TheCorporateCounsel.net

October 6, 2003

New SEC Settlement Policy Raises

The upcoming issue of The Corporate Counsel will discuss the SEC’s new enforcement settlement policy, that I blogged about back on August 5th. With regard to D&O insurance, this new SEC policy is very significant as it has an impact on the application of the various forms of the so-called intentional misconduct or dishonesty exclusion that exists in many policies. Specifically, if the exclusion requires only that the misconduct be established “in fact”, coverage in any ensuing civil litigation may well be precluded by the consent injunction entered in the SEC proceeding.

For TheCorporateCounsel.net subscribers, we have launched a new “D&O Insurance Portal,” which includes sample underwriting questions that you can ask your insurer (courtesy of Patricia Villareal of Jones Day).

PCAOB = P-COB?

The answer to last week’s trivia question – what nickname for the PCAOB is Chairman McDonough pushing for – is “P-COB.”

Chairman McDonough urged the use of this nickname during his Senate testimony last week. Although the Chairman himself has been guilty of using “Peek-a-boo,” it is now well known that the PCAOB strongly dislikes that nickname. I don’t know about you, but I just get a feeling that P-COB will fail to attract followers…why not try something simple, like “Oversight Board”…

Evelyn Davis – Looking Her Best

Yesterday’s NY Times contains a brief article about how a photo of Dick Grasso graces the cover of Evelyn’s upcoming annual booklet (typically, $525 per copy, minimum order of two). Evelyn had chosen that photo before the recent controversy over Dick’s compensation – but she is happy to keep the photo because “the most important thing is that it’s a great picture of me.” For those that aren’t familiar with Evelyn, that says it all.

On GreatGovernance.com, we have posted an amusing interview with Evelyn from the Washington Post that ran in the spring.