Delaware Court Deals Blow to Alexion in Securities Insurance Row

A securities class action against Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. was “related” to an SEC investigation and should have been covered under an initial tranche of directors and officers insurance, Delaware’s high court ruled, handing a loss to the pharmaceutical company.

“The securities class action—in the words of the policy—arose out of the circumstances disclosed by Alexion to its first tower insurers” regarding the federal probe, the Delaware Supreme Court said in a Tuesday opinion. It reversed a lower court’s finding that the “second tower” insurers—units of Sompo Holdings Inc., Swiss Re AG, and Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.—owed ...