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UPDATES: BRIEFLY NOTED

Posted On: Mar. 23, 1997 12:00 AM CST

David J. Saul resigned as premier of Bermuda last week after less than two years in the job and 18 months before the next election has to be called. Polls conducted by the ruling United Bermuda Party have shown that with Mr. Saul as leader, the party would only win a narrow majority. . . .Hans-Juergen Schinzler, former chief executive of German reinsurer Munich Re A.G., has been named chairman of American Re Corp. following the resignation of Paul Inderbitzin. Munich Re acquired American Re in 1996. . . .The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. will use a 5.8% interest rate assumption in valuing 1996 liabilities for its annual list of the 50 worst-funded corporate pension plans, which will be published later this year. For the 1995 list, the PBGC used a 5.3% interest rate assumption to value plan liabilities. . . .Buck Consultants Inc. and Mellon Bank Corp. have signed a definitive agreement in which Mellon will acquire Buck, the eighth-largest benefit consulting firm. Buck shareholders will have the option to receive Mellon common stock or cash. Other terms of the transaction have not been disclosed (BI, Jan. 6). . . . American International Group Inc. has hired Charles Ruoff, a former executive vp at Sedgwick James, to head its newly created Commercial Accounts division of its Domestic Brokerage Group. The division will service clients with revenues of $100 million to $700 million. . . .The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to review a case involving the level of scientific evidence required before expert testimony is admissible in certain lawsuits. In seeking high court review of the case, General Electric Co. vs. Joiner, Robert K. Joiner holds that federal circuit courts have divided three ways over what standards must be met before expert testimony qualifies as admissible evidence. . . .Richard M. Plato, a Houston lawyer, has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges related to his dealings with the now-defunct National Heritage Life Insurance Corp. Prosecutors charged that Mr. Plato stole more than $16 million from National Heritage and concealed more than $39 million in losses on the sale of securities the insurer owned (BI, March 11, 1996).