Back to Nolhga Wire Directory

Deadline for Legal Seminar & MPC Meeting Registration & Reservations Nears

The deadline for hotel reservations at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah--site of the upcoming MPC meeting (August 16 and 17) and NOLHGA's 13th Annual Legal Seminar (August 18 and 19)--is July 25, 2005. The registration deadline for both meetings is also July 25. If you have not yet registered or made your hotel reservations, we urge you to do so as soon as possible.

Hotel information and meeting registration are available on the joint Legal Seminar/MPC meeting Web page, which also includes descriptions of the seminar's featured presentations and speakers and other meeting information.

The Legal Seminar will include presentations on a variety of guaranty association and receivership issues, and the seminar has been or is expected to be approved in all states that require CLE. Credit for insurance department continuing education and CPE has also been granted in the past on an individual basis.

Please call Aimee Frye at 703.787.4115 or e-mail Meg Melusen at [email protected] for additional information about the seminar.

Staff Contact -

Preliminary MPC Meeting Schedule Posted

A preliminary schedule for the next MPC meeting, which will be held in Park City, Utah, on August 16 and 17, 2005, has been posted in the "Meeting Resources" section of the Web page the MPC meeting shares with NOLHGA's 13th Annual Legal Seminar. The schedule includes a list a task force and committee meetings as well as the time of the MPC general session. The agenda for the general session will be posted at a later date.

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

Staff Contact - Sean McKenna Andrew Jackson Life Insurance Company (Miss.)

Judgment for Assuming Carrier in

A Mississippi court recently ruled in favor of an assuming reinsurer in litigation that arose in connection with policies issued by Andrew Jackson Life Insurance Company in 1983. The policies were assumed by Central Security Life Insurance Company in 1993 pursuant to an assumption reinsurance agreement approved by the receivership court after Andrew Jackson was placed into liquidation.

The complaint was filed by a policyholder in Mississippi against Central Security and a former agent of Andrew Jackson alleging liability for fraud, misrepresentation, and the use of false and misleading marketing materials and vanishing premium illustrations to induce the plaintiff to purchase certain life insurance policies from Andrew Jackson. Central Security filed its answer, followed by a motion to dismiss or for summary judgment. Hearing on the motion took place on June 9, 2005. During the course of the hearing, the presiding judge questioned the plaintiff's counsel and quoted language in the assumption certificate that specified that Central Security assumed only contractual obligations under the policies and is not liable for any other obligation, indebtedness, or liability of Andrew Jackson.

At the close of the hearing, the court took the matter under advisement, requesting proposed orders from both parties. Shortly thereafter, on June 15, the court granted judgment in favor of Central Security, finding that the assuming carrier is not responsible for any acts or omissions of Andrew Jackson or its agents and further finding no facts to support any allegations of misconduct on the part of Central Security. Gregory v. Central Security Life Ins. Co., et al., Civ. No. 02002-18, In the Circuit Court of Chickasaw County, Mississippi, Second Judicial District (June 15, 2005, order granting summary judgment and dismissal of Central Security). The plaintiff timely filed a motion to reconsider, and Central Security has responded to the motion. If the court denies the motion to reconsider, the time to appeal will be 30 days from the date the order of denial is entered. (Copies of the pleadings and order for summary judgment have been posted to NOLHGA's IRC database, along with the motion for reconsideration and Central Security's response to that motion.)

The judgment entered in this case is consistent with a decision reached in similar "vanishing premium" litigation filed against Central Security in Mississippi in 2002 under a policy issued by Andrew Jackson wherein the court similarly ruled that Central Security had no liability for acts or events that transpired prior to the closing of the assumption reinsurance agreement.

Task Force Chair - Dan Elrod; Staff Contact - Joni Forsythe

Judge Rules Comptroller Has No Authority to Audit N.Y. Liquidation Bureau

A July 6, 2005, article by Associated Press writer Samuel Maull reported that a Manhattan judge has ruled that State Comptroller Alan Hevesi has no authority to order an audit of the New York State Insurance Department's Liquidation Bureau.

According to the article, Hevesi attempted to perform an audit of the bureau in 2004 (the comptroller's office had examined the bureau five times since the 1970s). When the insurance department refused to submit to the audit, Hevesi took the department to court, arguing that any funds under the control of the insurance superintendent are subject to audit by the comptroller. Then-State Insurance Superintendent Gregory Serio argued that the Liquidation Bureau controls private funds and so is not subject to a public audit.

State Supreme Court Justice Walter B. Tolub sided with the department, ruling that money under the superintendent's control when the superintendent acts as liquidator is not state money and that the comptroller has no authority over the disposition of the assets of an insolvent insurer.

A spokesman for Hevesi said the comptroller's office intends to appeal the ruling.

Staff Contact - Sean McKenna

Former N.H. GA Chairman Passes Away

Fred (Frederick Hughes) Condon, former chairman of the New Hampshire Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association, passed away on July 7, 2005. He served as chairman of the association for 20 years, leaving that position in the mid to late 1990s. His daughter, Laura Condon, now serves as the executive director of the association.

Mr. Condon devoted much of his life to the insurance industry, working for many years as general counsel and senior vice president at Chubb Life and then in the same capacity at Jefferson-Pilot. He retired from Chubb Life in 1996 and from Jefferson-Pilot in 1998.

In addition to his daughter Laura, he is survived by his wife of 50 years, Marcia; his son Stephen; Laura's twin sister Cindy; and his daughter Lesley. He is also survived by two siblings and seven grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to Yale University, Yale University Alumni Fund, 265 Church Street, New Haven, CT 06510, or to the school, college, or scholarship of your choice. Expressions of sympathy (and acknowledgments of memorial contributions) may be sent to Laura at the New Hampshire Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association, 47 Hall Street, Suite 2, Concord, NH 03301.