Bankruptcy is a fraught circumstance for D&O insurance. As discussed in the following guest post from Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, the usual bankruptcy complications are further amplified in the crypto context. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site.Continue Reading Guest Post: D&O Insurance Coverage in a Crypto Mining Bankruptcy
The directors’ and officers’ liability environment is always changing, but 2025 was a particularly eventful year, with important consequences for the D&O insurance marketplace. The past year’s many developments also have significant implications for what may lie ahead in 2026 – and possibly for years to come. I have set out below the Top Ten D&O Stories of 2025, with a focus on future implications. Please note that on Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 11:00 am EST, my colleagues Marissa Streckfus, Chris Bertola, and I will be conducting a free, hour-long webinar in which we will discuss The Top Ten D&O Stories of 2025. Registration for the webinar can be found here. Please join us for the webinar.Continue Reading The Top Ten D&O Stories of 2025
After two consecutive years in which the annual number of federal court securities class action lawsuit filings increased, the number of federal court securities class action lawsuit filings decreased slightly in 2025 compared to 2024, to the lowest level since 2022. The number of federal court securities class action suit filings during past year reflected the impact of several ongoing securities lawsuit filings trends, such as the new lawsuit filings relating to artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrencies. The slight decline in the annual number of filings reflects the diminishing impact of certain long-term trends that waned during the year, as discussed below. Continue Reading Federal Court Securities Suit Filings Declined Slightly in 2025
In a few days’ time, I will be posting my annual survey of the Top Ten D&O Stories of the year. For now, though, we are all enjoying the holidays. The last thing most of us want to think about is the latest case decision or the most recent developments in D&O insurance coverage. With that in mind, I thought I would go off-topic and turn to the lessons from my travel experiences. The fact is that I travel a lot. I have gotten pretty good at maintaining my equilibrium while traveling. But we all know that along with joy and surprise, travel can also entail a lot of bumps and bruises. I thought it might be useful for me to share some of the things I have learned to make travel easier, as well as some of my travel likes and dislikes.Continue Reading Travel Hacks, Gripes, and Likes
In just a few days’ time, I will be publishing my annual survey The Top Ten D&O Stories of the year. For now, though, we are all celebrating the holidays, and no one really wants to be reading about case law developments or insurance coverage issues. So instead, I thought I would do a post featuring my favorite travel pictures from 2025. I freely concede that this is totally self-indulgent, allowing me to bask in the delight of some of my favorite travel experiences. But just to show that this isn’t just about me, below I invite readers to send in their favorite 2025 travel pictures, which I will publish on this site over the coming weeks. Please see the instructions below on how to submit your travel pictures.Continue Reading Top Travel Pictures of 2025
The possibility of a securities class action lawsuit being filed against a company after it experiences a data breach is a long-standing risk. For most of 2025, there were relatively few of these kinds of suits filed, at least compared to recent years. However, last week, two different companies – the e-commerce firm Coupang and the application security firm F5 – were each hit with new cybersecurity-related securities class action lawsuits. The new lawsuits have several interesting features, as discussed below, and at a minimum underscore the fact that the threat of these kinds of cybersecurity suits is ongoing.Continue Reading Two Tech Companies Hit with Data Breach-Related Securities Suits
In the following guest post, Burkhard Fassbach, a D&O lawyer in private practice in Germany, reviews and analzyes a recent decision by the German Federal Court of Justice interpreting and applying the D&O insurance exclusion precluding coverage for “knowing breach of duty.” I would like to thank Burkhard for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. Here is Burkhard’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: German Court Redefines Knowing Breach Exclusions in D&O Insurance
In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, reviews a recent law firm survey of IPO Governance trends and considers the D&O liability exposure implications. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article on this site.Continue Reading Guest Post: Post IPO-Governance Trends
As readers of this blog know, in recent months there have been a number of AI-related corporate and securities suits filed against companies and their executives (as discussed, for example, here). In general, these suits have mostly involved “AI-washing” allegations – that is, allegations that the defendant company misrepresented its AI-related prospects or capabilities. More recently, however, the cases increasingly have involved allegations not that the defendant company overstated its AI-related opportunities, but rather understated its AI-related risks.
Last week, in the latest example of this type of suit, a plaintiff shareholder filed a derivative suit against executives of the digital ad tracking firm DoubleVerify, alleging that the defendants had caused the company to omit to disclose that AI-related developments were undercutting the company’s revenues. A copy of the derivative suit complaint can be found here.Continue Reading Digital Ad Analytic Firm Hit With AI-Related Disclosure Suit
Among one of many changes afoot at the SEC under its current Chair Paul Atkins is Atkins’s proposal calling for the agency to reconsider its rule allowing shareholders to include non-binding shareholder resolutions in corporate proxy materials. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, takes a look at Atkins’s proposal concerning shareholder resolutions and considers the potential impact of a rule change on D&O liability. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article on this site.Continue Reading Guest Post: Is the SEC Signaling the End of ESG Shareholder Proposals?