The case of Law Society v Dixit Shah (2007) EWHC 2841 (Ch) arose from the intervention of the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors into an association of firms owned by Dixit Shah which traded under "the BJ Brandon Group" name. The Law Society alleged that the OSS discovered that around £12.5 million of client money had been misappropriated by Mr Shah.

Executive Life Insurance Company of New York (ELNY) was placed into rehabilitation in 1991 after affiliated companies became insolvent and concerns about its future solvency arose. The rehabilitation plan adopted in 1992 involved the transfer of much of ELNY's business to another carrier; however, ELNY in rehabilitation retained substantial assets and continued payment on certain annuities, with the bulk of the payout going to structured settlement annuitants that had received long-term and/or lifetime annuities as settlements in personal injury lawsuits.

Recently, a New York state court gave the New York Liquidation Bureau ("NYLB") permission to notify more than 300,000 creditors of Union Indemnity Insurance Company (“Union Indemnity”) that it plans to make the first distribution from the insolvent property casualty insurer's estate. See In Re Union Indemnity Ins. Co., No. 41292/85 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Oct. 10, 2007).

Saddleback Valley Community Church v. El Toro Materials Company, Inc. 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 22991 (October 1, 2007) Client Alert

In a decision that should provide comfort to landlords confronting insolvent tenants, the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that the Bankruptcy Code’s limitation on the amount of damages a landlord is entitled to recover upon termination of a lease does not limit the landlord’s right to recover damages which are not based upon the loss of future rental income.

On July 12, 2007, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that, where a vehicle causing an accident is owned by a governmental entity and is insured by an insolvent insurer, the Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund is not obligated to compensate the injured individual unless and until the injured individual's own uninsured motor vehicle coverage has been exhausted. Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund v. Premier Ins. Co., 07-SJC-09793 (July 12, 2007).

In North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation, Inc. v. Gheewalla, 2007 WL 1453705 (Del. May 18, 2007), the Delaware Supreme Court, in a case of first impression, provided some clarity on the controversial issue of whether and to what extent creditors have the ability to assert fiduciary duty claims against directors.

On May 24, 2007, optional federal charter (OFC) legislation was reintroduced into the Senate as the National Insurance Act of 2007 (S. 40) (NIA), co-sponsored by John Sununu (R-NH) and Tim Johnson (D-SD). A similar bill is expected to be reintroduced into the House by Ed Royce (R-CA) in the coming weeks. The bill closely resembles the original legislation filed last year by the same co-sponsors. The major changes in the new bill are provisions concerning surplus lines/nonadmitted insurers and the insolvency/guaranty funds.

In Trenwick America Litigation Trust v. Ernst & Young, LLP, 906 A.2d 168 (Del. Ch. 2006), the Delaware Court of Chancery definitively weighed in on the tort claim that has become known by the popular name “deepening insolvency” when it dismissed a “deepening insolvency” claim brought by a litigation trust to recover money for the benefit of the creditors of a bankrupt estate.