Better late than never, the Third Party (Rights Against Insurers) Act of 2010 finally came into force in an amended form on 1 August 2016. It applies across the UK, with minor variances between Scotland and England and Wales. The Act updates third party creditors’ rights against insurers under the 1930 Act of the same name, permitting a streamlined and more cost-efficient procedure for creditors’ claims against insurers in circumstances where the insured company/ individual which took out the liability insurance has suffered an insolvency event.

Historic Position

On January 12, 2016, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, issued a non-precedential opinion in Ward Sand & Materials Co. v. Transamerica Ins. Co., et al. The long-anticipated ruling found that, in long-tail claims, insureds are responsible for the share of liability allocated to insurers that became insolvent prior to December 22, 2004.

In Snyder v. California Insurance Guarantee Association, the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, considered when the three-year statute of limitations for a cause of action against the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA) accrues.  The statute does not begin to run until a “covered claim” matures and is denied.  CIGA’s denial in an answer to a complaint for declaratory relief did not satisfy this requirement.

Generally, as a result of judicial and legislative reforms, plaintiffs’ lawyers have moved away from mass screenings and filing of claims on behalf of unimpaired or non-malignancy plaintiffs in asbestos litigation. Rather, many of these unimpaired cases are being moved through the less rigorously reviewed channels of asbestos bankruptcy trusts that provide relatively little oversight and have more than $36.8 billion in assets available.