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Lost amidst all of the turmoil surrounding the dramatic swings in the value of digital currencies is that the original idea for these digital assets is that  they might actually be used as exchange media, in place of traditional currencies. Whether or not someone might use cryptocurrency to, say, buy a cup of coffee at Starbuck’s, Ohio residents, at least, may now use bitcoin to pay their state taxes. In the following guest post, John…
Obtaining insurance coverage for a government investigation is often complicated by the type of investigation and the available coverage.  Most policies that cover aspects of government investigations–directors and officers liability policies or errors and omissions policies–are written on a claims-made form and exclude claims that relate back to prior or pending claims.  Very often the insurance company asks for a signed warranty that the insured and its officers are unaware of any actions that might…
By Jaye A. Calhoun, Jason R. Brown, and William J. Kolarik, II In Smith v. Robinson, La. S. Ct., Dkt. No. 2018-CA-0728 (Dec. 5, 2018), the Louisiana Supreme Court held that the Texas franchise tax (also known as the “Texas margins tax”) was an income tax for purposes of Louisiana’s credit for tax paid to another state and held that a 2015 law that limited the credit was unconstitutional because it impermissibly…
On November 9, 2018, the Ninth Circuit certified an important coverage question to the Washington Supreme Court about whether a certificate of insurance (COI) purporting to add T-Mobile as an additional insured on another company’s insurance policy binds the insurance company listed on the certificate. T-Mobile USA Inc. v. Selective Insurance Company of America, 908 F.3d 581 (9th Cir. 2018). The case should serve as a reminder that businesses may not be able to rely…
Fictionalized True Insurance Crime Books “HEADS I WIN, TAILS YOU LOSE” A collection of columns originally published in the magazines “Insurance Journal,” “Insurance Week,” and “The John Cooke Insurance Fraud Report” insurance trade publications serving the insurance community in the United States that have been updated and revised. The title, “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” is meant to describe insurance fraud as it works in the Unites States. It means that whenever a person…
The Problems Arise because an Insurance Company Couldn’t or Wouldn’t Read a Policy Under basic state law across the country an employer never can be sued for injuries incurred by its employees. However, contracts between builders and owners often shift the obligation to defend and indemnify the owner, and eventually to the insurer for the builder. Even insurance companies forget that an insurance policy is just a contract that must be interpreted in accordance with…
There is an interesting case before the California on the issue of whether that state’s pension benefits are guaranteed. The Sacramento Bee reports here. The State’s argument: “Neither the U.S. Constitution nor the California Constitution requires the state to mismanage its affairs and continue a broken system for decades, even after the state has concluded the program is severely (if not fatally) flawed and cannot be implemented as originally intended.” Participants disagree. The case…
Insurance agents, divorce attorneys, elder law attorneys, wills, trusts and estate attorneys, and real estate attorneys need to read this post. They also need to read “Where You Reside” – The “Where’s Waldo®?” Catastrophic Homeowners Policy ‘Exclusion’ That Could Bankrupt Your Insureds, by insurance coverage expert Bill Wilson. Wilson’s article shows how often coverage can be lost just by common changes of where people are living.…
The Second Circuit recently took up the insurance coverage dispute arising out of the high profile enforcement action the SEC pursued against hedge fund Patriarch Partners and its CEO, Lynn Tilton. The district court had ruled that coverage under the firm’s third level excess D&O insurance policy for the expenses the firm incurred in defending the SEC action was precluded because the agency’s investigation preceded the policy’s “prior and pending” litigation date. The Second…