Welcome to the Summer 2007 issue of SmithAmundsen’s Insurance Services Quarterly. Please click here to view the issue.
We are pleased to bring you the second issue of SmithAmundsen's Insurance Services Quarterly. Please click here to view the Summer Issue. The focus of this issue is centered on the ground swell of opposition to "stranger originated life insurance" or STOLI. As with many areas of the insurance industry, risk is now being traded as a commodity on open markets. STOLI transactions are one such example of the commoditization of insurance risk. Our feature article discusses one of the central criticisms of the STOLI transaction- whether an insurable interest exists after the assignment of the life contract. In addition to reviewing the historical treatment of insurable interests, we also discuss recent regulatory activities from NAIC and certain states that have attempted to stem the tide of transactions.
As always, we also provide summaries of a number of recent cases touching on such diverse issues as the New Jersey trial court's recent ruling in favor of the insurance industry with regard to prepackaged bankruptcies affecting the asbestos claim arena to the Seventh Circuit's recent decision that claims against reinsurance intermediaries are not governed by the two-year statute of limitations governing insurance producers. Finally, on the regulatory front, we provide a synopsis of recently proposed legislation by Senator John Sununu seeking the creation of a national insurance regulatory system.