will not impose a general increase for the 2010 policy year, but will increase the supplementary call element of estimated total premium from 20% to 25%, causing a year on year increase in estimated total premium of about 4%.

is to impose a 5% general increase in premiums for the 2010/11 year.

Lloyd's underwriters have said in a court filing that Allen Stanford and other former officers of Stanford Financial Group are not entitled to directors' and officers' cover because the claims against them entail fraudulent and criminal acts, specifically money laundering, which is excluded from the D&O policy. The underwriters, consisting of most of the big names in the London market, filed the defence in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The 2008 D&O policy required the underwriters to pay losses resulting from claims of more than $250,000, up to a maximum of $5m. The professional indemnity policy had a liability limit of $5m per claim, with an aggregate annual limit of $10m, with a retention of $250,000 or $750,000, depending on the claimant. There had been an ongoing dispute between the Stanford receiver in the US and defence lawyers on who had entitlement to the D&O/PI money, should any of it be paid. The underwriters had agreed to advance some defence costs, subject to its tight to ultimately deny cover. Mr Janvey had objected to this, leading the underwriters to seek a declaratory judgment preventing Mr Janvey from receiving the proceeds from the policies. The case is complicated by seven defendants facing civil charges in one Texas court, criminal charges in another, plus foreign legal actions in the UK, Canada and Latin America.

QBE Insurance and managing general agent Florida Intracoastal Underwriters, the latter a unit of broker Brown & Brown, have been sued by a Florida condominium association in Miami-Dade County for more than $500m for bad faith in handling claims stemming from hurricane Wilma in October 2005. Daniel Rosenbaum of Katzman Garfinkel Rosenbaum filed the suit on behalf of Buckley Towers Condominium. The two 17-storey towers of Buckley Towers suffered extensive structural damages from the storm and were condemned by Miami-Dade county earlier this year. The lawsuit alleges that the "condemnation proceedings would have been avoided had QBE fairly and honestly adjusted the claim". It also claims that the companies had a specific intent to damage the plaintiff when it sought cash to repair the buildings, which were badly damaged by hurricane Wilma. Earlier this year (IIN 24, February 20 2009) a Florida jury awarded the condominium's residents $20.4m. QBE had initially denied the insurance claim, asserting that the damages allegedly caused by hurricane Wilma had already existed because of poor construction. It also alleged fraud at the condominium after the levels of claim rose to $17m from $5m. Mr Rosenbaum's latest suit claims that QBE agreed in June to pay a $150,000 fine for violations of state insurance regulations, presumably related to a Florida law that demands be paid within 30 days of a court judgment. QBE had maintained that the 30-day limit should only apply after all appeals had been exhausted.