Inter-American Insurance Company of Illinois
Court Approves Final Distribution
As reported in the July 25, 2003, issue of the NOLHGA Wire, the liquidator for Inter-American of Illinois filed two petitions with the liquidation court on July 22 seeking approval of the final recommendations on policyholder and guaranty association claims, and seeking authorization to pay the final dividend, close the estate, and terminate the liquidation proceedings. Hearing on the petitions was set for July 30.
Prior to the hearing, the task force discovered an error in the petitions and related schedules with respect to the claim figures for the Pennsylvania guaranty association in that they failed to reflect payment by the guaranty association to a policyholder on a block of six policies. Instead, the schedules showed these policies as uncovered policy claims and provided for further payments to that policyholder. Rather than delay the distribution on all claims, the OSD and counsel for the Pennsylvania association have recommended to the court that the funds allocable to the disputed claims be held back from the distribution pending notice to the policyholder providing an opportunity to appear and be heard on the claims.
At the close of the July 30 hearing, the court entered two orders approving the liquidator's recommendations on claims and authorizing distribution of a final dividend on claims against the estate, with the exception of the aforementioned group of six disputed claims. As to those claims, the orders provide that funds allocable to those claims shall not be distributed until the court resolves the claim raised by the Pennsylvania association. That matter has been scheduled for a status hearing on September 16. With respect to the petition to close the estate, the matter has been continued over to the September 16 status hearing pending resolution of the outstanding claim dispute.
The July 30 orders approve a final dividend to the guaranty associations equal to 100 percent of their $7,746,923 administrative expense claims and approximately 31.25 percent, or $44,753,530, of their total class D policyholder-level claims. Distributions to the guaranty associations to date have paid all of the class A administrative expense claims and about 29.5 percent of the class D policyholder-level claims. The final distribution to guaranty associations is estimated to be approximately $3.5 million.
Copies of the petitions and orders will be posted to the NOLHGA IRC. You may also contact Aimee Frye at 703.787.4115 or [email protected] to request copies.
Task Force Chair - William E. Falck; Staff Contact - Joni Forsythe Legion/Villanova Life Insurance Companies (Pa.)Pennsylvania Court Orders Legion/Villanova Insurance Companies Liquidated
On July 25, 2003, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued Liquidation Orders for Legion Insurance Company and Villanova Insurance Company effective July 28, 2003. Each order includes a finding of insolvency. There were additional provisions in the orders, some of which were objectionable to the rehabilitator. Accordingly, the rehabilitator has filed appeals of each order, objecting only to those certain provisions with the intent of leaving the rest of the orders intact and final. There has been no ruling on the appeals to date.
The Working Group is working with the rehabilitator's staff on issues surrounding the remaining blocks of accident and health policies and will provide an update on its progress at the upcoming MPC meeting.
Additional information on the court's ruling can be found in the Press Room at www.nolhga.com.
Task Force Chair - Peter Leonard; Staff Contact -Noted Historian Jay Winik to Speak at Annual Meeting
Jay Winik, best-selling writer and historian, will speak at NOLHGA's 20th Annual Meeting this fall. Wink, who has been called "the Bush administration's favorite historian," is a popular public speaker and frequent TV and radio guest. His recent book about the end of the Civil War, April 1865: The Month That Saved America, was a national bestseller and served as the basis of a feature documentary by the A&E History Channel.
Winik has appeared on NBC's Today show, MSNBC's The News with Brian Williams, ABC's World News Tonight, NBC News, CNN, and a wide range of other radio and TV programs. His articles and commentaries have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, to which he is a regular contributor. Now a senior scholar at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, College Park, he has had a distinguished government career in national security and foreign policy, including advising the late Defense Secretary Les Aspin and helping to create the landmark United Nations Plan for ending the Cambodian civil war.
NOLHGA's 20th Annual Meeting, which will be held on October 28 and 29, 2003, at the Four Seasons Resort & Club Dallas at Las Colinas, will also feature presentations on topics such as the impact of the capital markets on the insurance industry, the role of ratings agencies, variable annuities, detecting financial shenanigans, and more.
A meeting of the Members' Participation Council will precede the Annual Meeting on October 27. Information on other speakers and details about NOLHGA's 20th Annual Meeting will be available in the coming weeks.
Staff Contact - Sean McKennaRevised MPC Meeting Schedules Posted
A revised meeting schedule and general session agenda for the next MPC meeting, which will be held August 19 and 20, 2003, at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, Calif., have been posted on the meeting Web page. The schedules, which are in PDF format, can be found in the "Schedule of Events" section of the MPC Meeting portion of the page.
The briefing book for the meeting should be posted on the page sometime next week; registered attendees will be notified when the briefing book becomes available.
Should you have any trouble accessing the MPC meeting page, please contact Bryan Owen at [email protected] or 703.787.4112. Please direct any questions about the meeting to Karen Early at [email protected] or 703.787.4101.
Staff Contact -Guaranty Association Law Summaries Updated
NOLHGA's law summary reports for state guaranty associations were updated on July 31 to reflect legislative changes that took place in the spring of 2003. Most significantly, Montana and South Dakota adopted provisions of the current NAIC Model Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association Act, which became effective in both states on July 1.
The law summaries are available at the "State Information" section of the NOLHGA Web site. They can be viewed and printed by selecting a specific report from the "State Guaranty Laws and Provisions" drop-down menu, which lists the reports by topic. Users can also generate individual state reports by choosing a state from the "State Guaranty Association Pages" drop-down menu. In addition to summaries of state guaranty laws, the "State Information" section provides users with state guaranty association contact information, and each state guaranty association page contains a link to the corresponding state insurance department Web site. Comments regarding the law summary reports should be directed to Meg Melusen at 703.787.4130 or [email protected].
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