congress on December 22, 2020, it was not enacted by the end of its Congressional session. It is possible this bill has been signed, but Congress has not yet been notified....more
On December 23, 2020, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2020, which includes a provision that would repeal the limited federal antitrust immunity currently granted to certain...more
Battles persist concerning the enforceability of insurance policy arbitration clauses due to the conflict between (a) the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause (Art. VI, cl. 2), which gives federal laws and international...more
The United States Constitution, a U.S. treaty, two federal statutes, a state statute, and a commercial contract walk into a bar. The federal statutes are arguing. The Constitution, the treaty, one of the federal statutes, and...more
When the National Council of Insurance Legislators (“NCOIL”) holds its Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City later this week, it will consider a proposed resolution entitled the “Resolution Asserting McCarran-Ferguson Reverse...more
A district court judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana has issued an order attempting to resolve the apparent tension created by Louisiana law barring compulsory arbitration provisions in...more
• Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) preempts class action claims seeking to enforce Florida statute that limits an air ambulance operator's prices by prohibiting balance billing of unpaid invoices. • McCarran-Ferguson Act...more
In this episode of OnRisk, Carolyn Branthoover and Sarah Turpin talk about the increasing frequency of arbitration clauses in insurance policies, the enforceability of arbitration agreements in both the U.S. and in the UK,...more
The receiver for Gramercy Insurance Company sought to avoid arbitration of a reinsurance dispute with Contractor’s Bonding, Ltd., by arguing the FAA was reverse preempted under the McCarran-Ferguson Act....more
Finding Montana law was inapplicable to the subject insurance policy under both federal maritime choice-of-law principles and the policy language, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that an arbitration clause was...more