Top 10 Insurance Headlines from North America Last week, the interagency task force on Chinese drywall released the initial results of several studies it is overseeing. The current financial crisis is making corporate directors nervous. However, quitting may not be the right response in many cases, especially since even former directors remain vulnerable on several liability fronts. Choosing a domicile for a captive insurance company is a process of elimination. Three recent federal court decisions have split 2 to 1 over the viability of suits seeking damages arising out of green-house-gas (GHG) emissions and global warming impacts. On October 14th, a Delaware Court of Chancery judge issued an 88-page opinion granting summary judgment to two insureds, Warren Pumps LLC ("New Warren") and Viking Pump, Inc. ("New Viking"), on critical issues of allocation and a corporate successorship. The next chapter in the ongoing effort by the federal government to narrow the permissible uses of personal health information by entities engaged in the health care industry has arrived. This HIPAA Update provides a detailed description of the new breach notification requirements for HIPAA covered entities and business associates as required by interim final rule issued pursuant to the HITECH Act of 2009. Beginning on January 1, 2010, extensive new Medicare reporting obligations will apply to insurance companies and other businesses that make payments to Medicare beneficiaries as a result of litigation claims. Owners and operators certainly do not need another thing to argue about, especially in the current economic environment. While new management deals are scarce, renegotiated contracts – whether with the original owner, the lender, or a new owner – are becoming more commonplace every day. After a long lull in judicial activity, the one-month period between September 21 and October 16, 2009, provided a series of surprising and potentially explosive developments in global warming nuisance liability law. | 
