Is insurance just a business or does it serve a greater public good? If it weren’t for insurance, a fire or earthquake could leave you homeless; a visit to the emergency room could wipe out your bank account; a workplace accident could leave you salary-less. But, on the other hand, picture that wily Geico lizard, and insurance seems more like any other business trying to make a buck.
Pursuant to Section 727 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, an individual Chapter 7 debtor may receive a discharge "from all debts that arose before the date of the order for relief under this chapter." A Chapter 11 or Chapter 13 debtor may receive similar relief pursuant to Sections 1141 and 1328(b), respectively. Under any chapter, this discharge serves the Bankruptcy Code's principal goal of relieving a debtor from his or her prepetition obligations and providing the debtor with a "fresh start" on emergence from bankruptcy.
A growing number of health insurance co-ops or “consumer operated and oriented plans” created under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) are shutting down on their own initiative or on orders of state regulators because of their precarious financial condition. The failed co-ops include, among others, those in Colorado, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, and South Carolina, as well as one serving Iowa and Nebraska.
The Insurance Commissioner of Pennsylvania has placed Lincoln General Insurance Company into liquidation in Pennsylvania. As a result, the Insurance Commissioner as Liquidator takes over the property, business, and affairs of Lincoln General; collects assets; resolves claims; and ultimately, distributes assets to creditors, including policyholders and claimants.
Whether an insurer can refuse to provide coverage on the grounds that the bankrupt insured has not paid a self-insured retention (SIR) is often litigated during a bankruptcy case. Recently, in Sturgill v.
One of the main benefits of bankruptcy is the ability of a debtor to reject its burdensome contracts. Although a debtor’s right of rejection appears to be relatively straightforward, section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code can raise a number of issues. One such issue is whether the contract is executory. If the contract is not executory, a debtor may not avail itself of section 365’s rejection powers. Usually it is the debtor who argues in favor of the executory nature of a contract; however, this was not the case in
Lumbermens Mutual Group, formerly known as Kemper Insurance Company (or just as Kemper), is comprised of Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company, American Motorists Insurance Company, and American Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company. These Kemper Entities sold property and casualty insurance policies throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, covering (among other things) liabilities arising from long-tail, toxic tort claims such as asbestos and environmental exposures. They are now in insolvency proceedings and important deadlines for perfecting claims against them are fast approaching.
Rhode Island recently amended its Credit for Reinsurance Act to include two provisions regarding credits for reinsurance relating to the insolvency of the ceding insurer.
On September 24, Southern District of Florida District Court Judge James I. Cohn issued an opinion affirming an order approving the settlement of a debtor’s breach of fiduciary duty, corporate waste, and mismanagement claims against its former directors and officers barring non-debtors’ claims against the former directors and officers entered by Southern District of Florida Bankruptcy Court Judge Raymond B.
Former Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver (and longtime Cleveland Browns nemesis) Lynn Swann may be on the receiving end of a big break. If not, he stands to lose millions of dollars.