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Insurance Company Insolvencies: A Primer for Corporate Policy Holders

By John N. Ellison and Joshua Gold

The past several years have seen some major property-casualty insurance companies on the ropes and worse, far worse. Home Indemnity Company and Legion Insurance Company, two notable insolvency casualties, have left their policyholders without the full protection paid for and required. Sadly, they pale in comparison to the train wreck that is Reliance Insurance Company. The demise of Reliance has had repercussions for insurance buyers and others all over. Once a fixture in the directors' and officers' ('D&O') liability insurance marketplace, among other insurance markets, Reliance is now well underway in the liquidation process, after a brief and unsuccessful attempt at 'rehabilitation.' The Reliance debacle has left policyholders scrambling to protect themselves while state insurance departments wrangle with one another in an attempt to snap up a share of the inadequate pool of assets left behind in the collapse of Reliance.

The situation created by insolvencies may yet get worse for policyholders. There is already grave concern over the prospects for at least one very large U.S.-based insurance group, coupled with the specter of additional insolvencies affecting European property-casualty insurance companies. Presently, extreme concern exists over the viability of many of Europe's largest insurance companies. A recent article in the insurance trade press quoted an analyst suggesting that many European insurance companies were already 'technically insolvent,' with the specter of asbestos liabilities looming ever more onerous.

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