I am pleased to publish below a guest post from my good friend Kimberly M. Melvin and her colleague John E. Howell, both of the Wiley Rein LLP law firm. Kim and John’s article discusses a recent decision from New York’s high court and its implications for the scope of coverage under a fiduciary
D&O Insurance: Two More Cases Hold No Excess Coverage Where Underlying Insurance Not Exhausted
Two more courts have joined the growing line of cases holding that excess insurer’s payment obligations were not triggered where the policyholder funded part of the loss below the excess insurer’s limit.
First, on September 12, 2012, New York (New York County) Supreme Court Judge Melvin Schweitzer, applying New York law, ruled in
Guest Post: D&O Insurance for Initial Public Offerings — What Every Director Needs to Know
I am pleased to publish below a guest post written by Paul A. Ferrillo of the Weil Gotshal and Manges law firm. Paul’s guest post identifies the liability exposures that IPO companies and their directors and officers face, and describes the insurance considerations the companies should address in confronting those exposures. Paul’s article was first printed
ABA Business Law Section’s Corporate Counsel Checklist for Executive Protection
In the August 2012 issue of Business Law Today, the ABA Business Law Section published an article entitled “Training for Tomorrow: Corporate Counsel Checklist for Supervising Creation/Renewal of D&O Protection Program” (here). The article describes the critical components of a comprehensive executive protection program. A detailed description of the article and an
Delaware Supreme Court: Insured’s Payment of Defense Expenses Does Not Trigger Excess Insurer’s Payment Obligations
On September 7, 2012, the Delaware Supreme Court, applying California law, held that Intel’s excess insurer’s defense obligations were not triggered where Intel had settled with the underlying insurer for less than policy limits and had itself funded the defense fees above the settlement amount and below the underlying insurer’s policy limit. A copy of
Guest Post: More About the Duty to Advance and the Duty to Defend
In an August 27, 2012 post (here), I discussed Central District of California Judge James Selna’s August 21, 2012 decision in Petersen v. Columbia Casualty, and in particular Judge Selna’s consideration of the insurer defendant’s duty to advance under its liability policy. Following my publication of the post, I was contacted by Jeffrey
Guest Post: Cyber Security and Data Breaches — Why Directors and Officers Should Be Concerned
I am pleased to publish below an article by my good friend Richard J. Bortnick (pictured left) concerning the directors’ and officers’ liability issues related to cyber security and data breaches. Rick is a Member of the Cozen O’Connor law firm and he is also the co-author of the CyberInquirer blog. This article first appeared
What to Watch Now in the World of D&O
Every fall since I first started writing this blog, I have assembled a list of the current hot topics in the world of directors’ and officers’ liability. This year’s list is set out below. As should be obvious, there is a lot going on right now in the world of D&O, with further changes just
While You Were Out
Labor Day has come and gone. The kids are back in school. The air is cooler and the nights are longer. There’s a definite autumnal feeling in the air. It is time to get back to work. Fortunately, The D&O Diary kept its eye on things over the summer. So if you are feeling the
The Duty to Advance Defense Expenses vs. The Duty to Defend
There is a host of well established legal principles that govern insurers’ defense obligation under the standard liability insurance policy where the insurer has the duty to defend the insureds. But many professional liability insurance policies are not written on with the duty on the insurer to defend (which is usually described as a “duty