Day: December 13, 2008

Thanks, Sop, it was a very good year (Saturday night music)

We’ve been at this one year shy 14 days and what an amazing year this has been. I warned then newbie Nowdy that getting mixed up with me was likely to land her in some strange and new places in cyber space. I think I kept that promise.

It was a very good year, Sop. You more than kept that promise – although learning what I’ve needed to know just to survive at a few of those “new places” has taken years off my life!  With that thought in mind, I’ll provide the the Saturday night music –  hope everyone has a bottle of wine and good fire going.

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I was seventeen…It was a very good year…It was a very good year for small town girls…And soft summer nights…We’d hide from the lights…On the village green…When I was seventeen

When I was twenty-one…It was a very good year…It was a very good year for city girls…Who lived up the stair…With all that perfumed hair…And it came undone…When I was twenty-one

When I was thirty-five…It was a very good year…It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls…Of independent means…Wed ride in limousines…Their chauffeurs would drive…When I was thirty-five

But now the days grow short…I’m in the autumn of the year…And now I think of my life as vintage wine…from fine old kegs….from the brim to the dregs…And it poured sweet and clear…It was a very good year.

Merna and Oglesby RE

wood4Noting Sop’s mention marking this as day number 364 of our blogging on Katrina insurance issues and related matters (some more closely than others), I pass on the Fitch rating for Merna Re, a relative of Oglesby Re, along with the picture the names of these reinsurance entities brought to mind.

Merna Re is a special-purpose reinsurance entity, owned by a purpose trust, domiciled in Bermuda and licensed as a Class 3 insurer. Merna Re provides fully collateralized excess of loss catastrophe reinsurance to Oglesby Reinsurance Ltd. (Oglesby Re) under the terms of two three-year retrocession agreements (one agreement for the notes and a separate, but substantially similar, agreement for the term loans). Oglesby Re is captive reinsurer, owned by State Farm, domiciled in Bermuda and licensed as a Class 3 insurer. (emphasis added)

Frankly, I prefer Sop put up finance posts as his knowledge offers context 1269943258_132dfb346bthat I cannot provide.  Given the bitch of a week he’s had, I decided getting this information up and open for comment would be my “anniversary present”  – although he’d much prefer Goose and oysters and you would, too, if you could have a Drago’s dozen. (sorry, Sop, they don’t deliver)

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the ratings of $1.2 billion of Merna Reinsurance Limited’s (Merna Re) outstanding notes and term loans as follows: Continue reading “Merna and Oglesby RE”

State Farm launches Mac-attack on Payment case with missiles, ground fire and bomb to keep MID market conduct exam from jury

Will Dr. Payment fold like McIntosh under this pressure?

Payment v State Farm, introduced here in a post that published on the 5th of December, became the target for a Mac-attack that same day.  Before the attack ended a day later., State Farm attorney John Banahan had launched a dozen wind-to-water missiles of motions in limine, including three with memorandum in support.

Six docket entries that followed were ground fire for the bomb to come.

  • Supplemental NOTICE of Service of Disclosure by Michael Payment
  • Supplemental Designation of Experts by State Farm Fire and Casualty Company
  • NOTICE of Service of Response to Interrogatories by State Farm Fire and Casualty Company
  • NOTICE of Service of Disclosure by State Farm Fire and Casualty Company
  • NOTICE of Service of Supplemental Opinions of Defendant’s Experts in Response to Supplemental Opinion of Neil B. Hall, Ph.D. by State Farm Fire and Casualty Company re Designation of Experts
  • RESET HEARING: Final Pretrial Conference RESET for 12/22/2008, 1:30 P.M., before District Judge L. T. Senter Jr

Then, today, State Farm dropped a bomb  – NOTICE of Offer of Judgment by State Farm Fire and Casualty Company. Continue reading “State Farm launches Mac-attack on Payment case with missiles, ground fire and bomb to keep MID market conduct exam from jury”