With multibillion-dollar estimates of professional liability losses related to the credit crisis proliferating, insurers heard more bad news, as experts said recent pro-defendant Supreme Court rulings may do little to lower securities class-action payouts.
In fact, one prominent plaintiffs' lawyer said that with the January Supreme Court decision in Stoneridge Inv. Partners, LLC vs. Scientific-Atlanta Inc. eliminating his ability to go after third parties that help corporations carry out fraudulent financial schemes, he'll probably tag members of audit committees of corporate boards--and their directors and officers liability insurers--for bigger portions of damages.
"The world is now safe essentially for you to help a company 'cook the books' because folks like me can't get to them," said Sean Coffey, a plaintiffs' lawyer with Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman in New York, giving his assessment of the January Supreme Court ruling.
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