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Getting the Most Out of Insurance Dividend Plans
My insurance pays dividends. Sounds like a good idea. Some insurance companies offer “dividend plans” that allow a policyholder to obtain dividends from the insurance company, often based on the loss experience under the policyholder's insurance program. If losses are low, the insurance company promises to pay the policyholder dividends. Dividend plans do have their pitfalls, however, as a number of Kemper policyholders have discovered. In an undated letter to policyholders, Michael A. Coutu, the acting president and chief executive officer of the Kemper Insurance Companies, stated that as a result of Kemper's financial condition, Kemper “will not declare any dividends in the foreseeable future” meaning that “a payment due Kemper may be larger than anticipated or that a return or credit may be less than expected, despite underlying losses.” As a result, these “loss-sensitive” dividend plans have not always performed as expected.
The Basics of Dividend Plans
Dividend plans are most often found in the context of workers' compensation insurance or mutual insurance companies. Mutual insurance companies are “owned” by their policyholders. Like shareholders of stock corporations, such mutual policyholders may be entitled to the payment of dividends typically on an annual basis. In addition, some states use dividend plans to encourage employers to participate in loss prevention programs and take dividends into consideration when setting rates. Dividend plans are just one of a variety of methods used for merit rating and are a cousin to their better-known counterpart, retrospective rating plans (where premiums are adjusted and returned when loss experience is good, as opposed to dividends being issued when loss experience is good). See Bluebonnet Express, Inc. v. Employers Ins. of Wausau, 651 S.W.2d 345 (Tex. App. 1983) (contrasting policies where premiums were calculated according to a standard premium dividend plan with policies where premiums were determined according to a retrospective plan).
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Anti-Assignment Override Provisions
UCC Sections 9406(d) and 9408(a) are one of the most powerful, yet least understood, sections of the Uniform Commercial Code. On their face, they appear to override anti-assignment provisions in agreements that would limit the grant of a security interest. But do these sections really work?