Early 2014 has produced a series of court decisions highlighting third-party liability issues under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In February, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case about liability for...more
On Friday, March 7, 2014, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators’ (NCOIL) Unclaimed Property Task Force (Task Force) met in-person at NCOIL’s spring meeting. Led by the Task Force’s Co-Chair George Keiser (ND), the...more
In Chadbourne & Parke LLP v. Troice, the U.S. Supreme Court held on February 26, 2014, that the victims of Allen Stanford’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme can proceed with their claims against law firms, insurance brokers,...more
On Monday, February 17, 2014, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators’ (NCOIL) Unclaimed Property Task Force (Task Force) conducted its first conference call. Co-chaired by two past NCOIL presidents, Representatives...more
With the first month of the year behind us, this report outlines major insurance topics that we will be watching throughout 2014.
Forces, trends and events that we believe will affect regulation, transactions and...more
This week the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Mississippi ex rel. Hood v. AU Optronics Corp. that parens patriae actions in which the State is the sole plaintiff are not “mass actions” under the Class Action Fairness...more
In a substantial victory for the life insurance industry on the unclaimed property issue, a West Virginia Circuit Court has held that insurers have no duty to search the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File...more
In the first federal appellate decisions addressing cost of insurance (COI) charges in life insurance policies, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals handed two victories to insurers in opinions issued December 13, 2013. In...more
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) met in Indianapolis, Indiana, from August 24-27, 2013. Typical for the mid-year meeting, activity largely consisted of reports by various task forces and working...more
On August 20, 2013, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed a putative class action over an insurer’s alleged failure to timely pay life insurance policy death benefits to beneficiaries....more
On August 1, 2013, the California Supreme Court ruled in Zhang v. The Superior Court of San Bernardino County, No. S178542 (Cal. Aug. 1, 2013) that insurance practices violating the state’s Unfair Insurance Practices Act...more
During its recently concluded October 2012 term, the Supreme Court of the United States decided seven cases that are likely to have a significant impact on class action practice. This term’s decisions addressed evidentiary...more
The first stage of the Delaware Secretary of State’s Voluntary Disclosure Agreement program (the “Delaware VDA Program”) for unclaimed property reporting closes on June 30, 2013. Companies that enter into the Delaware VDA...more
On May 28, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Mississippi v. AU Optronics Corporation, No. 12-1036, to consider whether a parens patriae action brought by a state attorney general is removable as a “mass...more
On April 16, 2013, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on “Tax Fraud and Tax ID Theft: Moving Forward With Solutions,” including testimony on proposals to restrict access to the Social Security Administration’s Death...more
Over the past two years, states have undertaken various initiatives – including audits, exams, regulations, and legislation – intended to require insurers to compare their life insurance policy records with the record of...more
A Kentucky state trial court has rejected a challenge to a state statute requiring life insurers to search the Social Security Administration Death Master File (DMF) and attempt to locate potential beneficiaries, holding that...more
On March 8, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, Judge Larry R. Hicks presiding, granted the defendant - insurer’s motions for summary judgment in the consolidated, putative class actions, Keife v....more
Litigation continues in various cases challenging cost of insurance rates (COI) in life insurance policies, and January 2013 saw courts issue decisions going both ways on insurer discretion to set and modify COI rates. A...more