As readers of this blog know well, cybersecurity issues can be an important potential source of directors’ and officers’ liability risk exposure. In the following guest post, Arlene Levitin, Esq., takes a detailed look at the many ways that cybersecurity-related issues can translate into D&O liability risk and insurance concerns, particularly with advent of artificicial intelligence technology. Arelene is Claims Officer, Complex Management Liability, NAS Financial Lines Claims, Liberty Mutual Insurance. I would like to thank Arlene for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. Here is Arlene’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: Cybersecurity Risks & the Potential Impact on D&O Insurance
In an interesting development, the U.S. District Court Judge overseeing the cybersecurity-related securities class action lawsuit pending against title insurance company First American Financial Corp. has granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. The dismissal in the case is interesting because the company had in June 2021 agreed with the SEC to enter a cease-and-desist order and to pay a modest civil penalty to settle charges related to the same cybersecurity incident. The dismissal is also interesting because it shows how plaintiffs’ lawyers have struggled to get traction with cybersecurity-related securities suits. A copy of the Court’s September 22, 2021 order granting the motion to dismiss in the First American securities suit can be found 
Companies navigating the current heath crisis and dealing with its financial effects face a number of risks. Among the many risks is the possibility of business litigation. For publicly traded companies, the litigation risks include the possibility of securities class action litigation. Even in the midst of a pandemic, the steps companies can take to try to mitigate their securities class action litigation remain the same – manage disclosures, control insider trading, and handle bad news appropriately, among other things – but the coronavirus outbreak has added new dimensions to these steps. Well-advised companies will be making the appropriate adjustments, and, as discussed below, D&O insurance underwriters will be (or perhaps, should be) monitoring companies closely to see which companies are making the adjustments.
If the uncertainty creates risk, then the current state of play on the United Kingdom’s efforts to withdraw from the European Union represents risk in a highly concentrated form. On November 25, 2018, the 27 EU members 
In the D&O insurance world, private company liabilities, exposures, and insurance are viewed as categorically distinct from public company liabilities, exposures, and insurance. There are completely separate and distinct insurance policy forms for each of the two categories of companies. In this traditional view, one of the key distinctions between two kinds of companies is the potential liability of public companies and their directors and officers under the federal securities laws. However, it has recently become apparent to me that this perceived difference between the two categories of companies may be less distinct than I had perceived. For example, as I noted in a 
In my former days on the carrier side, our D&O insurance group advocated for our policyholders a program of securities litigation loss prevention, on the theory that there are steps companies can take to make themselves less likely to be a securities suit target or better able to defend themselves if they are hit with