In a detailed April 23, 2014 opinion (here), Eastern District of Virginia Judge Liam O’Grady, applying Virginia law, held that the guilty pleas of executives of Protection Strategies, Inc. triggered four separate exclusions in the D&O coverage section of PSI’s management liability policy and that the management liability insurer was entitled to
Adjudication of fraud
The SEC’s New Policy Requiring Admissions of Wrongdoing: What Are the Implications?
On August 19, 2013, in connection with its entry into a settlement with New York-based hedge fund adviser Phillip Falcone and his advisory firm Harbinger Capital Partners, the SEC for the first time implemented its new policy requiring defendants seeking to settle civil enforcement actions to provide admissions of wrongdoing, in contrast to the long-standing…
D&O Insurance: Fourth Circuit Affirms That Convicted Exec Must Repay Insurer for Defense Expenses
Lee Farkas, the criminally convicted former Chairman and majority shareholder of the defunct Taylor Bean and Whitaker Mortgage Corporation, must repay the nearly $1 million in defense fees the company’s D&O insurer had advanced on his behalf, according to an April 11, 2013 Fourth Circuit opinion. The terse three-page appellate opinion adopts the ruling of…
D&O Insurance: When Can Individuals’ Fraudulent Misconduct be Imputed to the Insured Entity?
The typical D&O insurance policy precludes coverage for loss arising from fraudulent misconduct. But when an insured has been convicted of fraud, whose coverage is precluded? In the second case in recent days to address the consequences for the insured entity of the criminal conviction of one of the entity’s principals, Judge James L. Graham…