Insurance Law

Law Firm Sues Insurance Broker in Effort to Recover $1.6M Lost to Madoff

A Washington, D.C., law firm that lost $1.6 million in pension money invested with convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff has sued its insurance broker in an effort to recover the money. Grossberg, Yochelson, Fox & Beyda claims in the suit that its insurance broker did not obtain an insurance bond…

Nov 19, 2010 1:00 PM CST

Top Court in NY Permits Life Insurance Bets in Case Involving Kramer Levin Partner

New York’s highest court has ruled that state law doesn’t bar a person from taking out a life insurance policy with the intent of selling it to a hedge fund that expects to make more money on the death than the premiums it will pay. The 5-2 decision said such…

Nov 18, 2010 2:03 PM CST

Law Firm Sues Akin Gump and Lloyd’s, Says It Was Stiffed on Stanford’s $437K Defense Bill

A law firm defending onetime Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford in federal civil securities litigation has sued the insurer providing his company’s policy of directors and officers liability coverage and the insurer’s legal counsel, contending that they are obligated to pay a $437,151 legal bill but haven’t anted up. Certain…

Nov 17, 2010 11:00 AM CST

Murdered Michigan Lawyer Had ‘No Shortage of Enemies’

Police are investigating the murder of a Michigan med-mal defense lawyer found dead on Wednesday from multiple gunshot wounds in the entry of his apartment. The slain lawyer, Nicholas Anthony Ianni, had practiced law in Bloomfield Hills and was associated with an offshore malpractice insurance company that was accused of…

Oct 22, 2010 3:17 PM CDT

Lloyd’s $100M D&O Policy Doesn’t Cover Stanford’s Legal Defense Bill in Ponzi Case, Judge Rules

Lloyd’s of London doesn’t have any obligation to cover onetime billionaire R. Allen Stanford’s criminal defense costs under a $100 million policy of directors and officers insurance for his company, a federal judge has ruled. In a four-day trial in August the insurer proved, under a preponderance standard, that Stanford…

Oct 13, 2010 6:01 PM CDT

Judge Upholds Health Insurance Mandate; Case Is ‘Set Up Nicely’ for Appeal

A federal judge in Michigan has upheld the health insurance mandate in the new health care law in a challenge brought by the Thomas More Law Center. The ruling by Judge George Caram Steeh of Detroit is the first to reject a challenge to the law on the merits, rather…

Oct 8, 2010 12:59 PM CDT

Suicide Attempt Survivor’s 39-Story Fall Destroys Muscle Car, But Owner Will Forgo Deductible Suit

A man who unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide by reportedly jumping some 400 feet from a New York building totaled the 2008 Dodge Charger on which he landed feet-first, breaking both legs as he plunged through the roof and rear window. But in addition to miraculously surviving the approximately 39-story…

Sep 2, 2010 11:40 PM CDT

Does $100M D&O Policy Require Lloyd’s to Pay Stanford’s Legal Bills? Federal Judge Will Decide

Jailed Texas financier R. Allen Stanford and three of his company’s former executives have racked up millions in legal bills as they defend themselves against accusations that they participated in a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. So far, Lloyd’s of London has paid their criminal defense fees. But the famed insurer…

Aug 25, 2010 7:28 PM CDT

‘Massive Amorphous Blob’ of Evidence Slows Case Against Alleged Madoff Cohorts

What one defense lawyer described as a “massive amorphous blob” of evidence seized from Bernard Madoff is slowing down a criminal prosecution of three of the convicted Ponzi schemer’s alleged cohorts. But prosecutors told a federal judge in Manhattan today that they have a database of documents and would be…

Aug 16, 2010 8:00 PM CDT

Insurance Guru Eugene Anderson Dies; Known for ‘Triple Trigger,’ Hitchhiking to Harvard

As a foster child growing up in Portland, Ore., in the 1930s, on farms and in an orphanage, Eugene Anderson must have seemed an unlikely prospect for success as a New York lawyer. However, he not only put himself through the University of California, Los Angeles, but with the help…

Aug 2, 2010 7:30 PM CDT

Judge Refuses to Toss Va. Challenge to Health Care Law

A federal judge in Richmond, Va., has refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the health care law signed by the president in March. U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson held that the court had jurisdiction to hear the challenge to the law requiring people to buy health care coverage or pay…

Aug 2, 2010 5:41 PM CDT

Life Insurers Give Beneficiaries Checkbooks, But the Accounts Aren’t FDIC-Insured

When it comes time to pay out life insurance benefits, a number of companies have found a way to do their duty and yet keep the money in their own hands, too. They send the beneficiary a checkbook for what might seem to be a checking account. But in fact…

Jul 29, 2010 5:17 PM CDT

Lewis Brisbois Can’t Use SLAPP Law as Shield Against Ex-Client’s Malpractice Suit

A law firm known for its insurance expertise has arguably now made a bad situation worse–twice–by litigating insurance-related issues. Sued for malpractice by ex-client Kmart Corp., Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith invoked the protection of a California civil rights statute, contending that its effort to seek a declaratory judgment on…

Jul 22, 2010 8:35 PM CDT

Surprising Pundits, DOJ Brief Defends Health Care Law Under Tax Power

In anticipation of a constitutional challenge, Congress included findings with the new health care law intended to show it is a regulation of commerce. The taxation power isn’t mentioned. Indeed President Obama himself dismissed the idea that the new law is essentially a tax, the New York Times reports. “I…

Jul 19, 2010 2:38 PM CDT

Jenner Warns Corporate Clients Harmed by Oil Spill of Impending Pollution Claim Deadline

Jenner & Block is warning its corporate clients that they may be facing a deadline to file business interruption claims related to the Gulf oil spill. According to Jenner, some insurers assert that that 5 p.m. Thursday, Eastern Time, is the deadline for filing business-interruption claims tied to pollution. The…

Jul 7, 2010 4:17 PM CDT