Since President Trump took office on January 20, 2025, the administration has implemented significant changes to U.S. trade policy, including most notably with respect to tariffs. Within weeks of taking office, the White House announced changes to tariffs on steel and aluminum which placed a tariff of 25% on all…
Articles Posted in D&O
How Trump’s DEI Rollback Affects Nonprofits and How to Protect Your Organization
Since taking office, President Trump has issued sweeping executive orders targeting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives across federal agencies and directing agencies to take action to encourage private organizations to follow suit. On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed executive orders (EOs) titled Ending Racial and Wasteful Government DEI…
Level Unlocked: Insurance Recovery Options for Video Game Manufacturers Facing Video Game Addiction Lawsuits
In the last few years, the video game industry has been hit with lawsuits accusing certain games of fostering addictive behaviors, especially among younger players. These lawsuits often cite features like loot boxes, microtransactions, and reward systems, which are designed to enhance player engagement, as in-game mechanisms that push players…
Narrowing the Professional Services Exclusion: Policyholder Lessons “Arising Out of” Practice Fusion v. Freedom Specialty Insurance Company
A recent decision by a California appellate court in Practice Fusion, Inc. v. Freedom Specialty Insurance Company, denying the policyholder more than $118 million in Directors & Officers liability coverage based on an expansive professional services exclusion, is a sobering reminder that this nettlesome exclusion—when over-broadly applied, as was the…
Delaware Bankruptcy Court Ruling Creates a Nightmare for D&O Policyholders Facing Qui Tam Actions
When is a claim “brought” against an insured? A Delaware bankruptcy court’s answer to this seemingly innocuous question turned into a nightmare for the estate of a bankrupt insured. The insured was deprived of coverage under a claims-made D&O policy for a claim filed three years after the retroactive date…
Navigating Insurance for NYC’s $708M Lawsuit Against 17 Bus Companies
In recent months, the United States-Mexico border has seen an unprecedented surge of migrants. With this wave, various state and local authorities across the nation have expressed a strain on their public resources and housing capacities. To relieve overwhelmed border towns, Texas Governor Abbott initiated a migrant relocation plan to…
Assessing D&O Coverage Amid Challenges to DEI Policies
In recent years, corporate directors and executives have faced challenges from conservative groups opposed to corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, with some efforts taking the form of shareholder litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning the use of affirmative action in university admissions provides new ammunition for these claims…
Say What You Mean: Delaware Court Finds Bump-Up Exclusion Ambiguous as Applied to Mergers Versus Acquisitions
Long a feature of directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability insurance policies, the so-called “Bump-Up” Exclusion has gotten significant attention over the last few years. Because of the recent escalation in securities litigation that follows a majority of mergers and acquisitions, the Bump-Up Exclusion is of critical importance to publicly traded…
For Banks Placing or Renewing D&O Coverage, It Pays to Proceed with Caution
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the failure of Signature Bank, the close-call of First Republic, and the bailout of Credit Suisse had many proclaiming earlier this year that banking was heading toward an industry-wide disaster. The chair of the FDIC reported in March of this year that American…
Closing Up the SPAC Shop: Insurance Consequences and Opportunities for Liquidating SPACs
In 2020 and 2021, Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) were all the rage. A SPAC is a “blank check company,” publicly traded, and organized for the purpose of merging with a private company. It’s a mechanism for a private operating company to go public without doing its own IPO. Though…