Colony Specialty, a member of Argo Group International Holdings, recently reported that the company has expanded its Environmental division with four new underwriting hires.

"Our deep commitment to providing our clients with superior underwriting and best-in-class customer service is stronger than ever," said Marsh Duncan, senior vice president, Colony Specialty, Environmental division. "Each talented and experienced team member has an outstanding track record of success, and an excellent reputation throughout the specialty insurance industry. We are excited to welcome them to our team and look forward to their contributions," he said.

According to a release, Cindy White will serve as vice president, Colony Specialty, Environmental division, and will be based at the company's Denver office. Prior to joining Colony Specialty, White was senior vice president at Freberg Environmental Insurance.

Matthew McPhee will serve as assistant vice president, Colony Specialty, Environmental division, and will be based at the company's Denver office. Prior to joining Colony Specialty, McPhee was a senior underwriter at Freberg Environmental Insurance. Previously, he was an environmental consultant at Brown and Caldwell.

Trish Katz will serve as senior underwriter, Colony Specialty, Environmental division, and will be based at the company's Denver office. Prior to joining Colony Specialty, Katz held related positions at Freberg Environmental Insurance and Partners Specialty Group. Katz attended University of Kansas and retains the Certified Insurance Service Representative (CISR) and Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) professional designations.

Aimee Byrd will serve as senior underwriter, Colony Specialty, Environmental division, and will be based in Fayetteville, Tenn. Prior to joining Colony Specialty, Byrd held related positions at Freberg Environmental Insurance and ACE Westchester. ma.

Argo Group International Holdings is an international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products in the property and casualty market.

Colony Specialty and Argo Pro together form Argo Group's U.S. Excess and Surplus Lines (E&S) segment, which provides underwriting solutions for risks typically not underwritten by the standard market.

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(Legal Newsline) — A federal judge won’t prematurely end a class action accusing State Farm of misleading thousands of life insurance customers by selling policies issued by a company it knew was facing a massive capital shortfall.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall denied State Farm’s motion to dismiss a complaint from clients in nine states who bought PHL Variable Life Insurance Company policies from State Farm and its subsidiaries between 2001 and 2009.

According to Kendall, the complaint alleged four counts on behalf of a putative nationwide class: breach of fiduciary duty, professional negligence, unjust enrichment and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Subclasses from Illinois, California and New Jersey would bring state law allegations. Kendall said she ordered additional briefing on choice-of-law issues for the state law claims and noted those issues preclude her from resolving the dismissal request.

“Judicial economy favors addressing class certification before reaching the merits of the claims,” Kendall wrote in the ruling. “The 14 named plaintiffs are from nine different states and are bringing state law claims on behalf of themselves and a purported nationwide class.”

Although both sides argued Kendall didn’t need to analyze which laws should apply in order to rule on the motion to dismiss, given no differences in state law would dictate different outcomes, she said that framing “is difficult to accept given the parties’ apparent misapprehension of the laws they invoke. Throughout their briefing, the parties conflate the distinct roles of insurer, insurance agent and insurance broker and cite legal rules applicable to those roles interchangeably. Even a cursory review of the relevant states’ laws reveals material differences across jurisdictions.”

For example, she said, under Illinois law, only brokers, and not agents or insurers, have a fiduciary duty to insured customers. But “the Insurance Placement Liability Act bars liability for a breach of fiduciary claim brought against an insurance broker unless it involves the wrongful retention or misappropriation of funds,” she wrote, while “none of the other eight states limits liability for breach of fiduciary claims in this way. Seven states recognize breach of fiduciary duty claims in the insurance context, albeit with their own caveats and nuances.”

She further explained how Illinois law on insurance-based negligence claims conflicts with other states and said she is obligated to consider nuances when deciding which laws to use while analyzing the underlying allegations, especially since the complaint proposes a nationwide class.

Were she to rule on the dismissal motion before the choice-of-law analysis, that may require her “to determine the laws governing the claims of the nine named plaintiffs, potentially dismiss some claims, and then revisit those same state-law differences in determining whether and to what extent a nationwide class may be certified,” Kendall wrote. “Further, resolving class certification first may substantially narrow the case if the court narrows the nationwide class or declines to certify it.”

Kendall acknowledged State Farm might’ve been cost conscious in moving for dismissal before the plaintiffs sought certification, but reiterated that “is not the most efficient course” regarding this litigation and said she wouldn’t rule on dismissal until she addresses certification. Although the plaintiffs haven’t yet filed such a motion, she advised both sides to discuss next steps at a status hearing and denied the motion to dismiss without prejudice.