Claims arising out of corporate bankruptcy represent a significant stress test for directors’ and officers’ liability insurance coverage. Among other frequently recurring issues are questions whether post-bankruptcy claims against the bankrupt company’s directors and officers run afoul of the Insured vs. Insured (I v. I) exclusion found in most D&O insurance policies.
In a
A recent German legislative action creates some interesting requirements for and limitations upon insurance for German corporate director liability. These legislative changes are designed to try to ensure greater director exposure to personal liability, as a deterrent to corporate misconduct. However, the legislative changes are susceptible to circumventions that may limit their intended effects.
One of the most striking things I have found when talking to corporate officials about D&O insurance is how different the conversation can be when talking to non-officer directors compared to talking to corporate officers. Without meaning to over-generalize, the two groups sometimes have different questions and concerns. And indeed there are very good reasons
Most reasonably sophisticated consumers understand that the cheapest running shoes may be no bargain, that the least expensive cellular plan may have big gaps, and that selecting legal counsel based on which attorney charges the least is fraught with peril. Yet when it comes to D&O insurance, these same buyers are often only concerned with
One byproducts of the turmoil that has swept over insurance giant AIG has been a cascade of litigation. But even before the company’s latest woes, it was locked in a series of hotly contested legal battles with its former Chairman and CEO, Maurice Greenberg. The latest front in this ongoing war apparently is a
In an interesting decision that raises a host of important issues, a federal district court applying Arkansas law held that due to renewal application misrepresentations, a hospital’s D&O insurance policy is void ab initio, and therefore that the hospital must refund amounts the insurer previously paid as defense costs. The April 17, 2009 opinion
Deteriorating economic conditions threaten a massive wave of corporate defaults. Corporate borrowers’ inability to fulfill debt obligations could not only prompt a bankruptcy filing surge, but could also result in a flood of lawsuits and claims as creditors and shareholders seek to recoup their losses. These claims could present a host of challenging D&O coverage
The global financial crisis has produced challenges across the entire economy, but the financial sector, where all the problems arguably began, has been particularly hard hit. While the most investment firms and other banking institutions may have experienced the most dramatic consequences, insurance companies have also been swept up in the whirlwind.
The extent
Among the recurring sources of D&O insurance coverage disputes are issues relating to timely notice of claim. A 6-3 decision by the Texas Supreme Court on March 27, 2009 (here), written over a vigorous dissent (here), recapitulates many of the perennial notice issues and reaches a result that while unquestionably policyholder
Private equity firms and the funds they organize frequently place individuals on their portfolio companies’ boards. However, all too frequently, it is not until a claim has arisen that the various entities consider how the potentially implicated indemnities and insurance will interact. Unanticipated interactions sometimes can produce unintended consequences, particularly from the perspective of the