For many companies, one of the hardest parts of the D&O insurance transaction is determining how much insurance to buy. Against a backdrop of basic affordability, the company must consider complex issues of limits adequacy – that is, how much insurance is “enough”? These issues are even more fraught in a time of generally rising claims severity (about which, refer here).

 

As discussed below, recent developments in one current claim underscore the fact that in addition to rising settlement levels, escalating defense expense is an increasingly important part of the limits adequacy equation. In addition, these recent developments also demonstrate that many related issues should also weigh into the limits adequacy analysis, and these same issues also have important implications for the structure of the insurance program, as well.

 

University of Denver Law Professor J. Robert Brown, Jr. has a post today (here) on his indispensable blog, The Race to the Bottom, discussing developments involving Paul Barnaba, a former employee of bankrupt auto parts supplier Collins & Aikman. Barnaba is caught up in the criminal case involving David Stockman, the former head of the OMB under Ronald Reagan, who was C&A’s CEO from 2001, when Stockman’s private equity fund took control of C&A, until shortly before the company’s 2005 bankruptcy. Barnaba is described in the indictment as “employed by the purchasing department” and identified as Director of Financial Analysis and eventually Director and Vice President of Purchasing for the Plastics Division. Background regarding the criminal prosecution can be found here.

 

As Professor Brown explained in an earlier post (here), Barnaba has moved to sever his criminal case from the other criminal defendants and to set the case for an early trial date. Barnaba asserts that, due to his indictment, he faces overwhelming personal and professional difficulties. He also argues that the protracted criminal proceedings threaten him with financial ruin, and he contends further that the proceeds of the applicable D&O policy “are quickly dwindling.”

 

The government opposed Barnaba’s motion, arguing among other things that Barnaba’s concerns about the dwindling D&O insurance are “wholly speculative and unsubstantiated.”

 

In his Reply to the government’s opposition, Barnaba vigorously disagrees with the government’s attempt to belittle his concerns about the dwindling D&O policy. His Reply explains that Collins & Aikman has a $50 million insurance program arranged in four layers. This insurance “provides coverage to a wide variety of former Collins & Aikman executives and employees,” including not only the criminal defendants, but also “those who have been sued or subpoenaed in the civil SEC matter, and those who have been sued or subpoenaed in various class actions and other civil suits.”

 

Barnaba explains in his Reply that the first $15 million layer of coverage was exhausted on or about June 15, 2007, and the second $15 million layer was exhausted on or about March 31, 2008 (for defense work completed through February 2008). As Barnaba notes, “the second $15 million layer of coverage was exhausted in nine months at a rate of approximately $1.67 million per month” and he adds that the “monthly rate was higher at the end of than at the beginning of this nine-month period.”

 

In any event, for the defense work completed in March 2008 and later, only $20 million of coverage remains. Barnaba argues that “[a]ssuming a monthly burn rate of $2 million to $3 million, which is realistic and likely conservative, all policy proceeds will be exhausted sometime between mid-September 2008 and December 31, 2008. This is not speculative.”

 

It is hard not to sympathize with Barnaba’s plight, regardless of the merits of the criminal matter. He has been caught in the maelstrom. The outcome of his motion to sever and to set a trial date remains to be seen, but it is hard to imagine a court agreeing to allow a high-profile criminal case like this one to be tried piecemeal. The D&O insurance could well be gone long before the case finally goes to trial.

 

Separate and apart from the actual merits of Barnaba’s motion are the implications of his plight for the issue of D&O insurance limits adequacy.

 

The first and most basic point is the importance of defense expense in the limits adequacy analysis. The potential for defense expense to exhaust or substantially deplete the available limits is most obvious in a catastrophic claim like the one involving Collins & Aikman, but even in less catastrophic circumstances, accumulating defense expense can substantially reduce the indemnity protection available even in a large insurance program. And the insurance is supposed to able to respond adequately in all circumstances, even the unlikely event of a catastrophic claim. In considering the requirements that a catastrophic claim can present, it is important to note that the aggregate defense expense related to the Collins & Aikman claim consumed $15 million in just nine months.

 

The second point is that one of the problems in the Collins & Aikman claim is that so many different people are accessing the policy, for a wide variety of different matters. The potential for the policy limits to drain away through so many different access points is perhaps inherent in the current standard D&O policy structure, in which so many different people are included as “insured persons” and so many different kinds of matters fall within the definition of a covered “claim.”

 

While this breadth of coverage is generally viewed as a positive thing from the policyholder’s perspective, it has the inherent potential (a potential that is being dramatically realized in the Collins & Aikman claim) for accelerated policy erosion and even depletion. The erosion potential inherent in the breadth of available policy coverage is a consideration that is too infrequently considered in connection with the question of limits adequacy.

 

Third, the problem Barnaba faces is not just his alone – all of the other “insured persons” are also facing imminent insurance program depletion. Once the available insurance is used up, these individuals will face continued complex litigation without further insurance available to defend or indemnify themselves. Among other things, it could prove difficult and painful for the defendants in the civil lawsuits to extricate themselves without insurance available.

 

All of that said, the solutions to these problems are not easy. With the benefit of hindsight, it is tempting to argue that the company should have carried higher limits. The fact is that many companies of Collins & Aikman’s pre-catastrophe size (the company had a market capitalization of approximately $500 million a year before it went bankrupt) choose to carry D&O limits lower than the $50 million that Collins & Aikman carried. Many companies are unwilling or unable to buy greater limits.

 

In the end the analysis comes down to the perennial question of limits adequacy – that is, how much insurance is enough?

 

In light of the escalating average claims severity, and of the numerous implications from Barnaba’s plight (including the catastrophic potential for defense expense to deplete policy limits), it may be time to rethink commonplace concepts of limits adequacy, because past notions may no longer be sufficient. Average claims severity is increasing. Defense expense does have the catastrophic potential to exhaust policy limits. In addition, new developments, such as the growing opt-out phenomenon (discussed most recently here), pose additional challenges to the traditional limits adequacy analysis.

 

Increased program limits alone, however, may not solve all of the problems. Indeed, it could be argued that even were higher limits available, they might not adequately protect Barnaba and the other Collins & Aikman defendants. Given the astonishing potential for defense expense to consume available insurance (I mean, $15 million in nine months, for crying out loud), even a substantially larger insurance program than the one Collins & Aikman maintained might prove to be insufficient.

 

Part of the solution has to be program structure. Clearly, a key reason that the Collins & Aikman program is melting away is that so many different people are accessing it. One way that well-advised corporate officials can ensure they are not left without insurance to protect them as individuals is through supplemental D&O insurance structures dedicated solely to their own protection. These supplemental structures might take any one of a number of different forms, including for example, excess Side A coverage for a specified group of individuals, or even through an individual D&O insurance policy (so-called IDL coverage). While there are a variety of ways this supplemental insurance might be structured, the crisis Barnaba faces underscores the importance of addressing these issues as part of the insurance acquisition process.

 

One final thought about Barnaba. That is, the typical insurance acquisition process conversation is usually limited to considerations involving the exposures of the most senior corporate officials. The possible exposures of “supporting cast” employees such as Barnaba are usually not a central part of the dialog. For that reason, it is relatively unlikely that the deployment of supplement insurance structures, as important as they are, would do much for someone like Barnaba.

 

In the end, someone at Barnaba’s level is, in all likelihood, going to be (as in the case of Barnaba himself) dependent on the continued availability of insurance proceeds under the traditional D&O insurance policy. This final point underscores the importance of a thorough review of all considerations involved in the issue of limits adequacy, including in particular the number of persons potentially dependent on the policy for protection. As I noted, it may be time to reconsider traditional notions of limits adequacy, in light of all of these considerations.

 

Very special thanks to Professor Brown for providing a heads up about his post.

 

Brocade Settles Options Timing-Related Securities Class Action Lawsuit: According to the company’s June 2, 2008 press release (here), Brocade Communications has reached an agreement to settle the options-backdating related securities class action lawsuit pending against the company and certain of its directors and officers, in exchange for an agreement to pay $160 million. Background regarding the litigation can be found here.

 

I have added the Brocade settlement to my table of options backdating-related settlements and dismissals, which can be accessed here.

 

A WSJ.com Law Blog post about the settlement can be found here.