D&O insurance

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floridaIn a recent post (here), I discussed a recent federal district court ruling in which the court broadly interpreted the professional services exclusion in a bank’s D&O insurance policy in order to preclude coverage under the policy for a claim that had been made against the bank and certain of its directors and officers in a case arising out of the long-running Rothstein Ponzi scheme scandal. Southern District of Florida Kathleen M. Williams’s May 2015 opinion in the case, which I discussed in that earlier post, can be found here. As I noted in my earlier post, the case presents an example of the problems that can arise when a professional services firm’s D&O insurance policy contains a professional services exclusion with the  broad “arising out of, based upon, or attributable to” preamble language.

As discussed below, a recent law firm memo analyzing the court’s ruling called Judge Williams’s expansive reading of the language “troubling” and expressed the concern that the breadth of the court’s reading of the exclusion’s preclusive effect could render the D&O insurance policy’s coverage “largely illusory.”
Continue Reading The Problem with a Broadly Worded Professional Service Exclusion in a Service Firm’s D&O Insurance Policy

GaIn  a recent post in which I discussed the “basic value proposition” of D&O insurance, I noted that among the five indispensable elements required in order for coverage under a D&O insurance policy to exist is the requirement that a Claim for an alleged Wrongful Act against an Insured Person acting in an Insured Capacity. The prerequisite that the Insured Person must have been acting in an Insured Capacity at the time of the alleged Wrongful Act arises from the fact that individuals act in a number of different capacities; it is only conduct undertaken in their capacity as an officer or director of the insured company for which the insurance policy provides coverage.

A June 22, 2015 decision by the Eleventh Circuit, applying Georgia law, provides a good illustration of how an individual might be acting in multiple capacities, and underscores the fact that the insurance under a D&O policy is only available when the insured was acting in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the insured company. The case presents some interesting policy wording lessons. A copy of the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion can be found here.
Continue Reading D&O Insurance: A Question of “Capacity”

nystateOne of the standard features of D&O insurance policy is the fraud exclusion, which these days typically provides that the exclusion is triggered only after a “final” judicial determination that the precluded conduct has occurred. But what is it that makes a determination “final”?

On June 23, 2015, in a decision that has a number of important implications, the New York (New York County) Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, applying New York law, held that the imposition of a post-conviction criminal sentencing constitutes a “final judgment” that not only triggered the fraud exclusion in a D&O insurance policy but also required the convicted individual to reimburse the carrier for amounts it had already paid – even though the individual’s appeal of his criminal conviction was pending.

As discussed below, the court’s opinion has some important lessons for D&O insurance practitioners. A copy of the court’s opinion can be found here.
Continue Reading D&O Insurance: A “Final” Analysis

third circuitThe traditional Insured vs. Insured exclusion found in many D&O insurance policies is a frequent source of claims disputes, particularly in the bankruptcy context. As its name suggests, the Insured vs. Insured exclusion precludes coverage for claims brought by one Insured against another Insured. The typical Insured vs. Insured exclusion includes a provision (often…

fourthcircuitIt sometimes comes as a surprise to some policyholders that D&O carriers contend that they have the right to try to recover amounts they have paid as defense expenses if it turns out that coverage for a claim is precluded by a policy exclusion. However, an insurer’s right of defense expense recoupment is by now…

aus3An exclusion sometimes found in D&O insurance policies precludes coverage for claims made by shareholders who have a specified percentage of ownership in the insured company. This type of exclusion is called a Major Shareholder Exclusion (or, sometimes, the Principal Shareholder Exclusion). An interesting May 6, 2015 decision (here) by the Supreme Court…

insurancefilesIn many cases, companies’ D&O insurance programs are structured in several layers, with one or more policies of excess of insurance written over top of a primary layer. The excess insurance is often said to be written on a “follow form” basis, meaning that the primary policy’s terms govern the operation of the excess policies.…

Burkhardniklasrahlmeyer_ProfilePictureIn the following guest post, Dr. Burkhard Fassbach and Dr. Niklas Rahlmeyer imagine a possible shareholder presentation about D&O insurance at an annual meeting of shareholders in Germany.  Fassbach is an Of Counsel with the Dusseldorf based D&O-Specialist Law Firm Hendricks. Rahlmeyer is an attorney in the corporate practice group of the Dusseldorf office of…

floridaAt a time when cyber liability and other hot topics dominate the discussion, potential corporate liability arising from environmental disclosures often does not receive the attention it should. However, as I have previously noted on this blog, environmental issues have been and remain an area on which plaintiffs’ lawyer have been focused. A recently…