Tag: New York State

General / Uncategorized

NY Appellate Court Confirms an Absence of Negligence is no Roadblock to AI Coverage

New York’s Appellate Division, First Department, handed insurers a lump of coal this holiday season, unanimously holding that a contractor’s insurance company (Insurer) owed a property owner and manager (Building Defendants) primary coverage as additional insureds, even though its named insured had nothing to do with the allegedly negligent acts giving rise to the subject injury, and despite the named insured previously prevailing against the Building Defendants’ claims for common law and contractual indemnification. As the First Department panel concluded, because the additional insured clause …

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Regulatory

NYDFS Issues Updated Cybersecurity Regulation

The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) recently issued an updated version of its proposed cybersecurity regulation, “Cybersecurity Requirements For Financial Services Companies” (23 NYCRR 500). The updated proposed regulation reflects several of the comments offered during the initial public notice and comment period that concluded on November 14, 2016. Some of the most noteworthy changes in the revision are as follows:

  • Section 500.04 — NYDFS clarified that while a Covered Entity must designate a qualified individual to perform the responsibilities
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Regulatory

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Nominates New DFS Superintendent

Governor Andrew Cuomo has nominated Maria T. Vullo as the new Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services. If confirmed by the New York State Senate, she would replace Benjamin Lawsky who resigned as Superintendent in June 2015.

Ms. Vullo, an experienced litigator, is currently of counsel at Paul Weiss in its New York City office. She has over 25 years of litigation experience at the trial and appellate levels including at the United States Supreme Court and in U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal around …

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Regulatory

Reminder to Eligible Excess Line Insurers with Policyholders in the State of New York — Minimum Surplus Requirement Increases for Excess Line Insurers

A Twelfth Amendment to New York’s Insurance Regulation 41 was promulgated by the Department of Financial Services after the President signed the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA), which was Title V, Section I in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 15 U.SC. 8201.

This amendment adopted most of the provisions of the NRRA on or about April 18, 2011. Like New York, most states incorporated, as amendments to their statutes or regulations, the provision in the NRRA that the primary regulator …

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Legislative Update / Regulatory

NY Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Bill Dies With Close of Legislative Session

The 2015 Legislative Session in New York came to a close in the wee hours of June 26. Among the bills introduced this session was S-4049/A-0257 amending the New York Insurance Law with respect to unfair claims settlement practices. Specifically, the bill, if enacted, would have established “a civil private cause of action by a policyholder who has suffered unfair claim settlement practices by an insurer.” Current law allows policy holders with these grievances against their insurers to file a complaint with the …

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Regulatory

Policyholders Join Regulators in Casting Light on Shadow Insurance

The issue of “shadow insurance” has been the subject of increasing regulatory and governmental scrutiny. Policyholders are now joining the effort via five class action lawsuits against three different insurance companies, MetLife, AXA Equitable and Lincoln National, for their use of shadow insurance.

Shadow insurance usually refers to an insurance company’s attempt to re-allocate reserve and collateral funds.  The New York State Department of Financial Services describes shadow insurance as follows:

In a typical shadow insurance transaction, an insurance company creates a “captive” insurance subsidiary, …

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