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When the European Union’s updated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on May 25, 2018, media reports focused on the potentially massive fines that the regulation authorizes – the regulation authorizes fines of up to €20 million or 4 percent of a company’s annual worldwide revenue, whichever is higher, for noncompliance with the regulation’s strict data collection and use requirements. The possibility of regulatory fines of this magnitude immediately raised the question of whether or not insurance is available to protect companies against the huge financial exposure. The answer to this question, it turns out, is complicated.
Continue Reading Are GDPR Fines and Penalties Insurable?

One of the most interesting global legal developments has been the rise in recent years of collective redress mechanisms outside the United States, a phenomenon on which I have commented in the context of collective investor actions. The provision for collective or representative actions has expanded in a number of other contexts as well, including in particular in the consumer context. On April 11, 2018, the European Commission introduced a proposal – as part of what it called a “New Deal for Consumers” – that would introduce a European collective redress right for consumers. This proposed collective action mechanism is subject to a number of procedural protections. Nevertheless, the proposal, if adopted, would represent a significant advance in the development of collective redress mechanisms and rights in Europe. The European Commission’s April 11, 2018 press release about the proposal can be found here.
Continue Reading European Commission Proposes Consumer Collective Redress Mechanism

eu flagIn prior posts (for example, here), I have described the rise of collective investor actions outside of the U.S. as one of the most important current developments in the world of directors and officers liability. The rise of these collective investor suits is not happening in a vacuum; the growth in the number and size of these kinds of lawsuits is part of a larger upsurge in collective actions generally. According to a recent Report, collective redress actions represent a “growing business” in Europe, and the “volume and value of the cases being filed is on a steep upward curve.”

The Report, a detailed and interesting March 2017 publication by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute of Legal Reform entitled “The Growth of Collective Redress in the EU: A Survey of Developments in 10 Member States” (here) takes an anxious and uneasy look at the changes in the collective action environment in Europe, and proposes several recommendations as ways for countries to avoid abuses that the report contends have arisen elsewhere.  The Institute’s March 21, 2017 press release about the report can be found here.
Continue Reading The Steep Rise of Collective Actions in Europe

brexitThe historic June 23, 2016 vote by a majority of voters for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union has dominated the headlines and roiled financial markets around the world – and for good reason. The U.K.’s withdrawal from the E.U. will have an enormous impact on the U.K itself, on the E.U., and on the rest of the world. Many of the consequences of Brexit will only become apparent as the long process that is about to commence unfolds over the course of the next few years. But while all of the consequences of Brexit will only become fully apparent over time, many of the likely effects can be predicted or at least anticipated now.

Among other things, because the financial services sector is among the industrial segments to which E.U. regulations have most extensively been applied, the financial services sector is among the segments that will be most significantly affected. In the following post, I review some of the ways that Brexit will impact the insurance industry, and discuss the implications for the industry, as well.
Continue Reading What Does the Brexit Vote Mean for the Insurance Industry?