The D&O Diary is on assignment in Europe this week. In an abrupt and vivid scene change, I left the PLUS International Conference in Orlando last week and flew straight to Paris, to attend a conference of the International Association of Claims Professionals last Thursday and Friday.
My prior visits to Paris have all
It is time to post another round of photos that readers have taken of their D&O Diary mugs I never cease to be amazed at the diversity of shots and the different photographic visions that readers’ pictures exhibit. .
Readers will recall that in a recent post, I offered to send out to
One of the more troublesome trends in recent years has been the increasing willingness of lawmakers and regulators to try to impose liability on corporate officials without regard for the requirements of the corporate form and even without reference to whether the officials are culpable in any way. (Refer here for my most recent discussion
The threat of a cybersecurity breach is unfortunately one of the ongoing business risks companies face n the current operating environment. For that reason, corporate disclosures of cyber-breach related risks have been a priority of the SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance as well as the agency’s new Chair, Mary Jo White. The agency’s developing practices
In an October 22, 2013 opinion (here) that underscores the important distinction between indemnification and advancement and that highlights the sometimes surprising extent to which corporate officials are entitled to advancement of their attorneys’ fees when claims are filed against them, District of New Jersey Judge Kevin McNulty held that Goldman Sachs must
On October 30, 2013, the SEC announced another whistleblower bounty award under the Dodd-Frank whistleblower program. Although the size of this latest award ($150,000) is relatively modest compared to the recent $14 million award (about which refer here), the most recent award does suggest that awards under the whistleblower program are gaining momentum.
In a criminal case against defendant Donald Powell pending in Tennessee (Williamson County) Circuit Court, the prosecution filed a motion in limine seeking to prevent defense counsel from referring to the prosecution as “the government.” In his brief in Opposition (here), Powell’s defense attorney, Drew Justice, pointed out that the term “the government&rdquo
The question of when domestic securities laws provide remedies for investors who purchased their shares in foreign companies on foreign exchanges vexed U.S. courts for years until the U.S. Supreme Court sorted out the issues in Morrison v. National Australia Bank. But while the U.S. courts now have the bright line standards of the
Although D&O insurance represents an important risk management tool for every company, the protection that a D&O insurance policy affords directors and officers is particularly important in the bankruptcy context, when the company is no longer able to indemnify the individuals. Yet, as industry practitioners know, a number of issues recur in the bankruptcy context
D&O insurance policies often address a policyholder’s particular circumstances. One way that D&O insurers sometimes address the fact that a company has experienced adverse circumstances is to incorporate into its policy a “known circumstances exclusion” precluding coverage for those circumstances. In an October 23, 2013 opinion (here), the First Circuit affirmed the opinion