BestWeek: D&O Policy Exclusions Could Be Invoked in H-P ``Pretexting'' Scandal.OLDWICK, N.J. -- The recent boardroom-spying incident at Hewlett-Packard Co. is putting a spotlight on "pretexting," the latest scandalous MATTER, SCANDALOUS, equity pleading. A false and malicious statement of facts, not relevant to the cause. But nothing which is positively relevant, however harsh or gross the charge may be, can be considered scandalous. 4 Bouv. Inst. n. 4163. 2. corporate behavior to put providers of directors and officers insurance on alert, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. an article in the Sept. 18 issue of BestWeek. H-P has admitted that on the orders of its chairman, Patricia Dunn, it used the controversial data-gathering technique to investigate media leaks from its boardroom. A longtime director, George Keyworth, was accused of being the source of the leak and will be resigning from his position. Dunn also has said she will step down in January. While spying--in this case, company-paid investigators masquerading 1. (networking) masquerading - "NAT" (Linux kernel name). 2. (messaging) masquerading - Hiding the names of internal e-mail client and gateway machines from the outside world by rewriting the "From" address and other headers as the message leaves the as H-P board members and journalists to obtain their phone records--isn't a new practice, D&O insurance experts say they've yet to see such behavior raised in the context of a potential claim. That may soon change if criminal and civil actions emerge from the ongoing federal and state probes of H-P and its directors, the experts say. Also featured in this week's BestWeek is Best's Insurance Composite Index Composite Index A grouping of equities, indexes or other factors combined in a standardized way, providing a useful statistical measure of overall market or sector performance over time. Also known simply as a "composite". , which finished the week of Sept. 14, 2006, at 1,155.50, up 8.25% from a year ago. The composite index reflects the performance of 132 insurance stocks. The week's top performers were Scottish Re Group Ltd.; Aetna Inc.; Fairfax Financial Holdings Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited TSX: FFH.SV NYSE: FFH is a Toronto, Ontario based financial services holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property, casualty and life insurance and reinsurance, investment management and insurance claims Ltd.; Tower Group Inc.; and Humana Inc. The week's bottom performers were Safety Insurance Group Inc.; Kentucky Investors Inc.; Atlantic American Corp.; and White Mountains Insurance Group White Mountains Insurance Group is a holding company with business interests in property and casualty insurance, and reinsurance. The group owns the direct marketing insurer Esurance. External links
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