Articles
Stock Option Backdating Claims: Are They Covered?
By: David E. Wood
Publication: The John Liner Review
Date: Fall, 2007
Employee stock option backdating is a hot topic right now. How can
a company protect itself from SEC charges and resultant lawsuits?
Lessons of the Virginia Tech Massacre
By: David P. Bender, Jr.
Publication: The John Liner Review
Date: Summer, 2007
Society must heed the warning signs of violence — in schools and in
the workplace — and act to prevent tragedies from occurring.
Reinsurance Arbitrations: Bad for Insurers and Bad For Their Policyholders
By: David P. Bender, Jr.
Publication: The John Liner Review
Date: Spring, 2007
Binding arbitration between insurers and reinsurers tends to be expensive and to favor reinsurers. Thus, the price of insurance goes up for policyholders.
Alternative Dispute Resolution in Insurance Coverage Disputes
By: David P. Bender, Jr.
Publication: The John Liner Review
Date: November, 2006
Going Bare: There Are Alternatives
By: David E. Wood
Publication: Medical Construction & Design
Date: July/August, 2006
Managing Risk Through an Insurance Policy Audit
By: David P. Bender, Jr.
Publication: Construction Executive
Date: July, 2006
The Battle Over Insurance Claims
By: David P. Bender, Jr.
Publication: Builder & Developer
Date: July, 2006
Insurance Coverage For Employment Claims: Buyer Beware
By: David P. Bender, Jr.
Publication: The John Liner Review
Date: May, 2006
Insuring Against the Potential Real Estate Bubble:
Steps a Bank Can Take Now to Mitigate Future Risk
By: Jeffrey A. Kiburtz
Date: March, 2006
Everyday, in the popular and financial media, there is talk of a housing bubble and related financial phenomena. There are discussions of "pervasive" fraud, loose lending standards, moral hazard, "exotic" mortgages, excess liquidity, and speculation by amateur real estate investors - which make it sound as though anyone with exposure to real estate is desirous of losing money. At the same time, the real estate establishment is countering the "bears" with equally fantastic stories of a fundamental shift in investor demand toward hard assets, a strong national economy, a well-developed secondary mortgage market, diversification by foreign sovereigns from Treasuries to real estate, and just about anything to justify the sustainability of the current market.
The Neglected Role of Insurance in Mergers and Acquisitions
By: David P. Bender
Publication: Enforce, Vol. 4
Date: January, 1st 2006 - Winter 2006
The value of insurance in protecting against the risk liability judgments arising out of mergers and acquisitions is frequently over-looked. These transactions provide fertile ground for claims that blossom into court battles.
Constructing a Solid Foundation as an Additional Insured
By: Kimberley Montanaro, David P. Bender
Publication: The John Liner Review
Date: December, 1st 2005 - Fall 2005
The project is complete. Throughout the project, there were risks. They began on day one and accumulated from there. Yet, a certificate of completion marks only the first phase of risk of potential loss, damage, or liability. The inherent, and at times inevitable, risks that lie ahead are fraught with unending possibilities.
Insurance As A Recovery Enhancement Tool
By: Jeffrey A. Kiburtz
Publication: The John Liner Review
Date: August, 1st 2005 - Fall 2005
A medium-sized manufactured goods vendor fails to deliver a product to your company as required under a recently procured contract, forcing your company to pay delay damages to an upstream contractor. Subsequent discussions reveal that — contrary to the representations of the vendor's vice president of sales — the vendor did not have adequate financing to manufacture the goods. The vendor disclaims all responsibility for the matter.
Can Corporations Find Qualified Independent Directors in an Era of Sarbanes-Oxley and Shareholder Lawsuits?
By: David E. Wood
Publication: Risk Management Magazine
Date: August, 1st 2005 - Fall 2005
When the Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002, it was in response to real and perceived lapses in management ethics and judgment. In addition to corporations paying dearly for these misdeeds, in some cases, individual directors have also paid for this malfeasance. However, like many laws, Sarbanes-Oxley is having some unintended consequences.
Coverage For Intellectual Property Claims Under Commercial General Liability Policies
By: David E. Wood
Publication: Presentation given for ACC So Cal
ISO, short for the Insurance Services Office, is a central clearinghouse that the insurance industry uses to standardize general liability policy forms (and related coverages and endorsements) only.ISO exists to serve the insurance industry by drafting standardized products and advocating them to insurance regulators in the several states.The policyholder has no role in ISO drafting.
Life After Spitzer
By: David E. Wood
Publication: Risk Management
Date: February, 1st 2005
The recent allegations by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer of price-fixing and deceptive practices by major brokers and insurers have left many companies wondering if they have been paying too much for their insurance. If so, should they risk enormous expense and time in pursuing claims against brokers and insurers when the outcome and collectibility of judgments are uncertain-and when other lawsuits are sure to compete?
Breaking the Faith: An Industry Roundtable Discussion on Policy Coverage Disputes
By: David Wood, Colin Barnes, Fred Savage, Jim Halbleib, John Dietsche
Publication: Risk Management
Date: February, 1st 2005
Insurance agreements are built on the trust that when a loss occurs, the claim will be paid promptly. When the obligation is broken, however, things can get nasty very quickly. Bad faith claims are just one facet of insurance policy enforcement lawsuits, and they shed light on a variety of associated business practices that affect both the buyers and providers of commercial insurance.
Is the Insurance Industry Ripe for Change?
By: David E. Wood
Publication: The John Liner Review
Date: January, 1st 2005
The insurance industry has typically been characterized as operating more in the 19th century than the 21st. Many industry practices, such as tolerating the long lag time between when insureds receive a policy binder and when they receive the actual policy form, reflect a pre-high-tech era. But these practices are starting to change at a more rapid rate for a number of reasons, most notably the confluence of three factors.
Evaluating Insurance Overcharges: Should Your Company Pursue Claims Against Brokers and Carriers?
By: David E. Wood
Publication: In-house
Date: December, 1st 2004
The recent suit by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer alleging price-fixing and deceptive practices by broker Marsh McLennan and major insurers is prompting many corporate policyholders to examine whether they too are being overcharged. While this can often be determined without too much trouble, it brings up a more complicated question:Should a wronged company risk enormous expense and time in pursuing claims against brokers and insurers when the outcome and collectibility of judgments are uncertain?
Policyholder Advocate Service Plan-How Wood & Bender can help your company deal with overcharging by insurance brokers and underwriters
By: Wood & Bender
Publication: In-house
Date: December, 1st 2004 - Fall 2004
A prudent first step for any company reviewing its insurance strategy is Wood & Bender's PolicyAnalyzer™ service. PolicyAnalyzer™ provides a comprehensive analysis of existing coverages to identify gaps and areas of overlap, as well as to determine whether placements track market conditions. PolicyAnalyzer™ also includes recommendations for streamlining and improving liability and casualty insurance portfolios.
How Sarbanes-Oxley and Market Dynamics Are Shaping D&O Insurance: A Primer for Policy Purchasers
By: David E. Wood
Publication: The John Liner Review
Date: December, 1st 2004 - Fall 2004
After several years when economic trends and corporate malfeasance created a dramatically hard market for D&O insurance, trends are shifting to the benefit of policy purchasers.
Interview with James W. Ferguson, Assistant General Counsel and Director of Risk Management
By: Wood & Bender
Publication: Enforce
Date: December, 1st 2004 - Fall 2004
Halliburton Company is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the oil and gas industries. Operating in more than 120 countries, the company has a depth and breadth of risks to manage, unequalled by nearly all other multinational corporations. James W. Ferguson, Assistant General Counsel and Director of Risk Management, Halliburton Company, outlined the company's approach to risk management to Enforce contributor writer Timothy Johnson in a recent interview.
Now That The Dam Has Broken
By: David E. Wood
Publication: Enforce
Date: December, 1st 2004 - Fall 2004
When it comes to New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, at least three things are clear: He picks his targets carefully, he's got great aim and he's not afraid to go into the thick brush to bring down the big ones.
Insurance for Lawyers: Are you covered?
By: Caroline Hurtado
Publication: Enforce
Date: December, 1st 2004 - Fall 2004
Many corporate counsel assume that, as management-level employees of the companies they counsel, and often as officers of these companies, they are covered by corporate D&O insurance policies for their errors and omissions as lawyers. This is a dangerous assumption.
Just When You Thought You'd Thought of Everything
By: Jeffery Kiburtz and Peter Osborn
Publication: Enforce
Date: December, 1st 2004 - Fall 2004
Risk management is, by its nature, both an anticipatory and a reactive process. You do your utmost, in advance of a claim, to anticipate, plan for and appropriately finance every risk. When a triggering event occurs, you manage the claim strategically to maximize the prospects, and the amount, of your eventual recovery. Both prongs of this process, however, assume one essential fact—that the carrier will be existent, and solvent, when your claim needs to be paid. When this is not the case, because the carrier has been placed in liquidation, the policy enforcement challenge increases tenfold.
Silica: The Next Asbestos
By: Martha Sharp
Publication: Enforce
Date: December, 1st 2004 - Fall 2004
It is no wonder that silica has been coined the "next asbestos" by a multitude of commentators, industry leaders, plaintiffs' attorneys and insurance experts. Silica presents many of the same issues as asbestos.
Do You Dare to go Bare?
By: Susan Barry
Publication: Enforce
Date: December, 1st 2004 - Fall 2004
Most businesses plan for the fact that their day-to-day operations subject them to certain risks. Common wisdom would hold that insuring against such risks is simply good business. However, in today's hard insurance market, faced with rising premiums and strong carrier resistance to claims payment, many corporations, including a surprising number of the Fortune 500, opt not to comprehensively insure against all known or anticipated risks. In some cases, a company might purchase policies that insure only against catastrophic risks. In others, the company might not insure against a given risk at all. Or, in other words, go completely "bare" of coverage. In this article we will address some of the major considerations in deciding to go bare.
Policy Enforcement Lessons From the WTC Coverage Trial
By: Amy Fauver, JD
Publication: Enforce
Date: November, 1st 2004
This spring, after absorbing countless hours of testimony, thousands of pages of documentation, and hundreds of hours of legal argument, a New York jury returned partial verdicts in the World Trade Center property insurance coverage trial...
The Evolution of Pollution Liability Insurance, and Practical Advice for Today's Policyholders
By: Martha Sharp
Publication: Enforce
Date: November, 1st 2004
Environmental insurance as we know it today evolved out of an effort in the mid 1990's to address the real and perceived risks of investing in environmentally impaired real estate. Over time environmental risk products developed into...
When the Coffers Are Bare, Will the Coverage Be There?
By: David E. Wood, Wood & Bender LLP
Publication: D&O Advisor
Date: November, 1st 2004
This spring, after absorbing countless hours of testimony, thousands of pages of documentation, and hundreds of hours of legal argument, a New York jury returned partial verdicts in the World Trade Center property insurance coverage trial...
Giving Back: Philanthropy; Pro-Bono and the Legal Profession
By: Amy Fauver
Publication: Enforce
Date: November, 1st 2004
All of us know a lawyer joke or two. Some lawyers pride themselves on knowing more of them than their non-attorney peers. But how many times have you heard a lawyer story that showed the attorney doing something positive for his or her community?
"Interrelated Acts" Are Often Used to Bludgeon Policyholders
By: David E. Wood, Partner
Publication: D&O Advisor
Date: October, 1st 2004
Many companies, at one time or another, face multiple lawsuits against the corporation or its directors and officers--or both--stemming from some business decision, practice, or program...
Caught in the Web: The Role and Risks of Internet Disclosures in SEC Investigations
By: David E. Wood, Partner
Publication: D&O Advisor
Date: Fall 2004
In the Securities and Exchange Commission's version of an ideal world, the investing public would access important information about their investments or potential investments on the same terms and at the same time as market professionals...
Coverage Crisis
By: David E. Wood, Partner
Publication: D&O Insurance
Date: September, 1st 2003
The era of cheap directors' and officers' (D&O) liability coverage ended abruptly with the corporate scandals of 2002 and the collapse of the dot-com market. Though premiums are up sharply, it will take more than increased rates for insurers to balance...
Entity Coverage May Fade Away
By: David E. Wood, Partner
Publication: National Law Journal
Date: September, 1st 2003
Long relied upon to defend shareholder lawsuits, this insurance well is drying up. As a result of the explosion in verdicts and settlements against companies arising out of shareholder litigation, entity coverage, a key feature...
Managing the Risk in the Outsourcing of Services
By: David P. Bender Jr., Partner
Publication: Inside Supply Management
Date: September, 1st 2003
Risk associated with outsourcing can be managed through an integrated strategy of due diligence, contract drafting, and liability insurance. American companies are now spending hundreds of billions of dollars in outsourcing services...
Rescission – The Devil is in the Details Here's How Corporate America Can Find Him!
By: David P. Bender Jr., Partner
Publication: D&O Advisor
Date: September, 1st 2003
In The Devil and Daniel Webster, a New Hampshire farmer down on his luck makes an agreement with the devil. In exchange for turning his unproductive farm into a prosperous one, the farmer sells his soul...
Corporate Governance Best Practices: An Independent Analysis of Your Insurance Policies and Procedures
By: David P. Bender Jr., Partner
Publication: D&O Advisor
Date: June, 1st 2003
In response to Sarbanes-Oxley and the climate created by Enron, World Com and Tyco, corporate governance issues and best practices are being addressed by corporate counsel and their boards of directors...
Don't Take No for an Answer!
By: David E. Wood, Partner
Publication: Risk & Insurance
Date: March, 1st 2003
Ten ways to get your carrier to pay off on that claim. 1. Make Noise. If a claim is clearly covered and the carrier fails or refuses to pay, or tries to negotiate downward, don't settle. It's worth it to fight back...
Are America's Corporations Getting the Coverage They Pay For?
By: David P. Bender Jr., Partner
Publication: D&O Advisor
Date: January, 1st 2003
In the last three years our firm noticed what we thought was a unique development in the insurance industry. As policy enforcement attorneys we had seen the usual soft and hard market cycles...
Keeping Quiet
By: David E. Wood, Partner
Publication: Recorder
Date: January, 1st 2003
Large insurance carriers are seeking to curtail disclosures to business customers. Insurance carriers doing business in California are required by law to communicate reasonably and fairly with their policyholders...