REFERENCE HANDBOOK
PROGRAM AGENDA
Thursday, June 4, 2009
8:00?10:00 a.m.?????? REGISTRATION
9:00?9:15 a.m.?????? WELCOME & PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Co-Chairs:?????? Cynthia Borrelli
??????????????? Stephen Schwab
9:45?10:30 a.m.?????? Preliminary Workshop: UNDERSTANDING RECEIVERSHIPS
Session Leader: Francine L. Semaya
Presenters:?????? Alan N. Gamse (Semmes, Bowen, Semmes, Baltimore, MD)
??????????????? Dennis LaGory (Schiff, Hardin & Waite, Chicago)
Jacqueline Rixen (Austin, TX)
This Workshop is intended as a basics primer to introduce practitioners to the forms and legal issues involved in insurer receiverships, including the receivership process. The distinction between conservation, rehabilitation and liquidation will be explained. The role of state guaranty funds, both property-casualty and life and health, respectively, will be discussed within the context of each type of proceeding, and the need for coordination between receivers, state guaranty funds and creditors will be investigated.
10:45?11:00 a.m.?????? MORNING REFRESHMENT BREAK
Sponsored by:??????
11:00 a.m.?Noon?????? Preliminary Workshop (Continued)
Noon?1:30 p.m.?????? BUFFET LUNCHEON
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Where Does Ethics Fit Into Run-Off?
Speaker: Linda Lamel (Brooklyn Law School, New York)
1:45?3:00 p.m.
?????? LIQUIDATION: CURRENT ISSUES
A more detailed discussion of the liquidation process, with emphasis upon the critical role of each party to and stakeholder in liquidation, will be presented. The tensions between creditors and asset holders will be explored through a discussion of the most current disputes. This session will close with a discussion of the forms and relative (dis)advantages of each will be addressed. Speakers will consider:
??????? Policyholder Protection
o?????? Collateral
o?????? Placeholder Claims
??????? Reinsurance
o?????? Splitting the Reinsurance Pie with Policyholders
o?????? Cut-Throughs and Direct Access to Reinsurance
??????? Guaranty Funds
o?????? P&C v. LA&H
o?????? Long Term Care
??????? Dispute Resolution: Whither Arbitration and ADR?
Moderator:?????? Francine Semaya
Speakers:?????? Cynthia Borrelli
Frank J. Kehrwald (Swiss Re, Overland Park, KS)
Jonathan Rosen (Home Ins. Cos., New York)
Larry P. Schiffer (Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, New York)
3:00?3:30 p.m.?????? AFTERNOON REFRESHMENT BREAK
Sponsored by:??????
3:30?4:45 p.m.?????? REHABILITATION: IS IT JUST LIQUIDATION IN DISGUISE?
The traditional view of rehabilitation as a state version of Chapter 11 will be challenged and explored in this panel, using case studies. The business reality and implications of run-off will be considered, along with the regulatory need to manage systemic financial failures and preserve the historical and ongoing commercial and personal coverage needs of (re)insureds. Topics include:
??????? Forms of Rehabilitation
??????? Case Studies:
o?????? US: Run-off Rehabilitations
??????? Frontier (NY)
??????? Highlands (TX)
o?????? UK: Solvent Schemes
Moderator:?????? Stephen Schwab
Speakers:?????? Joe DiMemmo (PA DOI)
James Kennedy (TX DOI)
Craig Litherland (Gilbert & Randolph, Wash., DC)
Mark Shepherd (PricewaterhouseCoopers, NY)
4:45?5:00 p.m.?????? RECAP OF DAY ONE
??????????????? Cynthia Borrelli
5:30?7:00 p.m.
?????? COCKTAIL RECEPTION
Sponsored by:
Friday June 5, 2009
8:00?10:00 a.m.?????? REGISTRATION
7:45?8:45 a.m.?????? CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
Sponsored by:
8:00?8:15 a.m.?????? OVERVIEW OF DAY TWO and ANNOUNCEMENTS
??????????????? Cynthia Borrelli
8:15?9:30 a.m.?????? RUN-OFF: THE NEW BUSINESS REALITY
This panel will address the reasons for and the consequences of insurer run-off, from the often divergent perspectives of regulators, receivers, guaranty funds creditors and asset obligors. Opportunities for aligning such interests will be evaluated through case studies of state laboratory experiments, and will include:
??????? Case Studies
o?????? Kemper (IL)
??????? (Dis)Advantages v. Receivership
Moderator:?????? Ali Rifai (Centre Re Solutions, NY)
Speakers:????????? Julius Bannister (London)
Peter Gallanis ( NOLHGA, Arlington, VA)
Jack Messmore (Chf. Dep. Dir., IL Div.of Ins.)
Brian G. Snover (Berkshire Hathaway, Stamford, CT)
9:30?9:45 a.m.?????? MORNING REFRESHMENT BREAK
Sponsored by:
9:45?11:00 a.m.?????? RUN-OFF TRANSACTIONS AROUND THE WORLD
Run-off depends upon the ability of the insurer to manage its assets and pay off its claims over time. Unique statutes enacted in Rhode Island and Illinois to facilitate run-off plans will be explored. In addition, the need for, and unique forms of legal and issues of, transactions to facilitate and implement a run-off plan will be considered in detail, drawing from real life examples. The enforceability and possibilities for unwinding such deals will also be considered. Specific subject matter will include:
??????? Policy Novation and Buy-Backs
??????? Part VII Transfers
??????? Reinsurance Commutations in New York and Rhode Island
Moderator:?????? Joanne Howell (AIG, New York)
Speakers:?????????Corinne Carr (Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago)
Frank Ray (Hinkley, Allen & Snyder, Providence, RI)
Vivien Tyrell (Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, London)
James Veach (Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass, New York)
11:00 a.m.??Noon
?????? CROSS BORDER CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
The legal landscape for managing the financial failures of insurers having global operations has changed dramatically over the last 10 years and is developing rapidly. The unique issues of managing conflicts of laws, resolving disputes and administering the affairs of financially challenged of failed insurers ? including ?books of business? as bankruptcy debtors ? will be addressed by this panel, as well as:
??????? Bankruptcy Code Chapter 15
??????? Choice of Law
??????? Choice of Venue
Moderator:?????? Michael Rothman (Wintrhop & Weinstine, Minneapolis, MN)
Speakers:?????????Rod Attride-Sterling (Hamilton, Bermuda)
Hon. Arthur Gonzalez (U.S. Bankr. Ct., S.D.N.Y.)
Selinda Melnik (Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, Wilmington, DE)
Noon?1:00 p.m.?????? BYO LUNCHEON
Sponsored by:
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Twenty-Two Years Later: Where Are We Now?
Speakers:?????? Jonathan Bank (Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, Los Angeles)
??????????????? David Spector (Schiff Hardin & Waite, Chicago)
1:00?2:30 p.m.
?????? LOOKING AHEAD: WHAT?S NEXT?
During the last 22 years, insurer receiverships have taken interesting twists and unanticipated turns in the road. New ground has been broken, and the process continues to evolve. What lies ahead, and how can insurer insolvency be more effectively and efficiently addressed? Is federal government intervention inevitable, or are there alternatives? Join us as we consider:
??????? Public-Private Partnerships
??????? Next in the Tank: Bond Insurers?
??????? The Role of the Federal Government
Moderator:?????? Michael Steinlage (Larson King, MN)
Speakers:?????????Robert H. Easton (Deputy Superintendent and General Counsel, New York State Department of Insurance)
James Stinson (Sidley Austin, Chicago)
2:30?2:45 p.m.?????? CLOSING REMARKS
??????????????? Stephen Schwab
