In an earlier post (here), I wrote about a December 30, 2009 ruling in the MBIA coverage litigation that special litigation committee investigation expenses were covered under a D&O liability insurance policy. As I anticipated, the decision has proven to be controversial.
Two law firms that traditionally act as coverage counsel for D&O
Longtime readers know I have frequently argued that claims related to the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are a growing source of liability exposure for companies and their senior officials, a stand that has made me the subject of occasional derisive comments. One reader recently suggested to me that I am "obsessive" about
RiskMetrics has issued its year-end 2009 scorecard of the Top 100 securities class action lawsuit settlements. The list, which is updated quarterly, can be accessed on the Securities Litigation Watch blog (here). The details in this very interesting tabulation support a number of interesting observations, discussed below.
The year-end Top 100 tally
In my year-end analysis of the 2009 securities class action lawsuit filings, I noted a number of filing trends that developed in the second half of the year, including the incidence of new filings against leveraged Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and the surprising numbers of belated securities suit filings where the filing date came
The financial relationship between plaintiffs’ securities firms and the clients they represent has long been questioned, and not only because of the kinds of improper kickback payments for which Bill Lerach and Mel Weiss, among others, wound up in jail. Another practice that has raised recurring concerns is what is referred to as "pay-to-play" &ndash
“Subprime litigation” “dismissal motion rulings” “lawsuit trends”
Continue Reading Who’s Winning and Who’s Losing the Dismissal Motions in Subprime Securities Suits?
The FDIC has picked up where it left off at the end of 2009, with its first bank closure of the New Year. On Friday, January 8, 2010, the FDIC took control of Horizon Bank of Bellingham, Washington, for the first bank closure of 2010. While the FDIC’s continuation of its regulatory actions regarding troubled
According to its January 6, 2010 press release (here), the U.S. Equal Employment Commission announced that near record numbers of workplace discrimination charges were filed with the agency in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009. As reflected in the agency’s statistical presentation, there were 93,277 charges filed in FY 2009, which
In a January 4, 2010 order (here), Southern District of Texas Judge Nancy Atlas held that an insurance broker’s Professional Liability Insurance insurer must defend the broker and one of its employees in connection with claims arising out of the Stanford Group fraud.
Background
The Bowen Miclette & Britt insurance brokerage and
In an earlier post (here), I discussed legislation that Senator Arlen Specter introduced in July 2009 to legislatively overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Stoneridge and allow private actions for aiding and abetting liability. Though this proposed legislation is a matter for serious concern, there was always the possibility that given everything