Posts by Maria Dadonova

JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS Andresen v. Guggenheim Partners – COLI Commissions Litigation On September 1, the Supreme Court of New York (NY County) granted defendants’ (Guggenheim) motion to dismiss a complaint brought by a former employee (Andresen), who was seeking commissions on COLI policies purchased by the firm in 2006 and 2007 for which she was purportedly…

ACCOUNTING DEVELOPMENTS OCC Bank Accounting Advisory Series Updated On August 17, the OCC released an update to the Bank Accounting Advisory Series (BAAS). The BAAS does not represent rules or regulations of the OCC. Rather, it represents the OCC’s Office of the Chief Accountant’s interpretations of generally accepted accounting principles and regulatory guidance based on…

JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS Athene v. American General, et al. – SVP Litigation Update On July 1, co-defendant ZC Resources Investment Trust submitted its answer to Athene’s complaint. Throughout July, the parties appear to have commenced the production of documents and discovery. TAX DEVELOPMENTS IRS Proposed Regulations on Tax-Exempt Organization Excess Executive Compensation On June 11, the…

JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS COI Litigation Update – Vogt v. State Farm Jury Verdict Upheld upon Appeal On June 26, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion on State Farm’s appeal of a $34 million jury verdict in a class action alleging that State Farm violated the terms of its insurance contracts…

JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS Athene vs. American General, et al. – COLI SVP Product Dispute On May 8, the Delaware Superior Court issued a memorandum opinion and order with regard to defendants’ motions to dismiss. The Court granted the motions in part and denied them in part. Please see our February 2020 LRA Update for a brief…

TAX DEVELOPMENTS IRS Private Letter Ruling on Policyholder Implications of Assumption Reinsurance Transaction On May 1, the IRS publicly released a Private Letter Ruling (Number 202018003) stating that for purposes of sections 101(j), 264(f), 7702, and 7702A of the IRC, a reinsurance transaction will not constitute a material change of certain life insurance contracts and…

LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS COVID-19 Legislation In March, Congress passed three separate laws related to the COVID-19 pandemic: To our knowledge, and based on a preliminary review, none of these laws have direct implications for BOLI programs. Below, we briefly identify a few provisions under the Phase 3 legislation that may impact employee benefit programs and bank…

TAX DEVELOPMENTS IRS Revenue Ruling 2020-05 – Adjustments to Basis The February 24 Internal Revenue Bulletin included publication of Revenue Ruling 2020-05, which updates previous IRS guidance on the income recognized under situations described in Revenue Rulings 2009-13 and 2009-14. In particular, Section 13521 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) amended IRC §…