Month in Review News and Developments in Executive Liability and Insurance November 2010 Volume 7 Financial Services Group, Legal & Claims Practice A Division of Aon Risk Services, Inc. Inside Cases of Interest page 3 SEC Filings and Settlements page 6 Shareholder Class Action Filings, Settlements, and Dismissals page 7 Cases of Interest An Insurer’s Duty to Defend Is Triggered if Allegations Give Rise to the Possibility of Coverage Coverage Denied in Crime Policy Due to Late Notice No Coverage for Claim Reported Two Years after Claim was “First Made” and More Than One Year after Expiration of a “Claims Made and Reported” Policy Insurer Is Precluded from Recouping $15M D&O Settlement Payment Two Years after the Fact GENERAL NEWS Pfizer Settles Derivative Suit; Insurance Funding Corporate Governance Reforms Pfizer, Inc. (Pfizer) investors filed a shareholders’ derivative lawsuit against the company, as a nominal defendant, and 19 of the company’s directors and officers, alleging the defendants breached their fiduciary duties by failing to detect and prevent illegal marketing related to Pfizer’s $2.3 billion settlement of charges that it had engaged in off-label marketing of Bextra and other drugs. The parties in the derivative suit entered into a $75 million settlement agreement, subject to court approval. In the settlement, Pfizer and the other defendants agreed to create a Regulatory and Compliance Committee to report to the company’s board and take appropriate steps to prevent future drug marketing violations. One of the components making this settlement unusual is the manner by which the committee’s activities are to be funded. As part of the settlement, a pool of funds—to be financed entirely by insurance—will be used to pay for the committee’s activities for five years. Under the settlement stipulation, four of the company’s D&O insurers “shall pay a total of $75 million into an escrow account under the control of Pfizer.” After payment of fees and expenses, the remaining escrow funds “shall be subject to the exclusive control of the Regulatory Committee for funding activities of the Regulatory Committee for its initial five years.” If the committee spends more than the funds available, Pfizer will make up the difference. If the committee spends less than the remaining funds, unspent amounts will be returned to the insurers. The insurers include Illinois National Insurance Company, Twin City Fire Insurance Company, Zurich American Insurance Company, and Corporate Officers and Directors Assurance, Ltd. (CODA). A further provision of the settlement stipulation specifies that the settlement contribution by CODA (the fourth insurer) is subject to arbitration. Pfizer may have to pay CODA up to $20 million depending on the outcome of the arbitration. In addition, an exhibit to the settlement stipulation indicates the plaintiffs’ lawyers will seek attorneys’ fees of $22 million plus costs of $1.9 million, which will be funded by the $75 million. If the plaintiffs are awarded the full amount of fees and costs sought, the net funds remaining of the original $75 million would be $51.1 million. Typically, derivative settlements include some type of governance reforms to be implemented within the corporate entity. What is unusual about this arrangement is that, among other things, there is a specific amount of money to be set aside to fund the compliance reforms to which the company has agreed as part of a derivative settlement. What is even more unusual, and arguably unprecedented, is that the funds to be set aside for these activities are to be provided for exclusively by the company’s D&O insurers. Study Finds Stock Performance Varies after the Filing of Class Action Lawsuits Rob Bauer and Robin Braun, of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, studied shareholder litigation and reviewed a considerable amount of research on securities class actions to determine what class actions are actually trying to accomplish. They released a paper entitled Misdeeds Matter: Long-Term Stock Performance after the Filing of Class Action Lawsuits. The Month in Review— November 2010 1 GENERAL NEWS (CONT.) The results of the study indicated a very clear trend; it was only in cases where managers were “accused of illegal insider trading does the stock price show above-market returns in the postdisciplining phase.” authors begin with an interesting premise—that shareholder class actions are a corporate governance tool investors can use to discipline the managers in charge of their assets. Does shareholder litigation pay off for investors over the long term? How much does the type of allegation matter? The authors studied whether a disciplining effect occurs for sued companies and their managers examining two different groups of allegations: 1) cases wherein managers breached their duty of care; and 2) cases wherein managers breached their duty of loyalty, a more serious offense as managers put their personal interests ahead of shareholders. The results of the study indicated a very clear trend; it was only in cases where managers were “accused of illegal insider trading does the stock price show above-market returns in the post-disciplining phase.” The authors found a slight improvement with companies accused of accounting fraud, which they found might be attributable to a welldocumented method of cutting costs and conducting asset sales of high earning companies that manipulated the books to maintain the abnormal growth rates. On the other hand, the stock prices for companies tended to waft in instances where millions were paid to settle the case. The authors concluded that theoretically, companies might have an incentive to improve corporate governance when threatened with a lawsuit, but the incentive is mitigated by the fact that most corporations consider these suits to be: 1) random landmines without merit; 2) avoided if possible; 3) settled if necessary; and 4) of little bearing on the underlying governance of the company. Elements in Financial Reform Missing from Dodd-Frank Act According to Kane, the Dodd-Frank Act can be considered a treatment plan, and the success of any treatment plan depends on how thoroughly the targeted problems have been diagnosed. Edward Kane, a professor at Boston College and one of the leading experts on American banking, regulation, and risk, authored a paper entitled Missing Elements in U.S. Financial Reform: a Kubler-Ross Interpretation of the Inadequacy of the Dodd-Frank Act. According to Kane, the Dodd-Frank Act can be considered a treatment plan, and the success of any treatment plan depends on how thoroughly the targeted problems have been diagnosed. Kane doggedly strips away what he views as the “elements of denial” in the legislation. First, the bill emphasizes that risk management errors stemmed from private players, while ignoring the government’s failures. Second, the bill ignores the misaligned incentives of regulators. Third, the bill ignores continuing incentives to create loopholes and opportunities for regulatory arbitrage (the simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset in order to profit from a difference in the price). Kane states the securitization pre-crisis can be traced to incentive conflict that allowed national safety nets to subsidize leveraged risk-taking. Safety-net subsidies encouraged regulation-induced innovations, enabling firms to take risks that are hard to monitor and politically, administratively, and economically difficult for government officials to oversee. Kane states that the Dodd-Frank strategy of reform does not adequately acknowledge or address these conflicts, indicating that a critical requirement would be to develop an effective statistical structure for measuring the “ex-ante value of safety-net support in the aggregate and at individual institutions.” Kane believes that to accomplish this, government and industry should: 1) reconsider the informational obligations that insured financial institutions and their regulators owe to taxpayers as investors; and 2) change the way information on industry balance sheets and risk exposures is reported, verified and used. Kane opines that without reforms in the practical duties imposed on industry and governmental officials, and reforms in the way these duties are enforced, financial safety nets will continue to expand. This expansion will then undermine financial strength and stability by generating large rewards for creative and aggressive risk-takers clever enough to cash in their share of safety-net benefits before they evaporate. Month in Review— November 2010 2 CASES OF INTEREST An Insurer’s Duty to Defend Is Triggered if Allegations Give Rise to the Possibility of Coverage Accordingly, the 9th Circuit reversed the district court’s decision and ruled in favor of Goerner on the issue of Axis’s duty to defend. In this case, Frederick Rick Goerner appealed the district court’s decision in favor of Axis Reinsurance Company (Axis). The district court found that Axis had no duty to defend Goerner against a suit brought by Manuchehr Neshat (Neshat) under a D&O policy purchased by Goerner’s former employer, TransDimension, Inc. (TransDimension). The lower court concluded that the duty to defend provision of the policy was not triggered because the underlying complaint did not specifically allege Goerner acted in his capacity as TransDimension’s CEO, but rather, asserted that he acted on behalf of two other companies in the same industry. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed. Axis issued a D&O policy requiring it to defend and indemnify claims against TransDimension officers for “any actual or alleged error” committed by an insured individual “in [his] capacity as such.” Goerner contended the actions alleged in the underlying complaint were taken in his capacity as CEO of TransDimension, and he was entitled to a defense. Axis argued that, because the complaint did not specifically allege that Neshat’s losses resulted from actions Goerner took in his capacity as CEO of TransDimension, the policy was not triggered, and Axis was relieved of its duty to defend. Initially, the court noted “[t]he determination whether the insurer owes a duty to defend is usually made in the first instance by comparing the allegations of the complaint with the terms of the policy.” The court then noted that the guiding consideration is whether “the insured would reasonably expect a defense by the insurer.” Finally, the court emphasized that it “will not sanction a construction of the insurer’s language that will defeat the very purpose or object of the insurance.” The appellate court referenced California law stating that an insured can establish a duty to defend by proving the existence of the potential for coverage, and rejected the contention made by Axis that it had no duty to defend because the underlying complaint failed to allege that Goerner engaged in wrongdoing while acting in his official capacity. The court noted that the underlying complaint alleged sufficient facts giving rise to the possibility of coverage on two grounds: 1) Goerner established that TransDimension had potential or actual business dealings with all the persons and companies named in the Neshat complaint; and 2) the Neshat complaint included allegations that “TransDimension’s Board of Directors authorized and paid for Goerner’s travels to meet with two of those companies in Asia, which was a key factual component of at least one cause of action.” Therefore, Axis had a duty to defend Goerner under the D&O policy. Accordingly, the 9th Circuit reversed the district court’s decision and ruled in favor of Goerner on the issue of Axis’s duty to defend. Goerner v. AXIS Reinsurance Co., 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 21624 (9th Cir). Coverage Denied in Crime Policy Due to Late Notice A court dismissed a coverage suit brought by Omega Advisors Inc. (Omega) accusing Federal Insurance Company (Federal) of wrongfully denying coverage for $5 million in losses Omega suffered through the malfeasance of a senior Omega employee who “engaged in serious wrongdoing” in connection with Omega’s overseas investments. In 2004, this employee pled guilty to criminal charges that he violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In 2005, the U.S. government unsealed the information in which the employee had pled guilty. In February 2006, Omega filed a civil action against its employee alleging fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty. In August 2007, Omega notified Federal of the loss. Federal denied coverage, arguing that Omega should have provided notice to Federal at the time it filed its civil suit against its employee. Omega was insured under a Financial Institution Bond issued by Federal that was in Month in Review— November 2010 3 CASES OF INTEREST (CONT.) Because Omega discovered its loss during the bond period but did not report the loss to Federal until 2007, the court held that the loss is excluded from coverage under the bond. force from April 13, 2005 to April 13, 2006. The discovery of loss under Federal’s bond provided that discovery “occurs at the earlier of an officer of the ASSURED being aware of: 1) facts which may subsequently result in a loss of a type covered by this Bond, or 2) an actual or potential claim… regardless of when the act or acts causing or contributing to such loss occurred, even though the…exact amount or details or loss may not then be known.” The court held that Omega “had knowledge of facts sufficient to charge its employee with fraud and dishonesty in federal court in February 2006.” As such, the court found that Omega discovered its loss no later than February 2006. According to the court, having discovered the loss in February 2006, the loss is covered under the bond period of April 13, 2005 to April 13, 2006. Since the bond expressly excludes from coverage “loss not reported to [Federal] in writing within sixty (60) days after termination of this bond as an entirety,” coverage was available for losses that were discovered during the bond period and reported to Federal by June 12, 2006. Because Omega discovered its loss during the bond period but did not report the loss to Federal until 2007, the court held that the loss is excluded from coverage under the bond. Omega Advisors, Inc. v. Fed. Ins. Co., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125934, (N.J. Nov. 2010). No Coverage for Claim Reported Two Years after Claim Was “First Made” and More Than One Year after Expiration of a “Claims Made and Reported” Policy The court refused to permit HCC “to retroactively amend its policy by trying to infer a recoupment right or attempt to circumvent the policy’s terms by invoking restitution.” Twin City Fire Insurance Company (Twin City) issued a number of liability policies to Emissions Technology, Inc. (ETI) over a period of several years. The 2006 policy, which covered ETI from May 10, 2006 to May 10, 2007, was the focal point of Twin City’s lawsuit. In October 2006, during the 2006 policy term, ETI received notice of a lawsuit filed by a former officer and director, Gordon Pardy. The lawsuit alleged claims apparently covered by the 2006 policy. ETI, however, did not report the Pardy claim to Twin City until November 2008—a delay of more than two years from the time it first received notice, and approximately 18 months following the expiration of the 2006 policy. Twin City denied coverage for the Pardy suit due to late reporting, among other reasons. The policy’s declarations provided that “coverage applies only to a claim first made against the policyholder during the policy period…[and] notice of a claim must be given to the insurer as soon as practicable, provided that such notice is given not later than 60 days after any manager becomes aware that such claim has been made.” Importantly, policy Endorsement No.1 specified that “[a]s a condition precedent to coverage under this policy, the Insureds shall give the Insurer written notice of any Claim as soon as practicable, but in no event later than sixty (60) days after the termination of the Policy Period, or Extended Reporting Period.” Twin City argued “the 2006 Policy is a strict ‘claims made’ policy meaning that under Arizona law, untimely reported claims are simply not covered, even if the insurer suffered no prejudice from the reporting delay.” ETI conceded the 2006 policy was a “claims made” policy, but nonetheless contended that courts outside of Arizona drew distinctions between “claims made” policies that required notice “as soon as practicable,” and “claims made and reported” policies that required notice during the policy period or a definitive time thereafter. To this end, ETI argued that other jurisdictions require insurers to show “prejudice” to deny coverage for late notice and implored the court to adopt a similar approach. The court declined to accept ETI’s invitation because policy Endorsement No.1 rendered it a “claims made and reported” policy “in any event– which…requires no showing of prejudice to deny coverage for late notice.” The court then quickly dispensed of ETI’s argument that policy Endorsement No.1 was somehow a “bad-faith ‘burying’ of important terms” because the notice provision was amended by endorsement. The court stressed that the endorsement contained a boldface provision advising “THIS ENDORSEMENT CHANGES THE POLICY. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.” Accordingly, the court held that there is no coverage for the Pardy lawsuit reported two years after the claim was first made and more than one year after expiration of a “claims made and reported” policy. Emissions Technology, Inc. v. Twin City Fire Ins. Co., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117926 (D. Ariz. 2010). Month in Review— November 2010 4 CASES OF INTEREST (CONT.) Insurer Is Precluded from Recouping $15M D&O Settlement Payment Two Years after the Fact The court refused to permit HCC “to retroactively amend its policy by trying to infer a recoupment right or attempt to circumvent the policy’s terms by invoking restitution.” In 1998, Sprint Nextel Corporation’s (Sprint) shareholders approved a reclassification of thenexisting common stock to create two separate stocks that tracked Sprint’s traditional wireline service (FON) and its wireless business (PCS). At that time, Sprint shareholders gave the company’s board of directors full authority, at any time after 2002, to recombine the tracking stocks in a manner that was fair to both classes of shareholders. In February 2004, the board unanimously voted to recombine the FON and PCS tracking stocks, with each share of PCS stock being converted into one-half share of FON stock. On February 29, 2004, Sprint notified its shareholders that, effective April 23, 2004, the tracking stocks would be recombined by the issuance of additional FON shares to PCS shareholders, thereby leaving FON stock as the sole surviving equity ownership instrument. As a result, in early March 2004, certain Sprint shareholders filed various class action lawsuits against Sprint and 14 of its directors and officers, claiming that Sprint’s directors “breached their…fiduciary duties in setting the Conversion Ratio,” which they alleged “greatly under-valued PCS shares.” They sought “money damages to compensate them for the loss of value to their PCS shares.” At the time, Sprint maintained a D&O insurance program providing $100 million in policy limits in several policy layers, with a $25 million deductible. Zurich American Insurance Company (Zurich) issued the primary policy and provided $15 million in coverage. American Casualty Company (CNA) and Houston Casualty Company (HCC) issued policies in sequential excess layers, each providing $15 million of coverage. The CNA and HCC policies “follow form” and generally incorporated the terms of the Zurich policy. After a series of mediation rounds in 2007, the parties to the shareholder litigation agreed to a $57.5 million settlement, which was funded by Sprint’s $10 million payment of the remaining deductible, as well as full $15 million contributions from Zurich, CNA and HCC. The fourth level excess carrier contributed the remaining balance. In written correspondence dated July 26, 2007, HCC agreed to pay its limit and “reserve[d] its rights to deny coverage and seek repayment.” The carriers ultimately funded their respective contributions toward the settlement and on December 12, 2007, the court entered final judgment in the shareholder litigation. For nearly two and one-half years, HCC failed to communicate with Sprint concerning any potential reimbursement claim. By the end of 2008, HCC had decided not to sue Sprint for recoupment of its settlement contribution and closed its claim files. In December 2009, HCC learned of a recent opinion from Massachusetts federal court, Genzyme Corp. v. Fed. Ins. Co. (reported in October 2010 Month in Review), wherein D&O insurance did not cover amounts Genzyme paid to settle the claims of individuals who asserted they had received inadequate consideration in an exchange for their tracking shares of an internal Genzyme division. Consequently, HCC reopened its claim file and initiated coverage litigation. HCC construed the shareholder settlement as a delayed payment of a preexisting corporate obligation, which, HCC argued, is not an insurable loss. HCC also argued that the settlement it paid on Sprint’s behalf cannot be considered a loss under the generally accepted meaning of that term in the policy. The court rejected HCC’s argument that the settlement merely represented a preexisting obligation. To this end, the court reasoned, “it is no understatement to say that one of the principal reasons for D&O insurance is to cover D&Os when they are alleged to have breached such preexisting obligations. The mere existence of generalized obligations to follow the law and honor one’s fiduciary duty does not render uninsurable a lawsuit alleging that corporate directors failed to do so.” The court also rejected HCC’s contention that there is a general public policy against insuring this type of settlement because HCC only decided to file its recoupment action after Genzyme, “a case of first impression,” was published. To the contrary, Kansas public policy “favors enforcement of D&O insurance policies” and HCC failed to pinpoint any basis to support restitution or recoupment of the Month in Review— November 2010 5 CASES OF INTEREST (CONT.) settlement payment. The court recognized that even though the D&O policy allows the insurer to seek repayment of defense costs if those costs were not covered, “there is no basis under the policies for an insurer to make a settlement advance and later to seek its return.” The court refused to permit HCC “to retroactively amend its policy by trying to infer a recoupment right or attempt to circumvent the policy’s terms by invoking restitution.” Although HCC may have made its payment “grudgingly,” there “can be no question that the payment was made voluntarily.” Importantly, HCC’s settlement payment was not based upon “fraud, duress or mistake of fact,” which might justify setting a prior settlement aside and requiring a restoration of funds. Finally, the court found HCC had no excuse for why it delayed filing its recoupment action for nearly two years after the matter settled. Accordingly, HCC cannot recover the $15 million it paid out to Sprint to help fund the shareholder class action settlement under the terms of its policy. Houston Cas. Co., v. Sprint Nextel Corp., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124302 (E.D. Vir. 2010). SEC FILINGS AND SETTLEMENTS Filings The SEC filed insider trading charges against The SEC settled charges of FCPA violations against Noble Corporation, and ordered the company to pay disgorgement of $4,294,933 and prejudgment interest of $1,282,065. Arnold McClellan, former partner of Deloitte Tax LLP (Deloitte). The complaint alleged that McClellan provided information regarding at least seven confidential acquisitions planned by Deloitte’s clients. According to the complaint, McClellan, while serving as head of one of Deloitte’s merger and acquisition teams, had access to highly confidential information and provided tax and other advice to Deloitte’s clients that were considering corporate acquisitions. The SEC is seeking disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and penalties. The SEC filed fraud charges against two former executives of LocatePlus Holdings Corporation (LocatePlus). The complaint alleged that Jon Latorella, former CEO, and James Fields, former CFO, fraudulently inflated revenue at LocatePlus. The SEC filed an amended complaint alleging that Latorella and Fields, as the founder and a director, respectively, of Paradigm Tactical Products, Inc. (Paradigm), manipulated the stock in Paradigm by causing Paradigm to issue shares to brokerage accounts, failed to register the sale of the shares, caused fraudulent press releases to increase Paradigm’s stock price, after which, Latorella sold the shares he controlled into the public market at an artificially inflated price, again in unregistered transactions. Settlements The SEC entered final judgment against Gary A. Reys, former CEO of CellCyte Genetics Corp. Reys was ordered to pay a penalty of $50,000, and was barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years. The SEC settled bribery charges and FCPA violations against GlobalSantaFe Corp. (GSF). GSF was ordered to pay disgorgement of $2,694,405, prejudgment interest of $1,063,760, and a penalty of $2,100,000. The SEC settled insider trading charges against Gary Allen Sorenson and Milowe Allen Brost, cofounders and owners of Syndicated Gold Depository S.A. Sorenson and Brost were ordered to pay, jointly and severally, disgorgement of over $210,000,000 and a penalty of $100,000,000, and both were barred from serving as officers or directors of public companies having securities registered with the SEC. The SEC settled options backdating charges against Jacob “Kobi” Alexander, former chairman and CEO of Comverse Technology, Inc. Alexander was ordered to pay disgorgement of $26,206,298, prejudgment interest of $21,442,157, a penalty of $6,000,000, and was permanently barred from serving as an officer or director of any issuer that has a class of securities registered with the SEC. The SEC settled bribery charges against Transocean, Inc., and ordered the company to pay disgorgement of $5,981,693, and prejudgment interest of $1,283,387. The SEC settled charges of FCPA violations against Noble Corporation, and ordered the company to pay disgorgement of $4,294,933, and prejudgment interest of $1,282,065. Month in Review— November 2010 6 SHAREHOLDER CLASS ACTION FILINGS, SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS Filings Settlements Capella Education Company Services Conseco, Inc. Financial $41,465,000 DeVry, Inc. Services Dendreon Corporation Healthcare $16,500,000 Gentiva Health Services, Inc. Healthcare Force Protection, Inc. Capital Goods $24,000,000 Green Bankshares, Inc. Financial Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. Healthcare $3,600,000 ITT Educational Services, Inc. Services Micron Technology, Inc. Technology $42,000,000 Lender Processing Services, Inc. Technology Toll Brothers, Inc. Capital Goods $25,000,000 Mela Sciences, Inc. Healthcare UTStarcom, Inc. Services Rino International Corporation Consumer Goods The St. Joe Company Financial Vivus, Inc. Healthcare Wilmington Trust Corporation Financial $2,900,000 [1st Partial] Dismissals Bare Escentuals, Inc. 2009/NDCA Dismissed without prejudice. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC-FM Multi-Strategy Investment Fund 2009/SDNY Dismissed without prejudice. Comtech Telecommunications Corp. Filed 2009/EDNY Dismissed with prejudice. Countrywide Financial Corp. Filed 2010/CDCA Dismissed with leave to amend. Insight Enterprises, Inc. Filed 2009/AZ Dismissed with prejudice. KKR Financial Holdings, LLC Filed 2008/SDNY Dismissed without prejudice. Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Filed 2009/NDCA Dismissed with prejudice. Sciclone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Filed 2010/NDCA Dismissed without prejudice. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. Filed 2001/NDGA Dismissed without prejudice. Aon Contact: Financial Services Group, Global Legal & Claims Practice, a Division of Aon Risk Services, Inc. Steve Shappell, Esq., Managing Director P: 303.639.4110 E: Steve.Shappell@aon.com Month in Review— November 2010 7