ACADEMIC ARTICLES

La nature du devoir de prudence et diligence des administrateurs de sociétés
Stéphane Rousseau

PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES

L’ouragan Katrina, la plus grande catastrophe naturelle de l’histoire américaine
Rémi Moreau                                                                                                      

Contractual Freedom and Compulsory Insurance : an Imperative Compromise?
A Comparative Study in Quebec and French Law – Part One
Jason Hadid                                                                                                    

Financement des régimes de retraite : crise ou cri d’alarme ?
Groupe-conseil Aon                                                                                             

Assurance pour les administrateurs de régimes de retraite et
d’avantages sociaux
Groupe-conseil Aon                                                                                

Physician Satisfaction in the Managed Care Era
Daniel Simonet                                                                              

Il était une fois dans l’est… des sirènes
Jean-Bernard Guindon et Pierre Frattolillo                                              

Major Dimensions of Risk Management Implementation
James Greenhill                                                                                     

Current Events
under the responsibility of Rémi Moreau

1. Quelques chiffres préliminaires sur les catastrophes naturelles de 2005
assumées par l’industrie américaine de l’assurance – 2. La nature s’est
déchaînée en Europe, en cette fin d’été 2005 – 3. Les accidents mortels
de la route au Québec – 4. Le risque cybernétique et son assurance en pleine
croissance – 5. Série noire aoûtienne dans le transport aérien – 6. Les nouvelles
règles de Solvabilité II élaborées par la Commission européenne – 7. Les dix
premiers courtiers mondiaux en 2004 – 8. Le réassureur American Re coûte
cher à la maison mère munichoise – 9. L’assurance dans le monde en 2004 –
10. Retour à la profitabilité pour la réassurance française en 2004 – 11. Axa et
le marché japonais – 12. La titrisation, une innovation majeure dans le milieu
de l’assurance – 13. La Banque CIBC règle hors cours un recours collectif
dans la foulée de l’affaire Enron – 14. L’Australie adopte une législation impo-
sant un code de conduite aux assureurs en matière d’indemnisation et de
souscription – 15. Les attentats de Madrid ont coûté 211,6 millions d’euros –
16. Le tsunami d’Asie, six mois plus tard – 17. Croissance des groupes d’auto-
assurance en Californie dans le domaine des accidents du travail et des institu-
tions financières – 18. La fumée secondaire serait responsable annuellement
de coûts médicaux et indirects totalisant 10 milliards de dollars aux États-Unis
– 19. Equitas a réglé, en août, six dossiers de sinistres liés à l’asbestose – 20. Le
coût du réchauffement climatique chiffré par les assureurs britanniques

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The Financial Services Commission of Ontario

La nature du devoir de prudence et diligence des administrateurs de sociétés par actions canadiennes et québécoises

Stéphane Rousseau

The goal of this article is to throw into relief the pertinence of the nexus of contracts theory in Quebec and Canadian Corporate Law. In the first part, we will introduce the theory and its influence on the way of looking the role of the legislation governing corporations. In the second part, we will use that theoretical frame in order to discuss of the nature of the duty of officers to act in due care and vigilance in the context of both Quebec and Canadian Corporate Law.

Keywords : Corporate Law, nexus of contracts theory, officers, duty of care.

L’ouragan Katrina, la plus grande catastrophe naturelle de l’histoire américaine
Rémi Moreau

Hurricane Katrina, a Category 4 storm on the Safir-Simpson scale, first slammed into Louisiana, Monday morning, August 29, with 230 kph winds before sweeping across Mississippi and Alabama. City of New Orleans was 80% flooded because a 60-meter breach in a levee caused waters from Lake Pontchartrain to pour into New Orleans’s city center. Much of the city sits below sea level. Also, violent winds severely damaged Mississippi coastal and destroyed Biloxi. Officials estimated a million people had left the apocalyptic area. Katrina turned one of America’s most charming cities into a vast cesspoll tainted with toxic chemicals and human waste, causing disease issue. Few days after the hurricane, 80 000 people were still trapped in the submerged city of New Orleans. One month later, the non final death toll reached 1225 in those five Sates hit by Katrina.

Majority of reinsurers and special agencies has increased their estimates for damages stemming from Katrina to between $30 and $50 billion in insurance losses and more than $125 billion in total economic losses. Katrina could become the most expensive insurance loss in U.S. history, surpassing Hurricane Andrew ($22 billion) and the terror attack of September 11, 2001 ($32 billion). However, it is still too early to tell if some insurers and reinsurers should be able to absorb the loss of the biggest urban disaster the USA has ever seen. The author does not miss to mention insurability problems exacerbated by global warming.

This article also points out humanitarian and financial support from United States and countries around the world and the first lessons to be drawn from that drama.

Keywords : Flood, US humanitarian disaster, insurance and reinsurance industry, humanitarian support, prevention.

Contractual Freedom and Compulsory Insurance: an Imperative Compromise? A Comparative Study in Quebec and French Law – Part One
Jason Hadid

This comparative paper analyses the disparity between Quebec and French Law with respect to compulsory insurance and highlights the importance attached to the principle of contractual freedom in Quebec. The steadfast development and protection of this principle in Quebec may be attributed to the influence of North-American capitalism and long-standing principles of both the Anglo-Saxon and Napoleonic legal traditions while, in France, an ever-growing trend towards the collective protection of the public has overshadowed any individual right to contractual freedom with respect to many activities. With 119 compulsory insurance stipulations forming an integral chapter of the French Code des assurances, one begins to wonder whether Insurance Law in Quebec will follow suit. Could this ever occur? Should it? The legal repercussions of such a development (such as the correlative obligation to insure necessarily imposed on private insurance companies) are examined, as well as the current state of Quebec and French Law pertaining to compulsory insurance and contractual freedom. This Part One of a two-part series deals entirely with French Law. Part Two, which deals with Quebec Law, will be published in the April 2006 issue.

Physician Satisfaction in the Managed Care Era
Daniel Simonet

The objective of this article is to shed light on physician satisfaction (primary care physicians and specialists) in the Managed Care context. Most surveys to date have brought in mixed results. The article reviews the physician’s perception of cost-control mechanisms, autonomy, and the expression of physician discontent in this new era.

Keyword: Physician, Satisfaction, HMO, Managed Care.