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Lengthy Crimes, Limited Coverage: Recent Case Law Follows the 'One Policy Limit' Approach
In recent years, newspaper headlines have focused on a variety of financial scandals that have unfolded over long periods of time. The largest Ponzi scheme in history, arising from the activities of former NASDAQ chairman Bernard Madoff, resulted in $50 billion of investor losses over 15 years. Attorney Mark Dreier sold $100 million of false promissory notes to third parties over a four-year period, while Florida attorney Scott Rothstein is alleged to have operated a five-year, $1 billion Ponzi scheme. Some commentators posit that commercial crime insurance may provide coverage for such losses. That proposition is highly debatable, and, even if such coverage is available, it is unlikely to provide significant protection, given recent precedents construing how claims arising from long-ensuing criminal activities should be allocated between and among successively issued policies.
By way of background, commercial crime insurance (also known as “fidelity bonds,” “fidelity insurance,” and “employee dishonesty insurance”) generally provides coverage to employers for losses related to an employee's fraudulent conduct. Policies typically contain limits of coverage that apply on an “occurrence” basis, often defined as “an act or series of acts” by an employee. In insurance law generally, the majority of courts define an occurrence in terms of its cause. Barry R. Ostrager & Thomas R. Newman, 1 Handbook on Insurance Coverage Disputes ' 9.02 (15th ed. 2009). In the crime policy context, however, courts are split as to whether a crime committed by an employee over a multi-year period constitutes one occurrence or multiple occurrences or can trigger more than one policy.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
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Summary Judgment Denied Defendant in Declaratory Action by Producer of To Kill a Mockingbird Broadway Play Seeking Amateur Theatrical Rights
Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes
“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.
One Overlooked Element of Executive Safety: Data Privacy
Executives have access to some of the company's most sensitive information, and they're increasingly being targeted by hackers looking to steal company secrets or to perpetrate cybercrimes.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?