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

Mealey's Reinsurance

March 18, 2025
Insurance Mogul Ordered To ‘Pay Disgorgement’ In SEC Fraud Suit Against Him

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge entered judgment against insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, a former owner of insurers in liquidation and rehabilitation, requiring him to “pay disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and prejudgment” in response to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s motion for judgment, with Lindberg’s consent, in its suit alleging that he, his advisory services company and its former executive defrauded clients of more than $75 million.
March 18, 2025
Farmer Seeks De Novo Review, Overturning Of Decision In Crop Insurance Spat

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A farmer who says he “exhausted all administrative remedies” filed a complaint in a federal court in South Dakota seeking de novo review of a decision by a federal agency’s independent appeals division after it upheld a determination that a crop insurance regulator lacked authority to issue a noncompliance finding under the farmer’s Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) policy, which reduced a crop loss payout.
March 17, 2025
Reinsurance Pool Entities Seek Dismissal, Claim Contractual Permissibility

WILMINGTON, Del. — Citing compliance with contractual agreements, the manager of a captive insurance and reinsurance pool and others ask a Delaware state court to dismiss a verified derivative complaint filed by a pool member who alleges that the manager and others engaged in an illegal reorganization that transferred policies from its "A" rated pool with more than $1 billion in assets to a new, unrated insurer with limited capitalization.
March 17, 2025
Dismissal Bids Fought In Row Over Vesttoo-Linked Letters Of Credit

NEW YORK — In four motions that have drawn opposition, China Construction Bank Corp. (CCBC) and related defendants seek dismissal of claims that stem from the alleged fraud underlying the collapse of nonparty Vesttoo Ltd., arguing primarily that the New York federal court lacks jurisdiction and the claims are not sufficiently stated.
March 14, 2025
Citing Deal Talks, Parties In Indemnification Row Get Briefing Suspension

BOSTON — Summary judgment briefing has been suspended for about two months in an indemnification dispute involving a stock purchase agreement (SPA) and reinsurance agreement, with a Massachusetts federal judge granting the parties’ joint request for the suspension in a March 13 text-only order.
March 14, 2025
South Carolina Regulator Loses Reconsideration Bid In Administrative Law Court

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina Administrative Law Court judge has allowed the continued operation of Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Co. (ACL) and ACL’s captive reinsurer, Southern Atlantic Re Inc. (SAR), by rejecting a request to reconsider an earlier order.
March 10, 2025
COMMENTARY: Sustainability Recalibration: What Insurers And Policyholders Should Know About ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance Considerations) Under Trump 2.0, Part 2

By Scott M. Seaman
March 10, 2025
Parties In Reinsurance Case Stipulate Consequential Damages Request Mooted

CHICAGO — An insurer’s motion for partial judgment on the pleadings in an ongoing dispute with its reinsurer was declared moot by a federal judge in Illinois after the parties filed a joint stipulation in which they agreed that the reinsurer will not seek relief for attorney fees or other consequential damages on claims under a reinsurance agreement.
March 10, 2025
Reinsurance Dispute Closed After Parties Agree To Dismiss All Claims

OMAHA, Neb. — A federal judge in Nebraska dismissed with prejudice a suit involving a reinsurance contract and a settlement with the state of Montana over alleged asbestos exposures, following a joint stipulation between the parties to dismiss all claims.
March 06, 2025
Del. Chancery Court Approves Stipulation Resolving Reinsurance Agreement Dispute

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Chancery Court approved a stipulation between the receiver for a stock reinsurance company and a life insurance company, allowing the receiver to liquidate at least $58.4 million from a trust account and to distribute at least $49.6 million to the life insurance company.
March 06, 2025
Reinsurance Pool Manager Accused Of Illegal $1B Transfer In Reorganization Scheme

WILMINGTON, Del. — A member of a captive insurance and reinsurance pool alleges in a complaint filed in a Delaware state court that the pool manager and others engaged in an illegal reorganization that transferred policies from its "A" rated pool with more than $1 billion in assets to a new, unrated insurer with limited capitalization and only $170 million in reinsurance limits.
March 05, 2025
Fact Witness Testimony Limited In RESPA Class Suit Over Captive Reinsurance Pacts

FRESNO, Calif. — A federal judge in California barred a fact witness in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) case from providing opinion testimony based on scientific, technical or specialized knowledge but allowed testimony regarding performed analysis and data review in connection with risk transfer and reinsurance services that he and a partner were hired to provide.
March 05, 2025
‘Plausible’ Interpretations Doom Summary Judgment Bids In Reinsurance Row

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Calling both sides’ interpretations of facultative reinsurance certificates “plausible,” a New York federal judge denied competing summary judgment motions in a breach of contract suit involving a confidential environmental losses settlement.
March 05, 2025
Judge Resolves Motions In Limine In Suit Over Alleged Legal Malpractice

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — In a four-page, 19-point ruling on competing motions in limine in a suit over alleged legal malpractice, an Illinois federal judge said in part that she denied the insurer plaintiff’s request to prohibit references to underlying damages that its reinsurers covered because while the insurer “cannot seek to recover the amounts” those reinsurers paid, “there may be some reference to those amounts in seeking damages for [the insurer’s] increased premiums.”
March 04, 2025
Liquidating Trust Seeks Approval Of $7.1M Settlement In Reinsurance Bankruptcy Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — A liquidating trust filed a motion in Delaware federal bankruptcy court seeking approval of a $7.1 million settlement with a company that alleged a number of constructive trust claims against Vesttoo Ltd., an Israel-based fintech startup involved in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
March 04, 2025
COMMENTARY: Sustainability Recalibration: What Insurers And Policyholders Should Know About ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance Considerations) Under Trump 2.0, Part 1

By Scott M. Seaman
March 04, 2025
Rehabilitator Consents To Intervention To Resolve Setoff Rights Dispute

HARTFORD, Conn. — The rehabilitator of life insurance company PHL Variable Insurance Co. and various subsidiaries that reinsured its liabilities reached a stipulated agreement allowing a trio of asset managers to intervene in the Connecticut action so that the court can determine setoff rights.
March 04, 2025
Reinsurer Answers Liquidator Assignee’s Breach Of Contract Counterclaim

NEW YORK— A London-based reinsurer has filed an answer in a federal court in New York to a breach of contact counterclaim brought by the assignee of the liquidator of an insolvent insurer concerning decades-old asbestos claims; the counterclaim was brought by the assignee after the reinsurer successfully petitioned for a stay of arbitration.
March 03, 2025
Reinsurer, Agency Dismiss RICO, State Claims In Fraudulent Injury Case

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A reinsurer and a management general agency were granted permission by a New York federal court to dismiss claims against an ambulatory surgery center in an ongoing Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit alleging fraudulent workers’ compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits.
March 03, 2025
Parties Brief Summary Judgment Bids In Indemnification Dispute Involving Deals

BOSTON — Competing summary judgment motions have been filed in an indemnification dispute, with the plaintiff telling a Massachusetts federal court that it is entitled to damages of at least $75.7 million plus interest and fees under the plain language of a stock purchase agreement (SPA) and reinsurance agreement, and the defendant contending that agreements executed in a later “clean shell” deal constituted a novation of any obligations and that the plaintiff’s conduct since 2013 “is not how an insurer acts with respect to a company that it truly believes is providing it with reinsurance coverage.”
February 27, 2025
Some Counterclaims Are Dismissed In Case Concerning Fronting Arrangement Deal

NEW ORLEANS — Five counterclaims that a managing general agent (MGA) asserted against an insurer in a case arising from a fronting arrangement have been dismissed wholly or in part, with a Louisiana federal judge repeatedly citing Louisiana law in his ruling on the insurer’s motion.
February 26, 2025
English Judge Denies Permission To Appeal In Reinsurance Dispute

LONDON — Saying in part that he doesn’t think an appeal of a final antiarbitration injunction has a “realistic” chance of succeeding, a judge of the High Court of England and Wales denied a reinsurer’s application in a contractual construction case that involves a hierarchy or “confusion” clause; he also weighed in on several disputes regarding costs that the reinsurer will have to pay.
February 25, 2025
Attorneys, Firm Get OK To Dismiss Appeal Of Civil Contempt Order

NEW YORK — Voluntary dismissal of an appeal of a civil contempt order was granted in a Feb. 24 opinion issued by a New York federal judge; the bankruptcy court ruling at issue arose in an adversary proceeding in the liquidation of Bermuda insurer and reinsurer PB Life and Annuity Co. Ltd. (PBLA) and other debtors.
February 25, 2025
Insurer Seeks Partial Judgment, Reconsideration In Reinsurance Dispute

CHICAGO — An insurer filed a motion for reconsideration and a motion for partial judgment on the pleadings in its ongoing dispute with its reinsurer, arguing that an Illinois federal judge incorrectly determined that a portion of the reinsurance agreement is ambiguous and maintaining that judgment is warranted on the reinsurer’s request for attorney fees because the reinsurer failed to support the request for attorney fees.
February 24, 2025
Experts Out In Legal Malpractice Case After Judge Finds Testimony Unreliable

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge on Feb. 23 found that two experts retained by a law firm in an insurer’s suit over alleged legal malpractice cannot testify because their conclusions and opinions are not reliable under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.