Indemnification

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Benjamin Edwards
Nancy Rapoport

In the following guest post, Professors Benjamin Edwards and Nancy B. Rapoport, of Boyd School of Law, UNLV, present their views that a corporate law loophole in advancement and indemnification rules can force companies to pay exorbitant legal fees and even unreasonable personal expenses for directors’ defenses. The authors contend that courts should impose stricter scrutiny to prevent unethical billing practices and protect shareholders. We would like to thank Ben and Nancy for allowing us to publish their article as a guest post on this site. Here is their article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Legal Fees and Expenses Gone Wild Thanks to a Corporate Law Loophole
Edgar A. Neely IV
Scott N. Sherman

The arrival of a securities class action lawsuit can be and often is a watershed moment in the life a public company. In the following guest post, Edgar A. Neely IV and Scott N. Sherman provide a basic briefing for directors concerned about securities litigation. Edgar and Scott are both partners at the Nelson Mullins law firm. I would like to thank Edgar and Scott for allowing me to publish their article on this site. Here is the authors’ article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: New Year’s Primer for Directors: Things to Know About Shareholder Litigation
Sarah Abrams

Side A coverage under the typical D&O insurance policy provides what could be a last line of protection of individual executives in certain circumstance. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, analyses a recent Delaware shareholder derivative lawsuit to consider the circumstances in which Side A coverage may operate to protect corporate executives. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors in topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Sarah’s article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: A Side: A Coverage Scenario
John Orr

D&O liability insurance policies protect “officers.” But who is an officer? This is a question that insurers and policyholders have struggled with for years. More recently, questions about various new corporate roles and titles have emerged. In the following guest post, John Orr, D&O Liability Product Leader for Willis’s Financial and Executive Risk practice (FINEX), North America, examines the perennial question of who is an officer and proposes a new approach to the issue. The author wishes to express his thanks to his colleague, Lawrence Fine, for his the work they have done together on these issues. This article also appears in Willis’s FINEX Observer publication (here). I would like to thank John for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is John’s article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Who is an “Officer”? It’s Time to Address This
Sarah Abrams

In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, takes a closer look at the civil and criminal litigation filed against casual dining company Fat Brands and considers the implication of the litigation for Sides A and B coverage under a D&O insurance policy. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Sarah’s article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Fat Chance
John McCarrick

Readers of this blog have no doubt followed both the recent ongoing controversy over whether companies should leave Delaware for supposedly friendlier jurisdictions as well as the legislation recently introduced in the state’s General Assembly to try to address some of the legal concerns behind the leaving Delaware initiative. In the following guest post, and in the context of these issues, John McCarrick, a partner at the Robinson & Cole law firm in New York, takes a look at recurring Delaware issues that in his view are of significant concern to D&O insurers. I would like to thank John for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is John’s article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: DExit Drama and D&O Insurance Issues
Priya Cherian Huskins

In a recent post in which I discussed the cyber incident-related enforcement action the SEC brought against the software company SolarWinds, I noted that the defendants named in the action included the company’s Chief Information Security Officer(CISO), adding that the SEC’s naming of the CISO as an enforcement action defendants “is sure to send a shiver down the collective spines of the CISO community.” In the following guest post, Priya Cherian Huskins, Senior Vice President and Partner, Woodruff Sawyer, takes a detailed look at the agency’s action against the SolarWinds CISO, and considers the key liability and insurance implications. A version of this article previously published on Woodruff Sawyer’s D&O Notebook here. I would like to thank Priya for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Priya’s article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: CISO Liability in Focus: SEC Enforcement, Insurance, and [Personal] Risk Mitigation

During most of my career working on D&O liability issues, if we were talking about D&O claims, we were talking about developments in the U.S. In recent years, this generalization is increasingly untrue; starting with the global financial crisis now more than a decade ago, investors, regulators, and others throughout the world have sought to hold companies and their directors and officers accountable. The topic of D&O claims is no longer (and has not been for a while) just about the U.S. Indeed, as I have noted elsewhere on this site, the global rise of collective investor actions may be one of the most important stories in the D&O liability arena. With the global rise in directors’ and officers’ liability actions has come a series of questions about the availability of indemnification and insurance for the targeted individuals in their home countries or in the countries where the claims are pending, questions that often may be challenging to try to answer.
Continue Reading Book Review: Directors’ Liability and Indemnification (Fourth Edition)

Francis Kean

Noona Barlow

On this site, I try to keep my readers up to date on the latest developments in the world of directors’ and officers’ liability and insurance. Every now and then, it is worth taking a step back and asking the basic questions, such as, what should directors know about their D&O insurance? The following guest post, written by Francis Kean and Noona Barlow, Partners in the Financial Lines team at McGill and Partners, in conjunction with Airmic, answer some of the basic questions. This Guide was originally published by Airmic to coincide with its 2021 annual conference and is available on its website. The article’s authors are based in the UK and so the article is written from a UK perspective, but many of the article’s insights are largely applicable in the US as well. I would like to thank the authors and Airmic for allowing me to publish this article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is the authors’ article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Boardroom Guide to D&O Insurance

In the following guest post, Umesh Pratapa takes a look at directors’ liability issues under Indian law, and also examines the protections that are available for directors as well. Umesh is a Consultant – Liability Insurance, in India. Umesh’s article was originally published in the July 2020 issue of “Director Today”, a monthly journal of the Institute of Directors (IOD), India. Reproduced with the kind permission of the publisher, Institute of Directors, India. I would like to thank Umesh for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Umesh’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Director’s Liabilities: Prevention and Protection – Ports of Call for Relief