⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit hears Yaquinto v. CNA Insurance, a dispute over whether a directors and officers liability insurance policy covers a settlement of usury claims under Texas law. The core legal issue is whether civil penalties sought under the Texas usury statute fall within the policy's exclusion for civil or criminal fines, penalties, taxes, sanctions or forfeitures imposed on an insured. The insured, a manufacturer that had extended credit to a business partner, faced usury claims and settled them; as part of that settlement it assigned its claims against its insurer. Those assigned claims are now pressed by Robert Yaquinto, the bankruptcy trustee of the accusing company's parent. The courts below sided with the insurer on every issue, and the trustee appeals. The insurer argues that the Texas usury statute's civil penalties are explicitly excluded. The trustee counters that the exclusion reaches only penalties imposed by government entities, not amounts payable to private litigants. He separately argues that a settlement is not an imposed penalty at all. Two subsidiary issues are also before the court: whether a so-called Stowers claim was validly assigned, and whether an expired insurance policy is an executory contract under bankruptcy law. The trustee says the policy's obligations continued past expiration; the insurer disputes that.

Yaquinto v. CNA Insurance (No. 25-11280) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, argued August 4, 2026.