In litigation challenging unclaimed property examination findings, the Michigan Supreme Court took a first step towards curtailing the seemingly never-ending examination process, but left open an opportunity for the State to...more
Pivotal litigation, targeted legislation, and aggressive regulatory interpretations will reshape the unclaimed property landscape for US companies in 2025. States continue to expand the application and enforcement of their...more
1/20/2025
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Retirement ,
SCOTUS ,
State Attorneys General ,
Whistleblowers
Unclaimed property examinations and new types of regulatory inquiries will pose major challenges for US companies in 2024. Not only are states pushing ahead with more examinations, but many states are using new techniques to...more
Many organizations have recently received a notice from the Delaware Department of Finance Office of Unclaimed Property requesting a sworn verification of the completeness and accuracy of their unclaimed property reporting....more
All nine Supreme Court Justices sided with a group of 30 states in a dispute with Delaware over hundreds of millions of dollars of unclaimed checks issued by MoneyGram, a money transfer company. The Court held that the...more
Unclaimed property audits and compliance changes will challenge many US companies in 2023. Any company that is not filing annual reports will be at risk of an expensive multi-year audit, and even long-time filers could be...more
The US Supreme Court heard arguments on October 3, 2022 on an unclaimed property case for the first time since the early 1990s. The case, Delaware v. Pennsylvania, is a state-versus-state dispute between Delaware and...more
The California State Legislature has passed legislation giving the Controller the green light to establish a California Voluntary Compliance Program (VCP) for holders of unclaimed property. The bill, A.B. 2280,...more
“Corporate evasion is corporate fraud,” the California Attorney General declares in a March 22, 2022 press release accompanying an unclaimed property complaint the State has filed alleging systemic failure to report and remit...more
On June 1, 2021, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s decision to quash an administrative subpoena seeking extensive records in an unclaimed property audit of AT&T. The Delaware Department of Finance...more
Many US companies will face the threat of increased unclaimed property exposure in 2021 as states and private litigants ramp up audits, litigation and legislative changes designed to increase payments to states. Although...more
The long-running dispute between states and the business community over the expansive nature of unclaimed property audits has taken a new turn, with a Delaware state court quashing a subpoena served in the course of an audit...more
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) held its 2019 Fall National Meeting from December 7 through 10 in Austin, Texas. Notable developments from the Fall National Meeting include:
..Bermuda, Japan and...more
12/27/2019
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Casualty Insurance ,
Flood Insurance ,
Innovation ,
Insurance Industry ,
Life Insurance ,
Liquidity ,
NAIC ,
Property Insurance ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Reinsurance ,
Stress Tests ,
Technology ,
Terrorism Insurance
On October 11, 2019, the California Attorney General issued long-awaited draft Regulations to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The draft Regulations provide helpful clarity on some core aspects of California’s...more
10/18/2019
/ California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Comment Period ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws ,
Right to Delete ,
State Attorneys General
A wave of new unclaimed property statutes and rules is changing whether and when businesses should escheat gift, payroll, loyalty, and other stored-value cards. Ten states have adopted new statutes or rules in this area over...more
8/25/2019
/ Amended Legislation ,
Audits ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Escheat ,
Gift-Cards ,
New Legislation ,
Payroll Cards ,
Retailers ,
State and Local Government ,
Unclaimed Property ,
Uniform Law Commission (ULC)
After four-plus years of litigation in a long-running dispute over unredeemed gift cards, a jury returned a verdict against Overstock.com, finding that the company violated the Delaware False Claims Act (FCA) by not reporting...more
Onerous unclaimed property audits and vexing compliance issues will continue to challenge companies in a wide range of industries in 2018. Even with the robust economy, new federal tax provisions will push states to view...more
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) held its 2017 Fall National Meeting from December 2 through December 4 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Despite the exotic locale, the Fall National Meeting was not as well...more
Delaware is instituting an aggressive push forward on its controversial unclaimed property audit program, as indicated in two recent announcements. The Secretary of State has announced that his office will begin sending...more
On March 1, 2017, the New York Department of Financial Services (the DFS) published a notice of adoption of its final cybersecurity regulation (the Final Regulation). The regulation was first announced with much fanfare by...more
Facing widespread criticism about the enforcement of its unclaimed property laws, Delaware has just completed a wholesale revision of its unclaimed property statute. The statutory overhaul has passed both houses of the...more
On December 28, 2016, the New York Department of Financial Services (the DFS) published a revised proposed cybersecurity regulation (the Revised Regulation) for further public comment. First published in September 2016, the...more
Tough cybersecurity certification requirements for parties seeking access to certain information in the Social Security Death Master File (DMF) take effect on November 28.
The final rule imposing the cybersecurity...more
On September 13, 2016, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a proposal by the New York Department of Financial Services (the DFS) of a rule that establishes cybersecurity requirements for financial services companies...more
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) held its 2016 Summer National Meeting from August 26 through August 29 in San Diego, California.
The meeting began with strong words from the NAIC President and...more