Education Day Scheduled for April MPC Meeting

The April 2013 MPC meeting in Salt Lake City will feature an Education Day conducted by the Administrators Education Steering Committee. The program, which will be held on the afternoon of April 10, will consist of three presentations:

Principles-Based Reserving: Gary Monnin, an experienced actuary from Austin, Texas, will speak about current reserving issues during lunch on April 10. Monnin, who has served as consulting actuary to a number of NOLHGA insolvency task forces, will provide an overview of how reserving methodologies have changed over the last 40 years, the actuary's changing role and responsibilities, why life and health insurance guaranty associations need to understand and possibly be concerned with reserving issues, and more.

Business Continuity: Business continuity planning is the process of identifying internal and external threats and establishing specific plans to continue operations under adverse conditions. This session will address why a business continuity and disaster recovery program are key components to continuing an association’s operations, regardless of the size of the organization. A number of guaranty association administrators will share some of their own experiences, and attendees will leave Salt Lake City eager to either develop a business continuity plan or enhance their existing plan.

Enterprise Risk Management: The educational program will also feature an introductory session on enterprise risk management (ERM). ERM typically identifies potential risks across an organization, evaluates their likelihood and impact, and ensures that proper controls and mechanisms are in place to manage the risks. For example, a sound business continuity program could be one such control that addresses a class of risks causing business interruptions. Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) will also be introduced, as this is an ERM-related area that insurers will be required to address and respond to in the very near future.

The April 9–10 MPC meeting will be held at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. Hotel information, online registration, and other meeting information can be found on the meeting Web page. A preliminary schedule for the meeting should be posted on the page next week, but we expect the meeting to run till approximately 5:00 p.m. on April 9 and 10.

If you have any trouble accessing the meeting Web page, please contact Dan Hicks at [email protected] or 703.787.4112. If you have any questions about the meeting, contact Sean McKenna at [email protected] or 703.787.4106.

Legal Seminar to Feature John Dean & the Ethics of Watergate

Former White House counsel John Dean, together with James Robenalt of Thomson Hine, LLP, will discuss “How Watergate Revolutionized Legal Ethics” during NOLHGA’s annual Legal Seminar in July. Using clips from the Nixon tapes, as well as photos, documents, and news stories from the Watergate break-in and cover-up era, Dean and Robenalt will explore the ethical duties of an attorney who becomes entangled in client wrongdoing, whether deliberately or unwittingly.

Dean and Robenalt’s presentation has been praised as “gripping” and “just about the best CLE program I have ever attended. The combination of the serious explanation of the new ethical standards with the exciting recollection of a dark but momentous period in our history was wonderful.”

NOLHGA’s 21st Annual Legal Seminar is scheduled to take place on July 11–12, 2013, at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago; an MPC meeting is scheduled for July 9–10. NOLHGA has secured a room rate for this meeting of $250/night plus tax at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago, and reservations can be made by contacting the hotel at 312.266.1000 and requesting the NOLHGA rate. Please contact Meg Melusen at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Georgia Supreme Court to Hear Insolvency Pool Appeal

On February 18, 2013, the Georgia Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of Georgia Insurers Insolvency Pool v. Hulsey Environmental Services, Inc. The case arose following the 2009 failure of an Atlanta-based workers’ compensation insurer that left 88 workers from various companies without coverage for job-related injuries. Because the failed insurance company was set up as a captive insurer, it was exempt from paying into the state’s insurance Insolvency Pool, leaving no safety net for the failed company’s policyholders.

When Georgia lawmakers enacted a law allowing clients of the failed insurer to buy into the Insolvency Pool and receive retroactive coverage, the state Insolvency Pool challenged the new law as unconstitutional. The case was dismissed at trial, and the dismissal was affirmed on appeal. Now, before the Georgia Supreme Court, the sole issues to be addressed are (i) did the Insolvency Pool have the legal authority to challenge the constitutionality of amendments to its enabling statute, and (ii) if so, did the court of appeals err in concluding that the Insolvency Pool failed to state a claim for declaratory judgment, either in its own capacity or on behalf of its members. Oral argument will be scheduled for May 2013.