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
Legislation requiring the life insurance industry to conduct searches of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF) and set the trigger for the escheatment dormancy period at the date of an insured’s death...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
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
In a decision surely welcomed by the plaintiffs’ bar, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held, on August 15, 2017, that a putative class action plaintiff has Article III standing as long as the plaintiff alleges...more
A facial challenge to Delaware’s use of contingency-fee unclaimed property auditors has been given new life by a federal appellate court, which held that the arrangement is subject to due process review, reversing the lower...more
On August 1, 2017, the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio held that insurance agents working under independent contractor agreements with an insurer were employees for purposes of pursuing pension and other...more
8/10/2017
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Insurance Agents ,
Insurance Industry ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Service Contracts
Delaware and its third-party auditors intend to continue using the same controversial estimation techniques in unclaimed property audits, as described in newly proposed regulations, even after a federal court found a...more
Marking its second decision on the issue, the Delaware federal district court has held that the U.S. Supreme Court’s priority rules governing the distribution of unclaimed property among competing states do not apply to...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 1, 2016, amended Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (FRCP) went into effect, thus expanding federal law enforcement’s power to search and seize electronic data. The new rule will allow law...more
12/7/2016
/ American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Privacy ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure ,
International Data Transfers ,
Search & Seizure ,
Search Warrant ,
Young Lawyers
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
Disputes over the unclaimed property priority rules continue to intensify. The U.S. Supreme Court accepted review of a clash involving more than 20 states regarding the right to take custody of official checks. ...more
On September 22, the Florida Supreme Court in Wells Fargo Bank NA v. Pruco Life Insurance Co., No. SC15-382 (Fla. Sept. 22, 2016) denied Pruco Life Insurance Company’s challenge to the validity of an insurance policy...more
The 2016 Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (2016 Act) was adopted unanimously by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) in a 49-0 vote at its 2016 summer meeting. The adoption of the revised model law is a significant step forward for...more
8/12/2016
/ Audits ,
B2B Transactions ,
Contingency Fees ,
De Minimus Quantity Exemption ,
Death Benefits ,
Escheat ,
Life Insurance ,
Securities ,
State Treasurers ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Unclaimed Gift Cards ,
Unclaimed Property ,
Uniform Law Commission (ULC)
The latest salvo in an ongoing battle against Delaware was fired on June 9, when 21 states, led by Texas and Arkansas, filed a motion in the U.S. Supreme Court to force Delaware to return to the States between $150 million...more
An employee benefit plan that includes an alleged subsidization component for its basic and supplemental options is neither prohibited by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) nor a violation of the plan...more
5/5/2016
/ Arm's Length Principle ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Class Action ,
Dismissals ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hartford Insurance Company ,
Life Insurance ,
Misrepresentation ,
Popular ,
Unjust Enrichment
There’s never a dull moment in Delaware when it comes to unclaimed property. The latest salvo comes by way of a lawsuit filed by the Delaware Department of Finance against Blackhawk Engagement Solutions (DE), Inc. (formerly...more
Proposed revisions to the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act were under debate this past week in Washington, DC as the Uniform Law Commission (ULC or Commission) Committee to Revise the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Drafting...more
10/16/2015
/ B2B Transactions ,
Death Master Files ,
Due Diligence ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Escheat ,
Gift-Cards ,
Life Insurance ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Unclaimed Property ,
Uniform Law Commission (ULC) ,
Video Games
On May 29, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (the NAIC) Unclaimed Benefits Model Drafting (A) Subgroup (the Subgroup) met to discuss regulator and industry materials submitted to the Subgroup and identified...more
Emphasizing the critical importance of cybersecurity to registered investment companies (RICs), including insurance separate accounts and business development companies, and to investment advisers, the SEC’s Division of...more
Background -
The same State Treasurers and contingency-fee unclaimed property auditors that focused on the life insurance industry are now turning their attention to broker-dealers. Sutherland has been actively...more
The California Controller’s (Controller) latest squeeze on the life insurance industry involves: sending life insurers notices of assessment of interest on unclaimed property reported and voluntarily remitted in December...more
A lawsuit challenging the unclaimed property estimation methodology used by the State of Delaware and its auditor Kelmar Associates will proceed, according to a ruling issued by a Delaware federal district court on March 11....more
Proposed revisions to the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act were under debate this past week in Washington, DC as the Uniform Law Commission (ULC or Commission) Committee to Revise the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Drafting...more