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
Practice Note- Third Circuit Adopts 5:00 PM Filing Deadline- Effective July 1, 2023, the Third Circuit amended its local rules to require all filings, with the exception of those initiating a new appeal or other...more
The First Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the New York Convention applies to an insurance arbitration dispute between a Puerto Rican company and Lloyd’s of London and that the convention preempts a Puerto Rican law...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
Two recent decisions confirmed the broad administrative summons authority of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In the first, the US Supreme Court resolved a circuit conflict regarding notice requirements for third-party IRS...more
In an opinion published late last month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (“Third Circuit”) affirmed the Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS”) authority to compel the production of documents and testimony...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(DOJ) concerning the DOJ’s efforts to enforce the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act (CHIRA), which partially repealed the...more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
On August 12, 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided whether Washington state law reverse-preempts the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“New York Convention”),...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
The Ninth Circuit held on August 12, in CLMS Management, that the New York Convention requires enforcement of an arbitration clause in an insurance policy issued by a foreign insurer to a U.S. policyholder, notwithstanding a...more
Another Circuit Court Holds That the New York Convention Pre-empts State Laws Prohibiting Arbitration of Insurance Disputes - On August 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Article II, Section...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
On June 25 the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it would re-codify its 2013 regulation subjecting the practices and policies of homeowners insurers to scrutiny under a disparate impact...more
Antitrust cartel and related collusive scheme enforcement is poised to increase. Several factors support this: (1) the Antitrust Division (the Division) has a 10% budget increase for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021; (2) proposed...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
After a turbulent year that roiled the economy, and the health care sector more than most, the Democrats emerged with control of both the White House and Congress for the first time since 2014. Business leaders and in-house...more
For decades, politicians of both stripes routinely promised that they would do something about the relentless rise in health insurance costs by repealing the McCarran-Ferguson Act. Now that Congress passed and former...more
Since 1945, the McCarran-Ferguson Act (Act) provided insurance companies a limited exemption from federal antitrust laws, exempting certain state-regulated activities that qualified as the “business of insurance." The Act...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