A February 29 session at the meeting in Tucson celebrating the 20^th Anniversary of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee was entitled, “Peeling the Onion: Layers of New D&O Coverage Issues.”  The panel at this session discussed the interplay and tension between the various layers of coverage in the face of changes in the world of D&O liability, including increases in derivative actions, the size of securities litigation settlements, SEC investigations, internal corporate investigations and defense costs. The panel also discussed new developments in rescission and the return of ill-gotten gains.

 

A paper prepared for the session by Dan A. Bailey of Bailey Cavalieri LLC in Columbus, Ohio, noted that in today’s world of “increasingly aggressive vigilance of institutional investigators and regulators” directors and officers need to know what to ask for and why in order to obtain the best D&O coverage available. The paper summarized some of the more important excess D&O insurance policy terms which may under certain circumstances be enhanced through negotiation with the insurer.