SCC rejects claims of retention groups

Read it and weep if you had a claim that you thought was covered by American National Lawyers Insurance Reciprocal or Doctors Insurance Reciprocal.

The State Corporation Commission ruled today that you have the same status as a general creditor in the receivership for Reciprocal of America, the parent of the retention groups. Because the commission estimates that ROA has a negative surplus of almost half a billion dollars, your chances of getting even a few cents on the dollar are minuscule.

ROA provided reinsurance for the risk retention groups, which are based in Tennessee, and they were declared insolvent shortly after ROA went under in January 2003.

Attorneys for the groups had contended that ROA and the groups were so closely related that they should be considered a single entity, with the policyholders of the groups having the same priority as those of ROA.

While acknowledging that irregularities probably occurred, the commission said it was powerless to change the priority status established in Virginia Code §38.2-1509.