May 2008

A Class Act Can Be Hard To Follow : Recent Initiatives on "Collective Redress".

Where the US leads, Europe often follows, but not yet, at least, with class actions. There has been a great deal of legal discussion in Europe on the subject of class actions and collective redress. Collective redress enshrines the process whereby large groups of claimants band together to seek redress as a large group.

In the US, there have been numerous class actions brought against global companies with attempts by the US Claimant Bar to bring the actions on bahalf of shareholders based in Europe. Not many of these attempts have been successful, but what these attempts highlight is the difficulty for European claimants with legitimate claims to benefit from global settlements with defendant companies. 

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May 2008

This paper examines the six principal strategies for dealing with discontinued business and their relative merits, starting with the least pro-active and moving through to some of the more sophisticated methods used to achieve finality.

As well as strategies for insurance companies, the paper also considers how these apply to Lloyd's syndicates. 

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May 2008

Seele Austria GmbH & Co. v Tokio Marine Europe Insurance Ltd [2008] EWCA Civ 441.

In their Property & Construction Top Ten Isnurance Booklet 2007 Davies Arnold Cooper reviewed ten significant decisions during 2007, including the first instance decision of Seele Austria GmbH & Co. v Tokio Marine Europe Insurance Ltd. An appeal was heard in February 2008 and judgement was recently handed down. The decisions of both courts will be of interest to those concerned with contractor's all risks cover and the perennial issues of the interpretation of 'damage' and 'defect' under such policies.

May 2008

Last month the FSA published a large report into data security in financial services. The conclusion of the report is that poor data security is currently a serious, widespread and high-impact risk to the FSA's objective to reduce financial crime. This month Parliament has given the Information Commission new powers to impose substantial fines on firms that deliberately or recklessly commit serious breaches of the Data Protection Act. 

Letter from America

May 2008

Letter from America takes an in-depth look at legal issues in the United States that may have an impact on your business here in Europe.

In this issue the focus is on:

Recent Business-Friendly Decisions of the United States Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court's current trend contributes to a climate that is friendly to corporations doing business in the United States. Recent pro-buisness decisions are investigated.

Recent High Court Antitrust Rulings Don't Deserve 'Pro-Business' Label

But can it be said that the current Supreme Court is pro-business when it comes to antitrust decisions?

In Rapid-Fire Opinion Release DOJ Again Signals Importance of Due Diligence

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Opinion Procedure enables companies to seek an opinion from the Department of Justice ("DOJ") as to whether a business proposal conforms with anti-bribery provisions. How quickly the DOJ respond, are they responsive to business realities and how far reaching should due diligence practices in mergers and acquisitions be?

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In-sure 

This month's edition looks at the Commission's examination of the use of the Insurance Block Exemption, the FSA's interim report on the Retail Distribution Review. Also in this issue, OFT research reveals that the insurance industry tops consumer detriment in the UK, PMI on the rise....

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