Federal prosecutors have come in for considerable criticism over their failure to press criminal charges against executives of financial institutions whose stumbles led to the global financial crisis. As Southern District of New York Judge Jed Rakoff pointed out in his blistering January 9, 2014 opinion column in The New York Review of Books (
A Closer Look at an FDIC Failed Bank Lawsuit Settlement
According to the FDIC’s website (here), as of March 24, 2015, 44 of the 106 failed bank lawsuits the agency has filed have settled. So there is nothing particularly newsworthy about the fact that the parties to another one of the failed bank lawsuit had reached a settlement. Just the same, however, the
D&O Insurance: Eleventh Circuit Holds Insured v. Insured Exclusion’s Applicability to FDIC Failed Bank Claims Ambiguous
Going all the way back to the S&L crisis, a recurring insurance coverage issue that has arisen in the failed bank context has been the question of whether or not coverage for a claim brought by the FDIC in its capacity as receiver of a failed bank against the failed bank’s former directors and officers
D&O Insurance: Insured vs. Insured Exclusion Applicability to FDIC Failed Bank Claim Held Ambiguous
As I have previously noted on this blog, one of the recurring D&O insurance coverage issues arising during the latest bank failure wave has been the question whether the Insured vs. Insured Exclusion precludes coverage for claims brought by the FDIC in its capacity as receiver for a failed bank against the failed bank’s former
Failed NC Bank Execs Granted Summary Judgment on All FDIC Claims
On September 11, 2014, in a sharply worded order that will give heart to the FDIC’s many other failed bank litigation targets, Eastern District of North Carolina Judge Terrence Boyle, applying North Carolina law, granted the summary judgment motion of the former directors and officers of the failed Cooperative Bank of Wilmington, N.C., in the
Georgia Supreme Court Affirms, Elucidates Business Judgment Rule – and Its Limitations
A recurring issue in FDIC litigation against the former directors and officers of failed banks has been whether the business judgment rule insulates the defendants from claims of ordinary negligence. This question has been particularly important in Georgia, where there were more bank failures than any in other state and consequently more failed bank litigation.
First Circuit: D&O Insurer Must Advance Failed Bank Directors and Officers’ Defense Expenses
In an interesting March 31, 2014 opinion (here), the Unites States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, applying Puerto Rico law, affirmed a district court’s ruling that the D&O insurer for the failed Westernbank of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico must advance the bank’s former directors’ and officers’ expenses incurred in defending the FDIC’s
Georgia Federal Court Rules FIRREA Blocks Jurisdiction for Failed Bank’s D&O Insurer’s Declaratory Judgment Action
As part of our beat here at The D&O Diary, we have to read a lot of judicial decisions. We are well acquainted with the fact that court rulings vary quite a bit, but every now and then we read an opinion that makes us stop and say – “What?” That was
FDIC: Banks Improve, Number of Problem Institutions Continues to Decline
The commercial banking industry is continuing its rebound from the subprime meltdown and the global financial crisis. According to the FDIC’s latest Quarterly Banking Profile for the period ending December 31, 2014 (here), the industry’s overall earnings continue to improve, largely as a result of reduced loan-loss provisions. However, operating revenue declined during
Why Did the Bank Fail?: Defending Failed Bank Directors and Officers
Since the early stages of the financial crisis, nearly 500 banks have failed across the U.S., and even though we are now well past the peak of the financial crisis, banks continue to fail. Yet during the same time as scores of banks were failing, many more banks did not fail – which raises the