On August 16, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its ruling in Estate of Jeremy Isadore Levine, et al. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No. 21-7036, –F.4th– (D.C. Circuit August 16, 2022), a case...more
Companies around the world have been scrambling to understand the implications of the sanctions imposed by the United States following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beyond sanctions, the United States has even more legal and...more
The measures taken by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (the “DFR”) in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have been extended through 2021. These include a recognition that in-person board meetings in...more
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and public health crisis, landlords and tenants alike found themselves in a most precarious position: state and municipal governments across the country restricted access to offices and...more
Insurance policies usually purchased by studios and production companies may well cover the significant economic losses resulting from federal, state, county and local government orders that shut down the entertainment...more
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed a spending bill, H.R. 1865 – the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020,” which included reauthorizations to both the EB-5 Regional Center Program (“EB-5 Program”) and the...more
Congress returns to Washington this week after the Thanksgiving recess to find a feast of leftover legislative items still on the table. Congress has a limited number of days remaining on the 2019 legislative calendar to...more
On Monday, November 18, 2019, the House of Representatives passed, by a widely bipartisan vote of 385–22, H.R. 4634, also known as the “Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2019.” If enacted, this will...more
Accurately forecasting and predicting terrorism exposure within the United States is difficult, to say the least. To make matters more challenging for the commercial real estate industry, reinsurers largely stopped reinsuring...more
Vermont’s leadership team for captive insurance was remarkably stable in 2017. Governor Phil Scott and Michael Pieciak, the Commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation (the “DFR”), completed their first full year...more
Changes at the Top - Republican Phil Scott was elected Governor of Vermont in November 2016, having previously served as Lieutenant Governor for six years. Governor Scott has re-appointed Michael Pieciak to serve as the...more
A recent decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York delivered a victory to banks seeking to prevent judgment creditors from attaching assets “blocked” pursuant to Office of Foreign...more
Last week, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) provided an update on its TRIA data call initiative (the “Data Call”). As we previously reported, the NAIC has been in discussions, separate and apart...more
This month, the Federal Insurance Office (“FIO”) issued its “Report on the Overall Effectiveness of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program” (the “Report”, found here), required by the latest reauthorization of the Terrorism...more
Before entering into a construction contract, consider how force majeure events are evolving in today’s world. Have you looked the risk of climate change causing more frequent unusual or severe weather? What about the...more
Leading the News: Burundi - On December 30th, the African Union (AU) threatened to sanction rival factions in Burundi if they fail to attend the peace talks scheduled to take place in January. AU Commission...more
In light of the reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (“TRIA”) earlier this year, a growing focus within the industry has been on the collection of data on terrorism risk exposure from insurers to help assess...more
This past October was the country’s first National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and that makes it an appropriate time to touch on a very troubling first-party exposure. Every day brings news of massive cyber attacks on...more
Section 107 of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015 (the “Reauthorization Act”) requires the Secretary of the Treasury (“Secretary”) to conduct a study of the certification process required under...more
As previously reported, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (“TRIA” or the “Program”) was re-authorized and signed into law on January 12, 2015 (the “Reauthorization Act”). On February 4, 2015, the Department of Treasury...more
On January 12, 2015, President Obama signed into law H.R. 26, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015 (TRIPRA of 2015), providing a federal backstop for insurance against risks of terrorism. TRIPRA...more
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama signed important legislation extending the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (“TRIA”), which lapsed December 31, 2014, through December 31, 2020. During the lapse, policyholders...more
For over four years after enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act (“Dodd-Frank”), President Obama and the Democratic Senate successfully blocked any changes to that act. For example, in the 113th Congress, the House passed 26 bills...more
On January 12, 2015, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act Program (“TRIA” or “Program”), which was originally adopted in 2002 to provide a federal backstop to protect insurers from catastrophic claims arising from terrorist...more
On January 13, President Obama signed legislation that aligns the rules relating to swap clearing and mandatory margin for uncleared swaps so that any entity that qualifies for an exemption from clearing its swaps also is...more