Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
A Cautionary Tale: Reinsurer's Bad Faith Disavowal of Agreement Leads to Multiple Damages, Attorneys' Fees
On May 23, 2011, Judge Nancy Gertner of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered a judgment against a reinsurer, its controlling officer and the reinsurer's intermediary in the amount of $4.1 million for breach of contract, $4.1 million for double damages, $2.6 million for attorneys' fees and $1.6 million for prejudgment interest. The punitive elements of the judgment were awarded pursuant to the Massachusetts Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act (“Chapter 93A”) due to the defendants' bad-faith disavowal of a reinsurance agreement. See Trenwick Am. Reins. Corp. v. IRC, Inc., __ F. Supp. 2d __, 2011 WL 570016, *24-28 (D. Mass. Feb. 16, 2011).
Trenwick reaffirms Judge Gertner's prior holding in Commercial Union Ins. Co. v. Seven Provinces Ins. Co., Ltd., 9 F.Supp.2d 49 (D.Mass. 1998), aff'd 217 F.3d 33 (1st Cir. 2000) that, where a “moving target” strategy is employed to coerce a favorable compromise of reinsurance obligations, the reinsurer's conduct may constitute a violation of Chapter 93A. Trenwick warns reinsurers and their officers not to turn what should be “a routine claim ' into a tortuous marathon.” Trenwick, 2011 WL 570016, at *3.
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.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Removing Restrictive Covenants In New York
In Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?
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?
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.