PLUS Web Blog

Shareholders Get Final Say on Executive Pay?

Tue, 06 May 2008 09:18:59 GMT

The insurer Aflac has become the first U.S. company to give shareholders a say on pay - a vote on top management's compensation. And in their first advisory vote Monday, they signaled that the compensation committee was doing a fine job.

Slightly more than 93 percent of shareholders approved of the $11.96 million compensation package that Daniel Amos, Aflac's chief executive for the last 18 years, received last year. Only 2.5 percent voted against.

"As he makes more money, I make more money," said George Nader, a shareholder in West Point, Georgia, who has been accumulating Aflac shares for more than 30 years. "The dividend keeps increasing and the shares have done well. The man at the top is thinking of the shareholders, and he deserves to be compensated for that."

Read the full article here on the International Herald Tribune website.

Georgia Malpractice Limits May Go On Appeal

Tue, 06 May 2008 09:13:40 GMT

An insurance trade group said they expect an appeal of a Georgia trial judge’s ruling last week that found the state law capping awards for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases was unconstitutional.

The American Insurance Association said the ruling, handed down by Fulton Count Court Judge Marvin S. Arrington Sr. in Atlanta on April 28, which found the cap on non-economic damages in medical liability cases to be illegal, dealt “a potentially serious blow to Georgia’s 2005 comprehensive tort reform law.”

Read the full article, authored by Daniel Hays, here on the National Underwriter website.

UBS Cutting Jobs to Free Itself from Subprime Crisis

Tue, 06 May 2008 09:10:32 GMT

UBS axed 5,500 jobs and sold billions of dollars of ailing assets on Tuesday in a bid to break free from the subprime crisis, but its shares dropped as investors feared its earning power might be permanently stunted.

The Swiss bank said it would reduce its workforce by an additional 7 percent, with most of the cuts hitting U.S. and UK investment banking, as it sought to hack back the business lines that made it Europe's biggest casualty of the subprime crisis.

Read the full story here on the Reuters Website.

Subprime Mortgage Crisis Earning More Federal Scrutiny

Mon, 05 May 2008 12:55:40 GMT

Federal prosecutors in New York have formed a task force together with other government agencies to examine the collapse of the market for risky home loans, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn said Monday.

The group is being run out of the federal prosecutors' office in Brooklyn, said Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the office, formally known as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

The task force is working with representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Nardoza said.

Read the full article here on the CNBC Website.

Fed, European Banks Coordinate on Credit Crisis

Fri, 02 May 2008 09:17:29 GMT

The Federal Reserve announced Friday that it will expand a series of efforts to deal with the global credit crisis, in coordination with European central banks.

The Fed said it was boosting the amount of emergency reserves it supplies to U.S. banks to $150 billion in May, from the $100 billion it supplied in April. The Fed took this action and several other moves to boost credit in coordination with the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.

Read the full story here on MSNBC.Com.

Interpublic Group reaches Settlement with SEC

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:51:04 GMT

Interpublic Group of Cos. says it reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on securities fraud charges.

As part of the settlement, subsidiary McCann-Erickson will pay a $12 million civil penalty.

Read the full story here on the BusinessWeek website.

7 Billion Dollar Man Lands New Job

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:44:55 GMT

He was tied this year to one of the largest securities scandals in history and faces charges ranging from forgery to unauthorized computer use, yet the former trader at French bank Societe Generale is gainfully employed, again.

Jerome Kerviel, who shook global financial markets when the bank revealed $7.14 billion in losses tied what it says were unauthorized trades, landed a new job as a computer consultant less than a month after his conditional release from prison.

Read the full story here on the MSNBC Website.

You Have 7 Years to Learn Mandarin

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:25:03 GMT

An article by Geoff Colvin, Senior Editor at CNN Money.Com, states that the expected arrival of China as the world’s dominant economic superpower is a bit ahead of schedule. As a matter of fact, they are expected to reach that pinnacle not in 2050 as originally predicted, but in 2015. That means you have 7 years to learn Mandarin.

Read the full article detailing the implications of this shifting trend here at the CNNMoney.Com website.

Buffett Says Recession Will Be More Severe Than People Expect

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:22:33 GMT

Warren Buffett, the world's richest person, said on Monday the U.S. economy is in a recession that will be more severe than most people expect. "This is not a field of specialty for me, but my general feeling is that the recession will be longer and deeper than most people think," Buffett said. "This will not be short and shallow.”

Read the full article here on the Reuters website.

The Security of Swiss Banks?

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:16:15 GMT

Switzerland's banking sector, once synonymous with stability and secrecy, is now under intense scrutiny and undergoing serious soul-searching after its two biggest banks got caught in the subprime crisis.

Industry leaders and the authorities, who until recently had stressed that the situation was under control, appear to have changed their tune as the country's biggest bank UBS AG (UBS) has taken write-downs of more than $37 billion, earning the dubious distinction of being the world's worst-hit group.

Read the full article here on the Yahoo! Business website.

Nomura Holdings Posts $1.5 Billion Loss

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:12:32 GMT

Nomura Holdings, the largest Japanese brokerage company, on Friday posted a surprise quarterly loss of $1.5 billion on its exposure to bond insurers and warned that it could still be at risk for further losses related to the credit crisis.

Read the full article here on the International Herald Tribune website.

City of Oakland Sues Four Financial Institutions for Antitrust

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:08:24 GMT

Oakland City Attorney John Russo, on Wednesday, filed a class-action federal antitrust lawsuit against national financial firms, including Bank of America, Bear Stearns, J.P. Morgan, and Wachovia Bank, accusing them of conspiring to gouge taxpayers through illegal price fixing and bid rigging.

Read the full article and watch accompanying video here at the ABC7 Website.

Harry Potter and Copyright Liability

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:50:34 GMT

In an article from Insurance Journal authored by David Caruso, the current case of the Harry Potter fan with plans to publish his on-line encyclopedia of all things Hogwarts and compete directly with J.K. Rowling’s interests gives an excellent example of the new frontier of copyright liability.

“The Web is awash with fan-produced material that could be the subject of a copyright fight, from remixed pop songs, to new fiction based on existing characters from books and TV shows, to countless tribute videos cut together with clips from TV shows or films.

"There is almost a parallel universe,'' said Alan Behr, an intellectual property lawyer in New York. "On the Internet, people basically do things you would never do in print.''

Read the full story here on the Insurance Journal website.

Insurers Are At Odds Over Paulson Plan

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:20:28 GMT

In a Washington Post Article written by Jeffrey Birnbaum, there is a rift within the industry about having a new federal overseer of insurance.

In the article he states "The split, in its simplest terms, is between big and small companies. Most of the large, national firms back the proposal, which calls for a single, central regulator instead of the current state-run system. Small, regional insurers are generally happy to continue to deal with their own nearby overseers and do not want the extra layer of oversight that a new federal regulator would bring."

Read the full article here on the WashingtonPost.Com website.

Sutter Health Settles ADA Class Action Suit

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:13:52 GMT

Sutter Health will greatly improve accessibility and patient care for people with disabilities at its hospitals and other health care facilities under a settlement to a class-action lawsuit announced Friday.

The agreement calls for sweeping changes in hospital policies, architecture, equipment, staff and contractor training and outreach at 28 Sutter Health hospitals located across Northern California. The changes are tailored for patients with mobility, visual, hearing and speech disabilities.

The class-action suit filed in 2005 by the nonprofit Disability Rights Advocates asserted that the Sutter network of hospitals and medical foundations failed to provide access for disabled people as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Read more about this story here on insideBayArea.com.

HCA Agrees to Settle Lawsuits

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:07:25 GMT

Hospital Corporation of America has agreed to settle 11 lawsuits that accuse a former West Virginia physician of harming patients, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.

The lawsuits were filed by former patients and their families against Dr. John A. King, HCA and the former Putnam General Hospital, where King practiced from November 2002 to June 2003.

Read the full story here from the Charleston Daily Mail.

U.S. Foreclosures Jump 57%

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:24:56 GMT

In an article by Bloomberg reporter Dan Levy, More than 234,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, or one in every 538 U.S. households, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of default data, said today in a statement. Nevada, California and Florida had the highest foreclosure rates. Filings rose 5% from February.

"We're not near the bottom of this at all," said Kenneth Rosen, chairman of Rosen Real Estate Securities LLC, a hedge fund in Berkeley, California and chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate at the University of California at Berkeley. "The foreclosure process will accelerate throughout the year."

Read the full article here on the Financial Post website.

Countrywide Faces New Allegations

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:40:45 GMT

New allegations have been added to a class action suit pending against Countryside Financial Corporation.

The complaint has been amended to include allegations that Countrywide "distorted industry definitions of prime and subprime borrowers and mortgages to mislead uninformed investors" about the nature of its business. The suit also contends that Countrywide executives engaged in insider trading, selling shares while simultaneously encouraging other investors to buy or hold the stock.

Learn more about the additional allegations here on the Nashville Business Journal Website.

“Waterboard” Your Employees to Better Sales? Court Will Decide Fine Line Between Torture and Team Building

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:19:50 GMT

No one really disputes that Chad Hudgens was waterboarded outside a Provo office park last May 29, right before lunch, by his boss.

There is also general agreement that Hudgens volunteered for the "team-building exercise," that he lay on his back with his head downhill, and that co-workers knelt on either side of him, pinning the young sales rep down while their supervisor poured water from a gallon jug over his nose and mouth.

And it's widely acknowledged that the supervisor, Joshua Christopherson, then told the assembled sales team, whose numbers had been lagging: "You saw how hard Chad fought for air right there. I want you to go back inside and fight that hard to make sales."

What's at issue in the lawsuit Hudgens filed against his former employers -- just as in the ongoing global debate over the CIA’s waterboarding of terrorism suspects -- is the question of intent.

Prosper Inc. maintains that what the supervisor did, while unauthorized, overzealous and misguided, falls far short of torture, and in fact was not nearly as bad as Hudgens makes out in his quest for damages.

Read the full story here from the Washington Post Website.

What Warren Buffett Thinks…

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:20:51 GMT

Some 15 times a year, Warren Buffett invites a group of business students for an intensive day of learning. Fortune Magazine was there.

You can read the entire article here on CNNMoney.Com.

Judge Approves Settlement in Tyson Foods Shareholder Lawsuit

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:00:58 GMT

A Chancery Court judge on Tuesday approved the settlement of a shareholder lawsuit against directors and executives of Tyson Foods but reserved judgment in a dispute over attorney's fees.

The settlement approved by Chancellor William Chandler III calls for Don Tyson and Tyson Limited Partnership, the company's largest shareholder, to pay the company $4.5 million.

Read the full article here on ArkansasBusiness.Com.

Malpractice insurer to give back $11 million to Illinois doctors

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:58:05 GMT

Illinois doctors will get a refund collectively worth $11 million from the state's largest medical malpractice insurer.

The Illinois State Medical Insurance Exchange says claims are down. That means doctors will get credits when they renew their policies. Individual doctors will get around $500 to $1,000.

Read the full article here on the KWQC TV6 Website.

Guidant suit granted class-action status in Canada

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:16:49 GMT

A Canadian judge ruled that a group of almost 2,000 Canadians alleging they were implanted with defective defibrillators can sue the company, according to media reports.

Guidant, which was purchased by Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific in 2006, has operations in Arden Hills, Minnesota.

Prior to the acquisition, Guidant had begun a recall of 100,000 potentially defective implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). But the lawsuit claims that Guidant didn't tell doctors about the defects until years after the problems were discovered.

Read the full article here on Twin Cities Business Journal.

Subprime Lender's Failure Sparks Lawsuit Against Wall Street Banks

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:32:25 GMT

Until a few weeks ago, Sonia Deravedisian had never heard of the subprime-mortgage market. Nevertheless, she lost her life savings because of it.

The $55,000 she saved over 35 years as a self-employed tailor is gone. Ms. Deravedisian, now 74 and disabled, is one of the earliest victims of the mortgage crisis, in a case that has drawn the attention of federal investigators over the role some of the biggest names on Wall Street may have played.

You can read the full article here on the Wall Street Journal website.

Credit crisis could cost nearly $1 trillion, IMF predicts

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:44:30 GMT

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that financial losses stemming from the U.S. mortgage crisis might approach $1 trillion, citing a "collective failure" to predict the breadth of the crisis.

Falling U.S. house prices and rising delinquencies may lead to $565 billion in mortgage-market losses, the IMF said in its annual Global Financial Stability report, released in Washington. Total losses, including the securities tied to commercial real estate and loans to consumers and companies, may reach $945 billion, the fund said.

The forecast signals the worst of the credit crunch may be yet to come, because banks and securities firms so far have posted $232 billion in asset writedowns and credit losses. Policy makers, concerned that lenders' deteriorating balance sheets will hobble economic growth, are pushing companies to raise capital.

Read the full article here on the International Herald Tribune website.

EEOC Chair Naomi Earp to Headline New PLUS Professional Risk Symposium

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:35:52 GMT

The Professional Liability Underwriting Society is pleased to present the

2008 Professional Risk Symposium:

EPL, E&O and Fiduciary

May 7 & 8, 2008

Sheraton Atlanta Downtown,

Atlanta, GA

Professionals in the insurance industry are poised to converge on Atlanta where PLUS has put together a fascinating two-day program tackling current issues and facilitating provocactive discussions regarding EPL, E&O and Fiduciary liability. Top people in their fields from across the country have been recruited to make this an exciting event for anyone involved with EPL, E&O and Fiduciary liability issues.

Come and join other industry associates and discover the benefits of attending a PLUS event!

Ms. Naomi Earp, the scheduled luncheon speaker, will be taking questions following her presentation. If you would like to submit a question for Ms. Earp, please email your question before May 5 to LucyAnn Galioto or Philip Voluck in order to have your question submitted for consideration.

Click here to visit the registration page!

German Telecoms Company Target of Class Action Suit

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:28:31 GMT

A class-action lawsuit against Deutsche Telekom opened Monday with thousands of disgruntled shareholders seeking up to $126 million from Europe's biggest telecom operator. Some 16,000 investors are seeking compensation in the case for what they claim were falsehoods regarding the company's third initial public offering tranche in June, 2000.

One of the complaints is that at the time of the offering, Bonn-based Deutsche Telekom had already started negotiations with U.S. mobile phone company Voicestream, now T-Mobile USA. German giant Telekom bought Voicestream in 2001 for about 34 billion euros ($53.4 billion) in a move highly criticized at the time. The unit has since become a key driver of growth. Another complaint is that the value of some of Telekom's real estate assets had been inflated in pamphlets sent to shareholders before the offering.

Read the full story here on CNN.Com’s World Business Site.

Citigroup Confirms $33 Million Gender Bias Settlement

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:37:35 GMT

Citigroup Inc. on Friday confirmed it agreed to pay $33 million to about 2,500 current and former female brokers at its Smith Barney unit to settle a class-action gender discrimination lawsuit.

The agreement also requires the largest U.S. bank to change how it awards bonuses and assigns accounts, and to adopt measures to help retain and promote women, papers filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco show.

The plaintiffs had accused Smith Barney in the original March 2005 complaint of preventing female brokers from competing fairly for new accounts, promotions and pay, and of depriving women of equal training and sales support. They also accused Smith Barney of using past performance as a means to award business and pay -- putting women who had been discriminated against in the past at a disadvantage.

Read the full article here on Yahoo! News.

Jury Awards $4 Million in Wrongful Termination Case

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:31:30 GMT

A state court jury in Bridgeport has awarded more than $4 million to a doctor who was fired from a health care lab in Stratford after he complained that one of its tests could jeopardize patients' health.

The six jurors found on Friday that Dianon Systems Inc.'s firing of Trumbull doctor G. Barry Schumann in April 2005 violated his free speech rights. The verdict could increase to nearly $7 million when lawyers' fees and interest are added in.

Dianon spokeswoman Donna Schuetz says the company disagrees with the verdict and intends to appeal.

Read the full article here on Boston.Com.

Broker ‘Experts’ May Face E&O Suits From Nonspecific Coverage Requests

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:39:24 GMT

In an article written by Peter Biging, a Partner in the New York office of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, he notes that Courts considering agent and broker errors and omissions claims are relying more and more on a presumption that agents and brokers are—and present themselves as—experts in insurance coverage. This trend means that more juries may be charged with deciding whether a very general request for coverage from a customer can form the basis of a claim for negligence or breach of contract against his or her agent or broker when it turns out the customer doesn’t have sufficient insurance to cover a specific loss.

Read the full article here on the National Underwriter website.

On-Line Retailing Strikes a New Chord

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:23:09 GMT

For quite some time, the largest retailer of Music in the United States has been Wal-Mart. That is no longer the case. The leader in this category is now…Apple. That’s correct. On-line retailing of music has just become the number one way to buy songs in the United States.

It puts an interesting spin on what comes next for the record industry. Read about that spin here on The Motley Fool website.

Does Google Owe You Privacy?

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:56:35 GMT

A Pittsburgh couple is suing Google for invasion of privacy. Not for the untold amounts of information that can be dug up using the Google search logarithms, but instead for the “Street View” feature of the Google Maps.

(Street View is a tool used when looking on maps of various neighborhoods that show actual pictures of locations when you use Google Maps. Want to see the PLUS Office? Type in 5353 Wayzata Boulevard, 55416 in the search box here on Google Mapsand then click “Street View”)

Aaron and Christine Boring have accused Google of an intentional and/or grossly reckless invasion of seclusion and privacy. The larger question is what technology will be the first to cross the line and give insurers fits? You can read the full article (and see copies of the pleading) here on the Smoking Gun website.

Subprime Suits Blur D&O Outlook

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:44:17 GMT

The subprime-mortgage mess will likely tighten the coverage and cost of the insurance policies that cover executives, corporations, and corporate boards for losses and legal fees in securities lawsuits, an attorney predicts.

Indeed, directors' and officers' liability insurance coverage could cost more and be harder to get as the number of subprime-related lawsuits wend their way through the federal courts, according to Koorosh Talieh, a lawyer who represents corporate D&O insurance policyholders.

Read the full article here on CFO.Com.

AIG sues Greenberg and Six Ex-Directors

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:58:02 GMT

American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG - News), the world's largest insurer, has filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court against former Chief Executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and six other former directors and officers, accusing them of breaching their fiduciary duty.

In the complaint, filed on Wednesday, AIG alleges Greenberg, former Chief Financial Officer Howard Smith and five others breached their fiduciary duty through "misappropriation of a special block of AIG shares worth approximately $20 billion in 2005."

Read the full story here on the Yahoo! Finance website.

Busting a Rogue Blogger

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 10:38:52 GMT

This is a great article from BusinessWeek Online that talks about Rick Frenkel, the patent attorney working for Cisco Systems who in his spare time kept an anonymous blog titled “Patent Troll* Tracker”.

He was posting anonymously, making examples of those “Trolls” who were abusing the system and even calling into question the ethical practices of some attorneys. Finally, a bounty of $15,000 was offered to anyone who could identify the mystery blogger, and he was forced to reveal his identity after he was discovered by an internet sleuth.

The interesting part of this story is how it illustrates the questions and risks related to blogging (whether anonymous or not) and not just to the blogger, but the company that employs them.

Read the article here on BusinessWeek Online.

*“Patent Trolls” is a derogatory term used to describe businesses that make money purchasing patents and then suing big companies for infringement.

WTC Cleanup Workers' Cases Can Proceed

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:14:54 GMT

Lawsuits can proceed on behalf of thousands of workers who say they were not properly protected as they cleaned up the World Trade Center site after the 2001 terrorist attacks, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

Lawyers for New York City and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, had argued that they are immune from nearly 8,000 workers' claims.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals however said it is too early to decide whether the defendants are protected from these sorts of lawsuits.

Read the full article here on WTOPnews.com.

Judge approves $24 million Walgreen discrimination settlement

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:07:54 GMT

A federal judge has signed off on Walgreen Co.'s plan to pay $24 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging racial bias at the nation's largest drugstore chain.

Roughly 10,000 past and present black Walgreen workers will split $20 million under the consent decree given final approval Monday by U.S. District Judge G. Patrick Murphy.

Read the full story here on MSNBC.com.

Wall Street May Face $460 Billion in Losses, Goldman Says

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:44:08 GMT

Wall Street banks, brokerages and hedge funds may report $460 billion in credit losses from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, or almost four times the amount already disclosed, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Profits will continue to wane, other analysts said.

Read the full story behind this headline here on the Bloomberg website.

Safety Push, Technology Add to Health Care Risks - Article from PLUS Medical PL Symposium

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:25:48 GMT

Risk management practices have become critical to health care facilities attempting to reduce liability, and medical provider risk managers wrestling with advances in technology and heightened patient expectations are trying to ensure their programs don't fall by the wayside, experts say.

"Risk management has come to the forefront in the last 10 years," said Paul Greve, senior vp in the health care practice of Willis Group Holdings Ltd. in Nashville. He participated in a session at the Professional Liability Underwriting Society's Medical Professional Liability Symposium March 11-12 in Chicago.

Read the full article here on BusinessInsurance.Com.

Prosecutors Say Weiss Agrees to Plead Guilty in Kickback Scheme

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:37:40 GMT

Prominent attorney Melvyn Weiss has agreed to plead guilty to racketeering in a lucrative kickback scheme involving payments to plaintiffs in class-action lawsuits targeting some of the largest U.S. corporations, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Weiss, 72, also will acknowledge that he and others concealed secret payment arrangements that his firm, Milberg Weiss, had with named plaintiffs in the lawsuits, prosecutors said in a statement.

Read the entire story here from the International Herald Tribune.

SEC probing options activity in Bear Stearns

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:44:30 GMT

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the events leading up to the collapse of Bear Stearns, specifically a surge in options contracts betting that the investment bank's share price would fall sharply, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Read the blurb on this activity here on the Reuters website.

Who Will Be the Next Bear Stearns?

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:28:06 GMT

In an article from BusinessWeek Online, the question is raised of how many other banking institutions on the verge of collapse. Here is an excerpt:

The Federal Reserve most likely did the right thing when it backed JPMorgan Chase's (JPM) purchase of Bear Stearns (BSC) on Mar. 16. But the sudden collapse of a well-known Wall Street firm and the penny stock, $2-per-share price that JPMorgan is paying—less than 10% of Bear's already battered market cap on Mar. 14—rattled European and Asian markets on Mar. 17.

If Bear is close to worthless, the thinking goes, what does that mean for other troubled institutions in Europe, the U.S., and elsewhere? Can other failures be far behind? A wide range of European banking shares, including UBS (UBS), which has been hit hard by subprime writedowns, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), whose capital base has been stretched by the ABN Amro takeover, and smaller British banks such as Alliance & Leicester (ALLL.L), took a pounding on Mar. 17.

Read the full article here on the BusinessWeek Online Website.

JP Morgan Acquires Bear Stearns

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:31:41 GMT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Sunday that it would acquire troubled Wall Street firm Bear Stearns for a mere fraction of what it was once worth amid deepening fears about further erosion of the world's financial markets.

The rock-bottom price left investors feeling queasy. Asian markets tumbled, with Japan's benchmark Nikkei index finishing Monday's session nearly 4% lower. U.S. stock futures plunged, indicating a miserable start for Wall Street.

The all-stock deal values Bear Stearns at $236 million, or just $2 a share. The company's stock had closed at $30 on Friday, down a staggering 47% for the day.

Read the full article here on CNNMoney.com.

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer Resigns

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:37:28 GMT

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has resigned.

"I look at my time as governor with a sense of what might have been," Spitzer said. "There is much more to be done, and I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people's work."

You can read the full article here on MSNBC.Com.

Supreme Court Expands Liability Exposure of Fiduciaries of Individual Account Plans

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:27:32 GMT

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that individual participants in defined contribution plans can sue to recover losses incurred by their individual plan accounts. The long anticipated decision in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc. will affect the rights and obligations of participants, sponsors, and fiduciaries of all defined contribution plans, including 401(k), profit-sharing, and employee stock ownership plans.

Read the full article in PDF format here on the Morgan Lewis Lawflash.

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer Linked to Prostitution Ring

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:30:30 GMT

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the crusading politician who built his career on rooting out corruption, apologized Monday after he was accused of involvement in a prostitution ring. He did not elaborate on the scandal, which drew calls for his resignation. His stoic wife at his side, Spitzer told reporters at a hastily called news conference: "I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family."

"I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself," he said. "I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family."

Spitzer's involvement in the ring was caught on a federal wiretap as part of an investigation opened in recent months, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing inquiry.

WCBS News Channel 2 in New York is citing anonymous sources in the New York State Legislature that say Governor Spitzer will not continue in office. He didn't say anything about his future in his press conference.

Read the full story here on Yahoo! News.

FBI Investigating Countrywide Financial for Securities Fraud?

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:10:07 GMT

The FBI is in the early stages of an inquiry into whether company officials misrepresented its financial position and the quality of its mortgage loans, The Wall Street Journal first reported Saturday, citing law enforcement officials and finance executives with knowledge of the development.

The Justice Department is also involved in the investigation into the nation's largest mortgage lender, said the New York Times, which also cited anonymous sources who said they were not authorized to discuss ongoing criminal matters.

"We are not aware of any such investigation," Countrywide spokeswoman Susan Martin told the Times.

Read the full story here on Yahoo! Finance.

United States Supreme Court Addresses “Me Too” Evidence in Employment Discrimination Cases

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:04:30 GMT

Mario A. Barrera and Lacey L. Gourley, Partners with Bracewell & Giuliani, have a great synopsis of the admissibility of “Me Too” evidence in employment discrimination cases and the Supreme Court’s decision that it should be determined on a “Case by Case” basis.

In the case before the Court, Ellen Mendelsohn, a 13-year employee of Sprint, was terminated at age 51 as part of a companywide reduction-in-force. She then sued the company, alleging that she was fired because of her age, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

Read the full article here on the mondaq website.

Cuomo Expands Probe of Health Insurers

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:50:58 GMT

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday he issued new subpoenas to Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc., and other health insurers in a broadening investigation of possible fraud costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Cuomo is also looking to subpoena testimony from the chief executives of those companies, as well as from executives of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, Excellus, and the combined Group Health Inc. and HIP Health Plan.

"The CEOs are responsible for their corporations and these actions had a significant impact on families all across the state," Cuomo told The Associated Press.

Read the full story here on Yahoo! News.

Mounties to Charge Ex-Nortel Finance Execs

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:25:21 GMT

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police reportedly are theorizing that a former finance chief and an ex-controller took part in an accounting fraud to generate fake profits and boost executive bonuses, according to Canada’s Financial Post.

The paper also noted that the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas is continuing its four-year criminal investigation into the accounting practices at the company. Nortel employs about 12,900 people in the United States and its U.S. headquarters are in Richardson, Texas.

You can read the entire article here on CFO.Com.

Mississippi Supreme Court to Clarify Medical Malpractice Rules

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:51:50 GMT

The Mississippi Supreme Court will consider a federal appeals panel's request to clarify when the clock starts ticking on the filing of certain medical malpractice claims.

Specifically, the Mississippi court has been asked to clarify how the statute of limitations applies in circumstances "where the alleged negligence is either the administration of a drug by a physician or the physician's failure to disclose about the risks of a drug, and experts disagree as to whether the drug caused the plaintiff's injuries." In 2006, the 5th Circuit overturned a medical malpractice verdict for Barbara Huss, who had sued a Memphis, Tenn., clinic over medical treatment provided during her pregnancy. Huss lives in Mississippi and filed her lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oxford.

Read the full article here on the CNBC website.

Best Practices for Avoiding 401(k) Plan Lawsuits

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:42:39 GMT

Carol I. Buckman, Counsel in the New York office of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, has written an article detailing how the subprime mortgage crisis will accelerate the trend of lawsuits against 401(k) plan fiduciaries, and how these fiduciaries can reduce their risk of becoming a target.

You can read her full article here on the Employee Benefit News website.

“Teaser” Interest Rate Case Could Open Door for Thousands of Class Action Filings

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:33:11 GMT

A mortgage dispute between a giant Maryland bank and a Cedarburg couple has grown into a closely watched federal court battle with potentially far-reaching impact on the

At issue before the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago is whether a federal lawsuit won by Bryan and Susan Andrews last year can retain its class-action status.

Kevin Demet, an attorney for the Andrewses, said a victory would open the door for some 8,000 other Chevy Chase Bank customers to cancel their refinanced mortgages and demand the return of their interest payments and closing costs.

Read the full article here on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Website.

Supreme Court Expands Remedies Available for ERISA Fiduciary Breach Claims

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:23:00 GMT

An article from Michael T. Graham, Paul M. Hamburger, Nancy G. Ross, and John A. Litwinski details the Supreme Court decision affecting remedies available under ERISA for individual plan participants in 401(k) plans.

In LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc., the Supreme Court clarified that an individual plan participant may recover damages as a result of an ERISA fiduciary’s breach of duty even if that breach affected only that individual’s 401(k) plan account. Prior to LaRue, courts had generally taken the view that ERISA Section 502(a)(2) provided a remedy for fiduciary breach claims only for relief sought for the plan as a whole.

Read the whole article here on the McDermott, Will & Emery website.

PLUS Conference Video Clip - Telemedicine

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:41:38 GMT

Looking forward to the 2008 PLUS Medical PL Symposium March 11 & 12 in Chicago, we are posting this clip from the 2007 PLUS International Conference held in November in Washington, DC.

In it, panel moderator Angela Williams Russell talks with Charles Citrin, MD, Susan Durbin Kinter and Joshua Stein about the newer technology of telemedicine, the inherent risks involved, and how to underwrite these risks.

Alaska Town Sues Companies…For Global Warming?

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:27:21 GMT

A tiny Alaska village eroding into the Arctic Ocean sued two dozen oil, power and coal companies Tuesday, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to global warming that threatens the community's existence.

The city of Kivalina and a federally recognized tribe, the Alaska Native village of Kivalina, sued Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PLC, seven other oil companies, 14 power companies and one coal company in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco.

Read the details of this story here on CNN Money.

Supreme Court: FedEx Workers Can Sue Over Age Bias

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:18:44 GMT

The Supreme Court decided Wednesday that employees who claim job discrimination should not suffer because of mistakes made by the federal agency charged with investigating their allegations.

The majority opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy is critical of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which failed to notify FedEx that 14 employees had filed a complaint. Companies must be told about complaints before discrimination lawsuits can be filed. As a result of the EEOC's failure to notify, the two sides lost the chance to engage in an informal dispute resolution process.

Read the full article here on Yahoo! News.

PLUS D&O Symposium Video Clip: Subprime

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:41:52 GMT

In this clip from the 2008 PLUS D&O Symposium, John Rafferty, Vice President with Hartford Financial Products, sets out a great overview of the issues surrounding the subprime and larger credit crisis that we are facing. Panelist Bain Head, Senior Vice President with McGriff, Siebels & Williams, then gives her predictions of where the subprime crisis is going, and what the resulting effect on D&O will be.

Five Found Guilty in AIG Stock Inflation Scheme

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:32:14 GMT

Five former insurance company executives were found guilty Monday of a scheme to manipulate the financial statements of the world’s largest insurance company, American International Group Inc.

The defendants, including four former executives including a onetime CEO of General Re Corp., and a former executive of AIG, sat stone-faced as they were convicted of conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud and making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This is a breaking news story, updated here on MSNBC.Com.

Iowa Supreme Court adds Twist to Medical Malpractice Opinion

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:19:51 GMT

The Iowa Supreme Court has sent two medical malpractice cases back to district court after offering a new opinion on how the statute of limitations can be interpreted. They ruled that the statute of limitations two year window should begin when patients know the extent and cause of their illness or injury, not necessarily when their symptoms are initially diagnosed.

Read the full article here in the Sioux City Journal.

Marsh Executives Found Guilty of Bid-Rigging

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:13:46 GMT

The Insurance Journal has the story of William Gilman and Edward J. McNenney, two Marsh executives found guilty of participating in a bid rigging scheme. They were acquitted of all other charges in a ruling handed down by New York State Supreme Court Judge James Yates.

You can read the details of the case, as well as information about the expected appeal, here on the Insurance Journal Website.

Online Prescribing to Lower Costs?

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:02:12 GMT

Motivated by mounting medical costs, lawmakers and executives are urging doctors to embrace a seemingly simple way to save billions of dollars a year: prescribe medications online. Officials in the public and private sectors say electronic prescriptions will make transactions more efficient, reduce medication errors and entice doctors to prescribe less expensive drugs.

Although there has been some pushback by physicians who have been working in the industry for a while, however the up and coming practitioners are doing much of this work on-line in medical school.

Read the full article here on Yahoo! News.

SEC Actions

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:10:05 GMT

Please follow the link below for a summary of enforcement and non-enforcement actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The report was prepared by Gregory S. Bruch, Gregory F. Monday and Terry D. Nelson, all partners with Foley & Lardner LLP.

The full summary is located here on the Foley & Lardner website.

Age Discrimination on Supreme Court Calendar for 2008

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:02:25 GMT

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear five cases this term that will deal directly with age discrimination. The cases at the court include what kind of evidence an employee may present to bolster an age discrimination claim; whether retirement-age workers are entitled to disability payments; and whether federal workers who complain about age discrimination are protected from retaliation.

Read the full story here on MSNBC.COM.

PLUS D&O Symposium Video Clip: Private Equity

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:22:26 GMT

This is a clip from the 2008 PLUS D&O Symposium held in New York City. More than 1300 professionals gathered to hear the latest information on the D&O industry.

In this clip, there is an introduction to the topic, and then two questions answered:

What coverage opportunities are there for brokers and underwriters as they approach the private equity industry?

What do you predict for the private equity market five years from now?

Will the Subprime Mortgage Litigation be Bigger than the 1990’s Savings and Loan Crisis?

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:21:54 GMT

According to a report by Navigant Consulting, the number of subprime-related cases filed in federal courts is outpacing the S&L litigation of the 1990’s. The number of subprime-related cases doubled during the second half of 2007, and appears to be an indicator of what lies ahead.

Read the full release here on Forbes.Com.

Buffett to the Rescue?

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:09:04 GMT

Warren Buffett said on Tuesday that he has offered to help out troubled bond insurers by offering a second level of insurance on up to $800 billion in municipal bonds.

In an interview on CNBC (video link of the phone interview can be found here) he stated that he has offered to help out the bond insurers, however he was quick to point out that it wasn’t an altruistic gesture – he was doing it to make money.

At the time of the interview, they had been turned down by one company, and Buffett stated that the others were "not leaping at the door" to accept his offer.

The full article can be found here on Yahoo News.

Largest Medical Malpractice Award in Connecticut History?

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:41:23 GMT

According to the Stamford Advocate, a jury ruled that an obstetrician must pay $38.5 million to the family of a baby born with cerebral palsy.

Details of the circumstances surrounding the award can be found here on the Stamford Advocate Web Site.

PLUS Foundation Shots for Charity 2008

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:00:30 GMT

The PLUS Foundation held it’s annual Shots for Charity hockey game Tuesday, February 5^that Chelsea Piers in New York City. This was the seventh annual event, held each year prior to the PLUS D&O Symposium.

This year, a video was created and presented during the opening session of the PLUS D&O Symposium to capture the successes of the PLUS Foundation. Click on the screen below to watch this video, and be sure to visit the PLUS Foundation Website for more information or to donate.

Meaner Class Action World Discussed at 2008 PLUS D&O Symposium

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:23:21 GMT

Susanne Scalfane with National Underwriter Online News Service has a great article detailing the world of class action lawsuits based on comments made by the opening panel of the 2008 PLUS D&O Symposium.

Read the full article here at the National Underwriter website.

Donaldson Slams "Pendulum Pushers" at 2008 PLUS D&O Symposium

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:16:51 GMT

David Katz from CFO.com reports on the keynote address by William Donaldson, former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman and Wednesday Luncheon Keynote at the 2008 PLUS D&O Symposium held February 6 & 7, 2008 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City.

Read the full article behind the comments here on the CFO.Com website.

Rising Costs In Light of the Subprime Crisis?

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:06:25 GMT

A survey of financial sector risk managers and chief financial officers by Advisen has found that the subprime crisis is not materially affecting D&O or E&O pricing.

Cited in an article by the Insurance Journal, the survey results are a bit surprising given that more than 175 lawsuits have already been filed against companies in the subprime mortgage market.

Read the full story here on the InsuranceJournal.com website.

Societe Generale S.A. Covered Against Fraud?

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:08:59 GMT

According to Michel Yarhi, Risk Manager for Societe Generale, the company does have insurance coverage that may respond to the 7 Billion dollar fraud that was perpetrated by a single employee.

Insurance industry sources were quick to point out that coverage for this type of action said it was likely the bank would have no more than 200 Million dollars in coverage for this type of action, as the market for such risks is limited.

Read the full story here on the Business Insurance Website.

New York Attorney General’s Subprime Weapon: 1921 Martin Act

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:20:28 GMT

According to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Attorney General’s Office is utilizing the 1921 Martin Act to investiage the subprime issues on Wall Street. The state law spells out a broad definition of securities fraud without requiring the prosecutors to prove intent.

Read the full article, written by Kate Kelly, Amir Efrati and Ruth Simon here on the Wall Street Journal website.

Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates Again

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:51:37 GMT

In an anticipated move, the Fed cut interest rates another half point today. Spurred to action by news that the economy had slowed significantly in the final three months of 2007, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that “financial markets remain under considerable stress” in a written statement.

Read the full article here on Yahoo Business.

Subprime Lenders Getting an Accounting Break from the SEC?

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:40:42 GMT

Commentary by Jonathan Weil on the Bloomberg Website has suggested that the SEC’s staff has granted the subprime-lending industry a huge exemption from the normal rules for off-balance-sheet accounting.

While a noble objective, ready why Jonathan feels that it is a good deed that will need to be accounted for here at Bloomberg.Com.

FBI Widens Investigation of the Subprime Industry

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:31:10 GMT

According to BusinessWeek Online, the FBI has opened probes into alleged accounting fraud, insider trading and concerns over loan securitization at 14 companies.

The companies, already under scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, are now facing the potential for criminal charges.

Read the full article here at BusinessWeek Online.

Marsh Names Duperreault New CEO

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:38:34 GMT

According to Yahoo Finance, Marsh & McLennan has named former ACE Ltd. CEO Brian Duperreault as Chief Executive.

Prior to taking this new job, Duperreault served as CEO of ACE Limited, the Bermuda based insurer Marsh & McLennan helped found in 1985. Prior to ACE, Duperreault was with AIG for more than 20 years.

You can read the full article here on Yahoo Finance.

Will the Fed Cut Rates Again? The Market Thinks So…

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:58:23 GMT

US shares pushed slightly higher on Monday, anticipating a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in response to the disappointing new home sales report. The report said that the sales of new homes dropped by 4.7 percent in December, with an overall drop of 26.4 percent in 2007 (when compared with 2006).

You can find the full article here on MSNBC.Com.

Expansion of Countrywide Suit

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:40:44 GMT

As reported at CNNMoney.Com, New York authorities are suing 26 banks and two accounting firms that did business with Countrywide Financial, saying the companies failed to ensure the company was being honest with investors.

The banks and accounting firms were added to the suit on Friday to an action already pending in California.

The full article can be found here on CNNMoney.com.

Class Action Against GE Given Green Light

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:33:58 GMT

US District Judge Peter Dorsey rejected a motion filed by General Electric (GE) to prevent a high ranking attorney’s lawsuit from achieving class action status.

Lorene Schaefer filed suit against GE Transportation accusing officials of giving unfair preference to men in promotions to top-paying legal jobs.

Dorsey rejected the argument from GE that Schaefer cannot lead a class action lawsuit because she had access to confidential client information while employed with GE. Dorsey’s ruling did state, however that "If at any point during discovery, the defendants learn and can demonstrate that plaintiff is inappropriately using confidential client confidences in asserting her claims or representing the class, the court may reconsider the propriety of plaintiff's class allegations at that time."

The full article can be found here at Forbes.Com.

Can Life Insurers Pay Pandemic Claims?

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:53:01 GMT

As reported in National Underwriter Life & Health, the US Treasury Department and two of its offshoots have recommended that life insurers check to be sure that they have enough capital to pay claims during a severe influenza epidemic.

This request comes after reviewing a report based on the results of a three week pandemic flu exercise conducted in 2007. You can read the full story here in National Underwriter. You can also see the full goverment report by clicking here (this is a 72 page PDF file).

Economic Stimulus for our US Members

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:58:18 GMT

Congressional leaders have reached a deal for US Taxpayers and businesses to receive rebates as an effort to stimulate the economy.

As being reported here on Yahoo, the details of the tax rebate have been announced. Most tax filers will receive refunds between $600 and $1200 and more if they have children. To address the mortgage crisis, the package also raises the limits on Federal Housing Administration loans and home mortgages that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can purchase to as high as $725,000 in high-cost areas. Those are considerable boosts over the current FHA limit of $362,000 and the $417,000 cap for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's loan purchases.

Since this story was posted, there has been a bit of "bog-down" in the US Senate, but all sides agree that the relief will be granted and US taxpayers should see the simulus in May or June of 2008.

$7.14 Billion Fraud…by a Single Trader?

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:41:46 GMT

Executives at Societe Generale, a Paris based bank, reported that they had uncovered a massive fraud perpetrated by a trader who acted alone. Detected over the weekend, the trader had misled investors in 2007 and 2008 through a “scheme of elaborate fictitious transactions.” The total fraud was $7.14 billion.

Already suffering from subprime-related difficulties, Societe Generale’s shares were suspended from trading Thursday morning. Trading resumed midday and shares dropped more than five percent.

The full article from Yahoo Finance can be found here.

An interesting wrap-up on this fraud can be found here on BusinessWeek. It asks the question: Now What?

Subprime Fueled Securities Litigation

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:13:54 GMT

Experts are predicting that the legal and regulatory issues being fueled by the current subprime mortgage meltdown will dwarf the problems that followed the technology stock bust and the Enron and Worldcom problems. Read the entire article here in the New York Times.

Diversity - Do We Walk the Talk?

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:06:58 GMT

This is a three minute excerpt from the Diversity - Do We Walk the Talk Panel at the 2007 PLUS International Conference. The question revolves around attracting the bright young college students of today to the insurance industry. The question is answered by Harold Gray, Director of the Center for Insurance Education, Howard University.

Verdict of Woman Spanked at Work Overturned

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:58:40 GMT

An appeals court in Fresno, California overturned a $1.5 million verdict awarded to a woman who was spanked in front of her co-workers in what employers called a camaraderie-building exercise.

The case was overturned based on the jury receiving improper instructions as to vital elements of the case.

Information about the original decision on this case can be found at this link, and the updated article on the appeal can be found in the Seattle Times.

Former Employees of Kodak File Class Action Suit Against Morgan Stanley

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:42:08 GMT

A group of former employees of the Eastman Kodak Company have filed a class action lawsuit seeking nearly 500 million dollars against Morgan Stanley on the grounds that the broker gave them bad advice to retire early and promised them financial security that never materialized.

Four employees are named as plaintiffs, however the member class could number as many as 1,000.

In addition to this class action lawsuit, an arbitration claim making similar allegations on behalf of another 16 former Kodak employees was filed at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s arbitration forum.

Read the full article at Forbes.com.

Merrill Lynch Posts a Fourth Quarter Loss of Nearly 10 Billion

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:31:11 GMT

Merrill Lynch has posted a fourth quarter loss of nearly $10 Billion, resulting from its stake in mortgage backed securities as well as adjustments to hedge positions on them.

More information is available on the WCCO Website.

NERA Releases Report on Shareholder Class Litigation

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:31:01 GMT

NERA Economic Consulting has released a year end report which shows that the 18 month trend of declines in shareholder class actions has definitely reversed course. In an article posted on BusinessWire, the report projects that a total of 207 federal filings will be made by year end, up from 131 filings in 2006. You can read a brief synopsis of the report from BusinessWire by clicking this link. For more information about this report, you can contact Benjamin Seggerson from NERA.

Finite Insurance Under the Microscope

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:17:16 GMT

William Katt, an Associate with the law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP, has written a brief overview of what can be expected in the upcoming United States v. Ferguson trial. His assessment of the trial is that it “will be the most prominent example to date of the skeptical eye government regulators at the federal and state levels have cast toward some kinds of finite reinsurance transactions in the last few years.” To view the full article, please click on this link.

Top Business Story of 2007

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:07:28 GMT

According to BusinessWeek online, the top business story of 2007 is the state of the U.S. housing market (and related effects on the debt markets worldwide). You can read brief reviews of this and the BusinessWeek to 10 business stories of the year by following this link.

If you're looking for the top D&O story of 2007, Kevin LaCroix, Senior Member of the Management Team at OakBridge Insurance Services has posted his list at The D&O Diary, and interestingly enough his top story is also related to the US housing market. You can view his list and insightful commentary by following this link.

TJX Settles Data Breach Lawsuit

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:01:56 GMT

TJX Companies have settled with nearly all of the banks and related bank associations over a breach of credit card data.

Terms of the settlement are confidential, but TJX stated that the costs have been covered by a $107 million dollar reserve. In this case, 45.7 million cards were exposed to possible fraud in a breach of computer systems that began in 2005, but wasn’t detected until 2006. The full story can be found here on the International Business Times website.

Ford Settles Class Action Discrimination Lawsuit

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:48:49 GMT

Ford Motor Company, two related companies and the UAW (United Auto Workers) have settled a race discrimination lawsuit by paying 1.6 million dollars and providing other relief. The United States EEOC charged that a written test to determine eligibility for an apprenticeship program discriminated against blacks. More information about this settlement can be found here on the BusinessWeek website.

2008 PLUS D&O Symposium

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:31:34 GMT

February 6 & 7, 2008
Marriott Marquis Hotel, New York

The increasing number of participants in all aspects of D&O Liability has resulted in the need for quality education on issues surrounding this specialized field. Through the D&O Symposium, PLUS provides the forum to learn of advanced issues in D&O Liability and meet specialists from across the the United States and around the world.

Please follow this link to register.

In addition to the outstanding panels, PLUS is pleased to present Keynote Addresses from William H. Donaldson, 27th Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (left) and William R. Berkley, Founder, Chairman and CEO of W.R. Berkley Corporation (right).

PLUS has reserved a limited number of rooms for attendees at the Marriott Marquis Hotel (1535 Broadway). Please make your reservations as soon as possible at 1-800-843-4898 and indicate that you are part of the PLUS block to secure the special rate of $251 plus taxes.

Due to the success of previous events, it is expected that registration will be limited in 2008.