Ford Marrin continued its successful defense of websites and blogs in Internet defamation actions. The New York County Supreme Court recently dismissed the defamation and breach of contract claims asserted by a New York dentist against Yelp Inc. based on allegedly defamatory reviews written by users of the Yelp website.

In a closely watched reinsurance action challenging AIG’s 2011 Loss Portfolio Transfer (LPT) with Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity Company, Ford Marrin successfully opposed AIG’s motion to dismiss TransRe’s LPT-based defenses as well as AIG’s motion for partial summary judgment to recover multi-million dollar billings on a major underlying asbestos claim (Transamerica/IMO).

Ford Marrin recently obtained a million dollar subrogation judgment on behalf of The Burlington Insurance Company (as subrogee of the City of New York) against the New York City Transit Authority, one year after successfully obtaining a declaration that Burlington did not owe coverage to the NYCTA in connection with an underlying New York Labor Law action.

Following a motion argued by Partner Joseph D’Ambrosio, Transatlantic Reinsurance Co. and its parent Alleghany Corp. beat two Berkshire Hathaway Inc. companies’ lawsuit claiming they had used deceptive practices to rid themselves of “crippling” asbestos liabilities. Read more here: Law 360, Nov. 15, 2013

In a major case closely watched by the reinsurance industry, FMEW successfully obtained a complete dismissal on the pleadings of an action brought in Massachusetts state court by Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity Company (NICO) and Resolute Management (Resolute) against Transatlantic Reinsurance Company (TransRe) and its corporate parent, Alleghany Corporation (Alleghany).