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What M&A trends will transform the 2024 insurance landscape?
It is widely accepted that 2023 was one of the worst years in recent memory for M&A activity.
In pari delicto is a centuries-old doctrine that prevents courts from intervening to resolve disputes between two wrongdoers. Rooted in principles of equity, in pari delicto acts as an affirmative defense to deny relief to an injured party where both parties are equally at fault. As explained by the Court of Appeals, the doctrine serves two important public policy purposes: (1) deterring illegality by denying judicial relief to an admitted wrongdoer and (2) deterring courts from involving themselves in cases between two wrongdoers. Kirschner v. KPMG LLP, 15 N.Y.3d 446, 464 (2010).
New York courts are often tasked with determining the application of the in pari delicto defense to acts committed by a corporation's agent. Corporations act through their officers and agents and, when those agents commit bad acts or fraud, those bad acts can be imputed to the corporation, regardless of whether those acts are authorized or known by the corporation. See id. at 465-66. The adverse interest exception to this fundamental agency principle prevents an agent's acts from being imputed to the corporation and, thus, bars the application of the in pari delicto defense.
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It is widely accepted that 2023 was one of the worst years in recent memory for M&A activity.
Publication
The ongoing conflicts and further geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, coupled with upcoming elections in a number of key countries including the US and the UK, make 2024 challenging to predict what impact this will have on the insurance sector.
Publication
On 6 September 2022, the European Commission (EC) prohibited Illumina’s acquisition of Grail, bringing to an end the administrative stage of a legal saga that has attracted interest beyond competition law specialists.
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