ACI Annual Summit on D&O Liability

Managing Coverage and Costs: Significant Claim Concerns and the Reasonableness of Defense Costs
Seminar
November 30, 2010
Flatotel
New York, NY

D&O and Management Liability Insurance Team Leader Tom Bentz will speak at American Conference Institute’s 16th Annual Summit on D&O Liability: Coverage, Underwriting and Claims Strategies for Managing Liability & Risks Through Market Changes and Increased Scrutiny. Mr. Bentz will speak on a panel titled, "Managing Coverage and Costs: Significant Claim Concerns and the Reasonableness of Defense Costs."

The panel will address:
 

I. Significant Coverage Issues 

  • Understanding what is covered under a D&O policy

  • When a “claim” is a “claim” under coverage

  • How the SEC’s initiation of “formal” investigations (without the need for Commission approval) is impacting coverage

  • Understanding coverage as it relates to pre-litigation costs:
    – Does your D&O policy cover regulatory investigations and examinations?
    – Subpoenas of directors and officers as non-party witnesses
    – “Interviews” of directors and officers
    – Avoiding the dangers of depleting D&O coverage
     

II. Reasonableness of Defense Costs 

  • Dealing with the rising cost of defense on multiple fronts

  • Insurers’ litigation management and billing guidelines

  • Expenses in responding to regulatory investigations and examinations – are “pre-claim expenses” covered?

  • Determining when separate representation is necessary

  • How recent decisions, including those from the Delaware Chancery Court, have impacted the reasonableness of legal fees awarded, and how this affects D&O coverage and shareholder derivative suits

  • Second bites at the apple by excess insurers – Royal Indemnity Co. v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.

  • Allocation concerns, including the problems posed by increasingly common criminal investigations and prosecutions

  • Arbitration of defense costs disputes

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