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Kevin LaCroix

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Kevin M. LaCroix is an attorney and Executive Vice President, RT ProExec, a division of RT Specialty. RT ProExec is an insurance intermediary focused exclusively on management liability issues.

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Nessim Mezrahi
Stephen Sigrist

One of the perennial securities class action litigation issues is the question of how courts should view plaintiff’s allegations made in reliance on short seller reports. In the following guest post, Nessim Mezrahi and Stephen Sigrist take a look at the conflicted role that short seller reports play in securities class action litigation. Nessim is co-founder and CEO, and Stephen Sigrist is a senior vice president, at SAR LLC. A version of this article previously was published on Law360. I would like to thank Nessim and Stephen for allowing me to publish their article on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Nessim and Stephen’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: Conflicts Abound When Activist Short-Sellers Publish Reports

In an insurance coverage dispute arising out of an unusual underlying criminal proceeding, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, applying Maryland law, has held that a Maryland attorney indicted for his alleged actions on behalf of certain Somalian entities is not entitled to insurance for his fees incurred in defending against the indictment. The Court’s decision raises interesting issues about the applicable professional liability insurance policy’s definition of Claim and the definition’s application in the context of the attorney’s criminal proceedings. A copy of the Fourth Circuit’s January 4, 2024 opinion can be found here.Continue Reading Attorney’s Post-Indictment Defense Fees Not Covered Under Professional Liability Policy

One of the most distinct securities class action lawsuit filing phenomena since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S. in March 2020 has been the surge of pandemic-related securities suits,  particularly during the period 2020 through 2022. This securities suit filing trend even continued into 2023, although the incidence of COVID-related suits dwindled during the year. However, in an unexpected development, a plaintiff shareholder has now filed yet another COVID-related securities suit against BioNTech, the German biotechnology company that, along with its partner Pfizer, was lionized for helping to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The company was hit with a securities suit after its share price declined following a sizeable inventory write-off. A copy of the January 12, 2024, complaint against the company can be found here.Continue Reading A New COVID-Related Securities Suit for the New Year

Nelson Kefauver

In the following guest post, Nelson Kefauver, Head of Profin Underwriting at Intact Insurance, takes a look at how three frequent industry predictions from the recent past have turned out.  Nelson’s comments are specific to the private and non-profit D&O insurance space and not do not refer to the public company D&O insurance…

As I have noted in prior posts, due to a political “backlash” against ESG, many companies have found it expedient to avoid talking about ESG altogether – a developing that has been referred to as “greenhushing.” Indeed, some academics have even suggested that it may be time to say “RIP” to ESG. But if the expression “ESG” is now verboten, how are we going to talk collectively about the various topics encompassed by the term “ESG”?

According to a January 10, 2024, front-page Wall Street Journal article entitled “The Latest Dirty Word in Corporate America: ESG” (here), as “ESG” has become the three letters that corporate officials dare not utter, they have found other ways to talk about “responsible business.” Meanwhile, corporate environmental and social responsibility efforts continue despite the apparent banishment of “ESG” as an expression. Moreover, as also discussed below, due to regulatory changes, the likelihood is that discussion of the concepts underlying what was referred to in past as “ESG” are only going to increase, regardless whether or not the term “ESG” is used.Continue Reading Goodbye ESG, Hello “Responsible Business”

According to a new report, the number of excess fee and performance lawsuits filed in 2023 declined relative to the extraordinary filings levels in 2022, but excess fee lawsuit filings remained elevated. By contrast to prior years in which plaintiffs’ lawyers seemingly targeted benefit plans of all sizes, in 2023 the excess benefit plan lawsuits filed in 2023 primarily targeted companies with larger benefit plans. The number and aggregate total value of excess fee lawsuit settlements in 2023 was a record levels during the year. The January 8, 2024, report about the excess fee lawsuit filings, written by Daniel Aronowitz of Euclid Specialty, can be found here.Continue Reading Excess Fee Lawsuit Filings Declined in 2023 Due to Backlog of Prior Cases

Because so many of you were out of the office or away from your desks last week, I am posting a reminder that, along with my colleagues Marissa Streckfuss and Chris Bertola, I will be hosting a free, one-hour seminar on The Top Ten D&O Stories of 2023 on Thursday, January 11, 2023 at 11:00…

The directors’ and officers’ liability environment is always changing, but 2023 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 2024 – and possibly for years to come.  I have set out below the Top Ten D&O Stories of 2023, with a focus on future implications. Please note that on Thursday, January 11, 2024 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 2023. Registration for the webinar can be found here. I hope you can join us for the webinar.Continue Reading The Top Ten Stories in D&O of 2023

D&O insurers closely track the annual number of securities class action lawsuit filings. The number of annual filings can provide some indication of the insurers’ ultimate loss costs for the year. The current year’s filing patterns can also inform the insurers’ efforts to try to determine the profit-making price for their insurance product.

In 2023, the number of federal court securities class action lawsuits filed increased more than 7% compared to 2022, although the number of federal suit filings still remained well below the elevated levels seen in the recent past. Several factors contributed to the increased number of securities suit filings during the year, including disruption in the banking sector as well as the overall impact of macroeconomic factors.Continue Reading Federal Court Securities Class Action Lawsuit Filings Increased in 2023

Mark Sutton
Leah Barratt

In the following guest post, the authors examine two specific provisions of the new U.K. Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. The two provisions the authors examine are the Act’s new corporate offense of “failure to prevent fraud” and the reformed “identification principle.” The authors of this guest post…