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U.S. Supreme Court Holds "Principal Place of Business" for Federal Diversity of Citizenship Purposes Is Corporations' "Nerve Center"— Where Their Executives Direct and Control Corporate Activities

by Sandra I. Weishart

In a decision closely watched by multi-state corporations, including those in the insurance industry, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that a company’s “principal place of business” is where “a corporation’s officers direct, control, and coordinate the corporation’s activities.”  Hertz Corp vs. Melinda Friend et al., a class action which the corporate defendant wished to remove to federal court, presented the following issue:

[w]hether, for purposes of determining principal place of business for diversity jurisdiction citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, a court can disregard the location of a nationwide corporation’s headquarters – i.e., its nerve center.

In analyzing the issue, the Court first reviewed the history of Section 1332, noting the increasing difficulty, in modern times, of defining a corporation's "principal place of business," which resulted in the application of different criteria and inconsistent precedents among the federal Circuits. Accordingly, in an unanimous opinion authored by Justice Breyer, the Court held:

In an effort to find a single, more uniform interpretation of the statutory phrase [“principal place of business”] this Court returns to the “nerve center” approach: “[P]rincipal place of business” is best read as referring to the place where a corporation’s officers direct, control, and coordinate the corporation’s activities. In practice it should normally be the place where the corporation maintains its headquarters — provided that the headquarters is the actual center of direction, control, and coordination, i.e., the “nerve center,” and not simply an office where the corporation holds its board meetings.

This decision is of particular interest to insurance companies and other corporations with a "nerve center" in another state but which, nevertheless, conduct a significant amount of business in California. In recent years, the Ninth Circuit has imposed increasingly more onerous requirements on corporate entities' ability to remove actions to federal court, if the corporation has employees, offices or property or otherwise conducts business activities here in California. Now, in most cases, removal to federal court will be far more easily accomplished.

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by Steven Weinstein & Marina Karvelas

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced on February 16, 2010, that it will extend the deadline for reporting requirements under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act from April 1, 2010 to January 1, 2011. The news provides welcome relief for property and casualty insurers who have been working diligently to meet the new reporting requirements amidst significant uncertainties in implementation.

In addition, the HHS promised it will release during the week of February 22 the next version of its User Guide as well as provide an alert that describes the steps that reporting entities can take to assure their ongoing compliance with the new reporting requirements. 

The Medicare Secondary Payer Mandatory Reporting Requirements

Over two years ago, Congress passed the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (“MMSEA”) 42 U.S.C., § 1395y(b)(7)(8). Section 111 of MMSEA added new and significant mandatory reporting requirements for liability insurance (including self-insurance), no-fault auto insurance and workers’ compensation (collectively “NGHPs” or non group health plans) as well as group health plans (“GHPs”). Every settlement, judgment, award, or other payment from insurers to a Medicare beneficiary must be reported to the HHS through its Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”). Likewise, individuals who receive ongoing reimbursement for medical care through no-fault insurance or workers’ compensation must be reported to CMS.

The new MMSEA reporting requirements do not change existing rules that determine whether Medicare or another payer is the primary or secondary payer with respect to the Medicare beneficiary. The goal behind the new reporting requirements is to enable the HHS through CMS to better obtain necessary information to determine when Medicare’s financial responsibility is secondary, and if so, reduce Medicare payments, or if already paid, recoup them. In this regard, Medicare may recover any conditional payments it has made that should have been paid by the primary insurance plan.

Take for example, an auto accident where the injured party is a Medicare beneficiary. If that Medicare beneficiary has available auto liability or no-fault auto insurance to cover medical expenses, payments under those policies are primary to any Medicare payments for such expenses. In fact, Medicare is always a secondary payer to liability insurance (including self-insurance), no-fault insurance, and workers’ compensation.

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The California legislature passed a number of new insurance-related bills that Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law. These include new laws regulating the rescission of health insurance coverage (AB 108), life settlement transactions (SB 98) and electronic transactions (AB 328). 

Several of the laws are summarized briefly below. Our summary is intended to give you a broad overview only and does not include all new provisions enacted by the legislation. These summaries should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice.

If you would like additional information on any of the laws discussed herein, please contact Stuart Soldate at (213) 614-7306 or ssoldate@bargerwolen.com, Michael Rosenfield at (213) 614-7321 or mrosenfield@bargerwolen.com, Chris Burusco at (213) 614-7332 or cburusco@bargerwolen.com, or your regular Barger & Wolen attorney. 

LIFE, HEALTH AND DISABILITY INSURANCE

1. AB 23: Cal-COBRA Premium Assistance

• Establishes notice requirements that must be provided to eligible qualified beneficiaries regarding the availability of premium assistance under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
• Qualified beneficiaries eligible for federal assistance may elect coverage under Cal-COBRA, and those enrolled in Cal-COBRA as of February 17, 2009 may request the federal premium assistance.

2. AB 76: Life and Annuity Consumer Protection Fund

• Extends the provision creating the Life and Annuity Consumer Protection Fund to January 1, 2015.
• Requires the California Insurance Commissioner (“Commissioner”) to publish an annual report on its Web site detailing certain protections for consumers of insurance products.

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An amendment introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. to require “24-hour health coverage”* has drawn industry fire, according to an article, Another Health Care Amendment Draws P&C Industry Fire, by Arthur D. Postal.

In a letter to the Senate Finance Committee, which was not expected to take up the amendment today, the p&c industry argues that, “the amendment would upend the systems now in place to protect injured workers, drivers and passengers.”

The insurers added that the 24-hour coverage concept “would destroy the healthy and competitive auto insurance marketplace.”

According to a lobbyist for the American Insurance Association, the amendment is not likely to be taken up by the committee, although it has been officially filed.

In a bulletin to members, the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America said the work on language in the legislation in the Senate panel was supposed to be completed this week, but “the markup could very well slip into next week and potentially beyond.”

The letter, delivered to all members of the Senate Finance Committee was signed by:

• American Insurance Association
• Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers
• Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America
• National Association of Health Underwriters
• National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies
• Property Casualty Insurers Association of America

* Twenty-four hour health coverage typically refers to a coordinated system of health care delivery, whereby a person receives all medical care for injuries and illnesses from a single health care provider.

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Certain producer group representatives have publicly criticized the current version of the proposed Producer Compensation Transparency Regulation (the “Proposed Regulation”) that was forwarded recently by the New York Insurance Department (“NYID”) to the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform (“GORR”) for review. As discussed in our September 14, 2009, Client Alert, if the Proposed Regulation becomes effective it will apply to all insurance producers that transact business in New York. 

In a September 15, 2009, P&C National Underwriter article N.Y. Comp Regulation Proposal Unacceptable, Says IIABNY, the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York  objected, among other things, to the Proposed Regulation’s requirement that producers explain to their customers whether they are functioning as an agent or a broker and how these legal classifications affect the producer’s compensation, saying such a technical discussion would engender confusion amongst consumers. Representatives of IIABNY have also criticized the Proposed Regulation’s ambiguity regarding the disclosure rules that apply to policy renewals.

The spokesman for IIABNY raised the possibility that producer groups might institute legal action if the State did not agree to make necessary revisions to the Proposed Regulation.

In addition to IIABNY, spokespersons for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents and the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers have also criticized certain aspects of the Proposed Regulation.

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by Robert W. Hogeboom

On September 4, 2009, Harvey Rosenfield submitted the Stop Insurance Overcharges Act (pdf), a proposed state-wide ballot measure, to Attorney General Jerry Brown.

The initiative would:

• limit all insurance broker fees charged if brokers also receive a commission;
• mandate that all other fees, including installment fees billable to a policyholder, is premium subject to prior approval;
• seek to eliminate the absence of prior insurance as a criteria for automobile and homeowner rates or insurability;
• preclude use of claims experience in calculating discounts or surcharges for automobile insurance. 

We anticipate that insurers, managing general agents, brokers and trade associations will be establishing a strategy to contest the proposed initiative.

I look forward to your comments and/or thoughts regarding this significant issue as I will be coordinating our efforts to defeat this initiative. Please contact Robert W. Hogeboom at rhogeboom@bargerwolen.com and/or (213) 614-7304.

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Medicare Secondary Payer Mandatory Reporting Requirements Applicable to All Liability, No-Fault and Workers’ Compensation Insurers

On August 31, 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) posted an “ALERT” entitled “Compliance Regarding Obtaining Individual HICNs and/or SSNs” and an accompanying Model Language Form (the “Model Form”) to the CMS web site that is intended to provide liability, no-fault and workers' compensation insurers (collectively, “NGHP Insurers”) with guidance from the agency concerning how such entities may collect the personal information from injured claimants that each NGHP Insurer, in its capacity as a Responsible Reporting Entity (“RRE”), is required to begin reporting to CMS pursuant to The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (the “Act”).

The Act requires all NGHP Insurers to file specified data electronically with CMS with respect to all claims involving an injury to a Medicare beneficiary where the judgment, settlement, award or other payment date is January 1, 2010, or subsequent. Such NGHP Insurers are likewise obligated by the Act to report claims for which the insurer possesses an ongoing responsibility to pay for medical services (“ORM”), existing as of July 1, 2009, and subsequent, even if the date of the initial acceptance of ORM occurred prior to July 1, 2009. Please note that each NGHP Insurer has until September 30, 2009, to complete its registration with CMS as an RRE pursuant to the Act.

The newly published ALERT states that the Model Form is intended to create a safe harbor for NGHP Insurers reporting under the Act in that

CMS will consider the reporting entity compliant for purposes of its next Section 111 file submission if . . . a signed copy of the  . . . [Model Form] is obtained (even if the individual is later discovered to be a Medicare beneficiary . . . .

Problematic Aspects

• The ALERT does not address the situation (likely to be fairly common) when an injured claimant simply declines to return the Model Form to the reporting NGHP Insurer. The clear implication of the ALERT is that the safe harbor would not apply in such a scenario, thus creating a compliance risk for the reporting NGHP Insurer.
• The ALERT requires the NGHP Insurer to continue to obtain an additional executed Model Form from each ORM claimant at least once every 12 months to ensure the continued applicability of the safe harbor to such ORM claim. Again, this places the reporting NGHP Insurer in the uncomfortable position of requiring performance by the claimant to maintain its safe harbor status.   

We note that these issues, as well as other aspects of the Act’s reporting requirements, are complex and present difficult interpretative issues.

For further information regarding NGHP Insurers’ obligations under the Act, please contact Dennis C. Quinn at 212-655-3878 or dquinn@bargerwolen.com.

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The California Department of Insurance has established the filing deadlines (September 18, 2009, or, in the case of holding company applications, October 30, 2009) in order to obtain year-end approval of 2009 transactions.  For details, please see the attached notice. 

If you require assistance with these submissions, please contact Michael Rosenfield (213-614-7321) or mrosenfield@bargerwolen.com).

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Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner today rejected a rate application from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) to raise the Workers’ Compensation Claims Cost Benchmark by 23.7 percent. This was contrary to what was hoped for by workers' compensation insurers.

Based on testimony received in June hearings, the Commissioner noted that he believes that an increase in the cost benchmark would lead to increased worker’s compensation premiums for small business. More specifically, the Commissioner sternly noted,

[m]y response to this requested record increase by workers' comp insurance companies is this – no. I will not include avoidable costs in the Benchmark.

The Commissioner further explained,

[b]ecause of the faltering economy, record unemployment levels, and objections to the proposed increase from employers, I have focused on whether insurers and other parties in the workers' comp system are exhausting every available avenue to control costs before granting any increase to the Benchmark.

With regard to the controlling of costs, following hearings last month, the Commissioner issued a 27 point outline of means in which costs can be trimmed by workers compensation insurers. That outline can be found here. The Commissioner further noted that he expects insurers to implement the efficiency procedures he outlined before a re-application for a cost benchmark increase.

Today’s denial of the cost benchmark is consistent with the Commissioner’s recent treatment of such requests over the past several years – as he has routinely either denied the requests outright or allowed for a minimal increase, despite much larger requests.

2009 WC Benchmark Proposed Decision and Proposed Order

2009 WC Benchmark Addendum Report

2009 WC Benchmark Decision and Order

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We are very pleased to welcome you to the Barger & Wolen Insurance Litigation & Regulatory Law Blog.

The rapid adoption in the use of Web 2.0 technology will allow us to bring our clients and friends timely and time-sensitive information in those areas in which our firms practices and hopefully of interest to those of you that visit our blog.

We hope that the Insurance Litigation & Regulatory Law Blog will become a resource for clients and attorneys by providing legal commentary, case updates, articles, and news and law updates covering the ever-burgeoning areas of insurance litigation and insurance regulation.

We look forward to blogging on topics including: bad faith, insurance industry class actions, insurance claims, coverage (including primary insurance, excess and umbrella coverage), state and federal insurance regulation, as well as state and federal legislation.

While our primary focus is California law, the blog will also address those important topics arising throughout the country.

We hope to create a forum for our readers to express opinions on the issues and topics addressed in this blog.

We trust you will find this blog to be a useful resource and we look forward to your comments and feedback. 

Larry M. Golub
Partner/Co-Editor
Barger & Wolen LLP
Email: lgolub@bargerwolen.com

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Having spent my professional life representing insurers in disputes arising out of the various aspects of their businesses, I sometimes can't help but view current events such as Michael Jackson's premature death through a slightly different prism than the normal person.

For example, what do the PGA and Michael Jackson have in common? In all likelihood, event cancellation and non-appearance insurance has been purchased to insure against the risk that their various events are cancelled. I cannot help but think about all of the various insurance questions that Michael Jackson's death creates.

For example, currently pending in Los Angeles Superior Court is a lawsuit filed by Toni Braxton against Lloyd's of London. Ms. Braxton alleges that Lloyd's is refusing to pay for losses associated with her cancellation of live performances at Las Vegas' Flamingo Hotel when she was hospitalized for microvascular angina. According to Ms. Braxton's complaint, Lloyd's is refusing to pay because it asserts that the hospitalization was related to a pre-existing condition that was not disclosed to Lloyd's.

What similar insurance issues could arise out of Michael Jackson's death? Did he have any preexisting conditions that could be the basis for rescinding any insurance policies?   What was and what was not disclosed in the insurance applications? What questions were asked in the insurance applications?

Of course, the insurance questions will not be limited to just whether there is coverage or not. There will be questions regarding what exact losses were covered.

For example, late last year, Lloyd's won a legal battle with Defeat the Beat, a corporation that hosts annual marching band competitions for historically black colleges in Defeat the Beat v. Underwriters at Lloyd's of London, 669 S.E.2d 48 (2008). Weather had caused delays during the 2004 marching band competition and, as a result, a number of attendees left with attendance being down 35% from the prior year. Lloyd's paid Defeat the Beat approximately $37,000 for non-refundable costs and expenses due to the weather interruption but refused to reimburse Defeat the Beat for its lost revenue due to the low attendance. Lloyd's successfully argued that it had no contractual duty to pay for this lost profit because loss of revenue and/or profit was not listed on the schedule of benefits.

There will certainly be similar questions arising from The King of Pop's recent passing.

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