An employer did not waive its right to compel arbitration under an employment agreement by seeking to set aside a default in an employment discrimination suit brought against it by its employee. ...more
In Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London v. Federal Deposit Ins. Corp., No. 16-16702 (11th Cir. Jan. 23, 2018), the Eleventh Circuit concluded that a “prior acts” exclusion in a D&O policy did not bar coverage where the...more
New regulations relating to credit for reinsurance and term and universal life insurance reserve financing took effect in Wyoming on November 30, 2017. The regulations implement amendments to Wyoming statutes that took effect...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
While the FAA grants arbitrators authority to compel non-parties to appear before them and produce documents at a hearing, it does not authorize them to compel pre-hearing production. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals joined...more
In a breach of contract and bad faith case emanating from an insurer’s refusal to settle an underlying case within policy limits, the insurer was unsuccessful in its attempt to protect documents from discovery by assertion of...more
1/5/2018
/ Bad Faith ,
Breach of Contract ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Discovery ,
Insurance Industry ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Litigation Privilege ,
Mediation ,
Motion for Reconsideration ,
Policy Terms ,
Reinsurance
Utilizing a “sweeping reading of Concepcion,” as characterized by the concurring opinion, the Ninth Circuit has ruled that arguments that “a class action waiver, by itself, is unconscionable under state law or that an...more
A contractual arbitration clause may not be avoided by the allegation of “private attorney general” claims that are not arbitrable on public policy grounds in conjunction with claims raised on an individual basis that would...more
Insurance regulators in Iowa and Virginia have adopted the NAIC’s Model Rules regulating term and universal life insurance reserve financing. The stated purpose of the rules is “to establish uniform, national standards...more
12/12/2017
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Financing ,
Insurance Industry ,
Life Insurance ,
Model Rules ,
NAIC ,
New Regulations ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Reinsurance ,
State and Local Government
Odyssey Reinsurance Company obtained a $3.2 million default judgment on October 4, 2017, against Cal-Regent Insurance Services Corporation and Pacific Brokers Insurance Services (“PBIS”) as a result of fraudulent transfers...more
An attorney with “considerably more than ten years’ experience of insurance and reinsurance law” has been deemed unqualified to arbitrate a reinsurance dispute stemming from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the...more
Allegations of failure to follow the contractually-required dispute resolution procedure raise “procedural questions,” which must be asked of the arbitrator. In contrast, “substantive arbitrability questions,” also referred...more
On September 12, the District Court for Connecticut denied a motion to transfer predicated on a mandatory forum selection clause in a reinsurance contract. The contract was one of several entered into by Applied Underwriters,...more
The suit arose out of an arrangement where lenders would refer borrowers to (now-defunct) Triad Guaranty Insurance Company (Triad) to obtain private mortgage insurance. The lender-affiliated captive insurance company would...more
We previously posted on the trial court’s ruling addressing the statute of limitations in this case on June 23, 2016. By way of background, the underlying contract between the insurer and the reinsurer required the insurer to...more
Courts must apply state contract law principles to determine who may enforce an arbitration agreement. These “background principles of state contract law regarding the scope of agreements (including the question of who is...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule on July 10, 2017, prohibiting providers of certain consumer financial products and services from including within consumer agreements a requirement that any future...more
Significant changes to Georgia law governing captive insurance companies took effect on July 1, 2017. The changes relate to the permitted corporate structure of captive insurance companies, new restrictions on risks that may...more
Questions of arbitral venue, even in international arbitration, are presumptively for the arbitrator to decide. The court so ruled despite arguments from an Israeli company that the arbitrator’s interpretation of an...more
The Florida Legislature passed House Bill 805, regarding insurance policy transfers. If, as anticipated, the governor signs the bill into law, it will allow insurance companies writing personal lines residential and...more
The Florida Housing Finance Corporation (“Florida Housing”) has proposed changes to its rules governing the affordable housing allocation and funding process. The changes are to Rule Chapters 67-21, 67-48, and 67-60, F.A.C....more
7/14/2016
/ Affordable Housing ,
Allocation of Funds ,
Bonds ,
Building Codes ,
Community Development ,
Construction Industry ,
Funding ,
Housing Developers ,
Inclusionary Housing Ordinance ,
Loans ,
Real Estate Development ,
Residential Real Estate Market ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Urban Planning & Development
The United States Supreme Court handed landowners and developers a win this month in a unanimous decision allowing appeals to federal courts of Army Corps of Engineers determinations that a body of water or wetland is subject...more
6/24/2016
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hawkes Co v United States Army Corps of Engineers ,
Judicial Review ,
Jurisdictional Determination (JD) ,
Permits ,
Property Owners ,
SCOTUS ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands