Mealey's Reinsurance : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Reinsurance

May 29, 2025
Jurisdiction, Other Issues Disputed In Case Connected To Vesttoo Collapse

NEW YORK — In letters filed pursuant to a New York federal judge’s individual rule, China Construction Bank Corp. (CCBC) and related entities sued in connection with the collapse of Vesttoo Ltd. outline dismissal arguments and the plaintiffs counter in part that accepting the defendants’ contention that disputes over letters of credit (LOCs) “issued for U.S. reinsurance transactions, sanctioned by U.S. regulators and payable in the U.S must be litigated in China would collapse the entire reinsurance framework.”
May 27, 2025
Parties Seek Discovery In Ghana In Reinsurance Breach Of Contract Suit

NEW YORK — The plaintiffs in a breach of contract lawsuit ask a New York federal court to issue letters rogatory to a Ghanaian insurer and three of its employees to obtain otherwise unobtainable information from as part of a gold mining equipment dispute over whether the defendants are direct insurers or reinsurers of the plaintiffs.
May 27, 2025
Environmental Risk Insurer Sues Agent, Alleges Contract Breach, Tortious Conduct

NEW YORK — A U.K.-based global specialist insurance company alleges in a New York federal court that its agent unlawfully shared confidential business information that led to its U.S. small business environmental book being shopped for reinsurance coverage by another insurance company, bringing claims for breach of contract and tortious conduct against the agent and stating that it lost millions of dollars and nearly all policy renewals.
May 27, 2025
Approval Sought Of $300K Settlement With Israeli Investors In Vesttoo Liquidation

WILMINGTON, Del. — A liquidating trust filed a motion in a federal bankruptcy court in Delaware seeking approval of a proposed $300,000 settlement with a pair of Israeli investors who stated a number of unsecured claims and equity interests against three debtors involved in fintech startup Vesttoo Ltd.’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
May 27, 2025
Contempt Motion Draws Opposition In Fraud Suit Over Security Loans

NEW YORK — Urging a New York federal court to deny a contempt motion in litigation over fraud and racketeering allegations that involve the parent company of Bermuda reinsurer 777 Re Ltd., parties who are the focus of that motion are arguing in part that the movants “made no attempt to block the transactions — because neither violates” a preliminary injunction (PI) order.
May 23, 2025
13 Potential Buyers Interested In Life Insurer’s Business, Rehabilitator Says

WATERBURY, Conn. — The rehabilitator of PHL Variable Insurance Co. and the subsidiaries that reinsure its liabilities told a Connecticut state court in a second accounting and status report that 13 entities have been identified as potential buyers for portions of the insurer’s business.
May 22, 2025
Tax Firm Claims Standing, Opposes IRS Dismissal Motion In Microcaptive Rule Suit

DALLAS — In response to the Internal Revenue Service’s motion to dismiss its challenge to a final rule requiring reports for certain microcaptive insurance arrangements, a tax consulting firm told a Texas federal court that it has standing because it is directly regulated and faces injury from the rule’s new reporting requirements; the tax firm further argues that dismissal is premature without review of the administrative record and that the issue should be resolved through summary judgment.
May 22, 2025
Kentucky Federal Judge Denies Reconsideration Request In Cleanup Costs Dispute

PADUCAH, Ky. — A federal judge in Kentucky overruled the objections presented in and denied a ferrosilicon producer’s motion for reconsideration of a January ruling that denied the producer’s motion to compel production of documents in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs, ruling that the reconsideration motion impermissibly raised new arguments and failed to identify claimed ambiguities in a reinsurance contract between it and an insurer and reinsurer.
May 21, 2025
5th Case Added To Consolidated Litigation Over Fronting Deal Agreements, Commissions

FORT WORTH, Texas — A fifth case has been added to consolidated litigation between reinsurers and National Transportation Associates Inc. (NTA) that centers on the reinsurers’ claims of inflated provisional commissions and breach of various agreements, with the latest allegations involving a dispute over whether contractual mandates issued by California and other states render the commission structure unenforceable.
May 19, 2025
Court Dismisses Reinsurance Reimbursement Dispute Case At Parties’ Request

DES MOINES, Iowa — A reinsurance reimbursement dispute was dismissed one day after two members of the GuideOne family of insurance companies and a China-based reinsurerfiled a joint stipulation of dismissal in a federal court in Iowa.
May 15, 2025
IRS Moves To Dismiss Microcaptive Rule Challenge, Claiming Lack Of Jurisdiction

DALLAS — In a challenge to a final rule in which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Treasury Department require reports for certain purported microcaptive insurance arrangements, the IRS moved in a Texas federal court to dismiss a tax consulting firm’s amended complaint, asserting that it acted within its statutory authority, that the court lacks jurisdiction, that the tax firm fails to state an actual controversy and that the suit is barred under the Declaratory Judgments Act (DJA).
May 14, 2025
Delaware Chancery Court Orders Hearing On Claims Disputes In Reinsurer Liquidation

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Chancery Court scheduled a July 21 hearing on a quartet of motions concerning reinsurance claims, the establishment of a bar date and approval of dispute procedures in relation to the liquidation of life and health reinsurer Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. (SRUS).
May 13, 2025
Arbitration Summons Quashed By Florida Federal Court In Reinsurance Claims Dispute

TAMPA, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge denied without prejudice a reinsurer’s motion to enforce a nonparty arbitration summons, finding the summons, issued to the agent of a pair of cedents, to be procedurally deficient and ordering it quashed in a dispute involving the agent’s noncompliance with the summons.
May 13, 2025
Judge: Reinsurance Info Is Relevant In Cyberattack Coverage Lawsuit

BALTIMORE — A media company that sued excess insurers it alleges owe millions in connection with an October 2021 cyberattack has obtained a mixed ruling on discovery disputes, with a Maryland federal magistrate judge concluding in part that “reinsurance policies, as well as related documents and communications, are relevant to [the plaintiff’s] bad faith claim and should be produced.”
May 12, 2025
Production Of Reinsurance Agreement Ordered In Disability Benefits Dispute

JACKSON, Miss. — Days after a Mississippi federal magistrate judge ordered a workers’ compensation insurer to produce a reinsurance agreement, the magistrate judge granted the insurer’s motion to stay the production deadline until seven days after a ruling is issued on its forthcoming motion for a protective order as part of a broader conflict involving disputed temporary total disability (TTD) benefits.
May 09, 2025
2nd Circuit Abrogates Precedent On Reverse-Preemption In $12.5M Hurricane Ida Row

NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 8 abrogated its own precedent holding that an international convention regarding arbitration of foreign disputes is “not self-executing” and can be reverse-preempted by state law and reversed the denials of motions to compel arbitration of surplus line policy disputes for more than $12.5 million in damages caused to Louisiana properties by Hurricane Ida.
May 09, 2025
Justice Refuses To Dismiss Archdiocese’s Claims In Sexual Abuse Coverage Dispute

NEW YORK — A New York justice denied general and excess liability insurers’ motion to dismiss the Archdiocese of New York’s claims for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and violations of New York General Business Law Section 348 in a coverage dispute arising from close to 1,700 underlying sexual abuse lawsuits, rejecting the insurers’ contention that the breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing claim is duplicative of the breach of contract claim.
May 08, 2025
Sealing Request Gets OK In Contempt Bid In Fraud Suit Over Secured Loans

NEW YORK — Without explanation, a New York federal judge granted a motion to seal certain documents connected to a contempt request that concerns a preliminary injunction (PI) order in litigation over fraud and racketeering allegations that involve the parent company of Bermuda reinsurer 777 Re Ltd.
May 07, 2025
Utah Regulator Agrees To Mediation With Insurers He Wanted To Have Rehabilitated

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Insurance Department has reported that litigation between it and Sentinel Security Life Insurance Co., Haymarket Insurance Co. and Jazz Reinsurance Co. has been paused pursuant to the parties’ agreement to participate in mediation.
May 07, 2025
Breach Of Contract, Declaratory Judgment Counterclaims Filed Against Reinsurer

NEW YORK — A life insurer and its parent company filed two counterclaims in a federal court in New York, seeking declaratory judgment on the definition of a lapsed client under its transaction agreement with a reinsurer and alleging a breach of contract for the reinsurer’s alleged failure to cooperate in reviewing documents related to a disputed $50 million post-closure bonus payout.
May 06, 2025
U.S. Opposes Summary Judgment, Dismissal In Captive Insurance Tax Shelter Dispute

PITTSBURGH — The U.S. government asked a federal court in Pennsylvania to reject a Pittsburgh-based corporation’s motion to dismiss the government’s counterclaim and motion for summary judgment, arguing that the company’s reliance on a prior U.S. Supreme Court ruling is misplaced in a dispute over penalties tied to the corporation’s alleged promotion of a tax shelter through a purported captive insurance program.
May 06, 2025
Policyholder’s Motion To Intervene Was Untimely, Life Insurer’s Rehabilitator Says

WATERBURY, Conn. — The rehabilitator of life insurer PHL Variable Insurance Co. and the subsidiaries that reinsure its liabilities urged a Connecticut state court to deny as untimely a motion to intervene filed by two policyholders who say their policies are worth millions and want a moratorium order to be modified to pay death benefits on a pari passu basis.
April 30, 2025
Reinsurer, General Agent To File Settlement Papers In Breach Of Contract Suit

FORT WORTH, Texas — After a reinsurer and general agent settled a breach of contract suit involving an underlying multimillion-dollar personal injury judgment in mediation, a federal judge in Texas on April 29 directed the parties to file settlement papers.
April 30, 2025
Legionnaires’ Suit Not Subject To Arbitration, Reinsured Entity Says

DETROIT — A reinsured entity is opposing a motion to dismiss in a Michigan federal court filed by the defendants in a lawsuit over claims related to Legionnaires’ disease, arguing that the defendants improperly invoked an arbitration provision and failed to seek concurrence before filing and that the underlying issues fall outside the arbitration provision because they stem from an unprocured and undisclosed agreement.
April 30, 2025
Residents Sue State-Mandated Insurer ‘Of Last Resort’ Over Los Angeles Wildfires

LOS ANGELES — California residents sued the California Fair Plan Association (CFPA) and its largest members in a state court seeking damages for the defendants’ alleged bad faith breach of their property insurance policies following the Los Angeles wildfires in January.