Policyholder Perspective : Insurance Lawyer & Attorney : Reed Smith Law Firm : Policyholder Perspective Law Blog : Indemnity, Mergers & Acquisitions

Welcome to The Policyholder Perspective, the brand new blog of Reed Smith's Insurance Recovery Group!

We know that some of you are longtime clients of Reed Smith, and have stopped by the blog because the lawyers with whom you work suggested it would be of interest. We thank you for your trust in us, and hope that our relationship will continue to grow.

And we know that some of you found us through Google or another search engine, and have not worked with us in the past. We, of course, hope that you will do so in the future, and invite you to contact any member of our group if you have insurance questions.

However you found us, we hope you will stay a while and will come back often. We plan to update this blog regularly with our latest thoughts regarding cutting-edge issues of interest to all commercial policyholders. Our lawyers have experience in all types of commercial insurance, and plan to share their thoughts here, whether with respect to AIG's meltdown, an important coverage decision, strategies for renewing your policies, or how to protect and maximize a pending claim. We'll touch on all areas of commercial insurance, from first-party property to D&O, from CGL to fidelity bond, and everything in between.

So go ahead and browse, and don't hesitate to drop us a line with suggestions about how we can make this site more useful to you.

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On May 28, Eric Dinallo, New York’s high-profile Superintendent of Insurance, resigned effective July 3.

Dinallo presided over the Department’s response to the AIG catastrophe and advocated far more regulation of the industry than previously seen. Dinallo was also instrumental in the rescue of the municipal bond business in New York, approving segregating it from mortgage insurers, now being attacked in court. 

Felix Salmon has an interesting take on what this means for the future of insurance regulation:

More interestingly, Dinallo’s resignation temporarily leaves the country without a strong insurance regulator — and that, in turn, should make it much easier for Tim Geithner to push through plans to rationalize the nightmare that is insurance regulation, and bring America’s insurers under one federal regulatory umbrella.

Many expect Dinallo to run for NY Attorney General, the post held by his former boss Elliot Spitzer, and now held by Andrew Cuomo. Per the Wall Street Journal:

"He'd like to run for attorney general," New York Democrat political strategist George Arzt said of Mr. Dinallo. "I think he's been taking soundings." Leaving the insurance-commissioner post, Mr. Arzt said, would give Mr. Dinallo more latitude to "speak out about the issues."

For the moment, though, he’ll be at NYU.

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On May 20^th, the NY Times ran an editorial titled “Regulatory Shopping”. The very valid point of the editorial is that if you give the regulated the option to choose their regulator, no good can come of it: 

And yet, legislation recently introduced in the House would allow insurance companies, currently regulated by the states, to opt for federal regulation instead — and, in general, if they don’t like that, to switch back after a spell. If the bill were enacted, the race to the regulatory depths would continue, and the nation would be headed in exactly the wrong regulatory direction.

Agreed, no argument. I take issue, however, with the assumption of the NYT that state insurance regulators have covered themselves in glory. Robust defenders of the rights of policyholders? Not exactly. In the pocket of the insurance industry? Sometimes. Opaque?  Always. And that’s without addressing the quagmire/insanity that is insurance insolvency regulation and the guaranty fund system.

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