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Insurance

  • May 15, 2025

    Ex-LA DA's Atty's AI Use 'Affirmatively Misled' Special Master

    The retired California federal judge serving as special master for former Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey's insurance coverage suit — stemming from her husband's holding a gun in their home's doorway in 2020 — has ordered litigation sanctions against Lacey's legal team, finding the lawyers submitted "bogus AI-generated research" that initially tricked the judge.

  • May 15, 2025

    NC Furniture Maker Gets Pretrial Win On Helene Coverage

    A federal judge gave a North Carolina furniture manufacturer a pretrial win in its suit seeking Hurricane Helene coverage from Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., ruling that the policy at issue had an exclusion for flood damages but that the exclusion had a carve-out for "named storms."

  • May 14, 2025

    Insurer Ends Case Blaming Panda Express For Water Leak

    An insurance company on Wednesday dropped its case seeking more than $176,000 from Panda Express Inc. for damages allegedly caused when grease-filled pipes at one of the chain's restaurants backed up and leaked water into a clothing store covered by the insurer.

  • May 14, 2025

    Idaho Murderer's Family Can't Get Coverage, Judge Says

    The wealthy mining family of a mentally ill man who murdered and allegedly ate his victim's genitalia was denied insurance coverage for underlying litigation brought by the decedent's survivors when an Idaho federal judge determined the killing wasn't unforeseen and the killer's subjective motives weren't relevant.

  • May 14, 2025

    NC Progressive Customers Get Class Cert. In Car Value Suit

    A class of Progressive Auto Insurance customers in North Carolina suing over the company's alleged practice of making adjustments that reduced their compensation for total loss claims has been certified by a federal judge.

  • May 14, 2025

    3M Payment Satisfied Policy Requirements, Del. Justices Told

    An attorney for 3M and its subsidiary Aearo Technologies argued that the parent company's payment of defense costs in multidistrict litigation over combat earplugs satisfied the self-insured retention of the subsidiary's insurance policies, telling the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday the insurers "got exactly what they bargained for."

  • May 14, 2025

    Insurer Blamed For Unpaid $3.2M Horse-Related Theft Deal

    A show horse company that said an equestrian and his associate stole prize money, horse sale proceeds and valuable stallion semen blamed an insurer for covering protracted underlying litigation in bad faith, telling a Florida federal court that nothing was left for an eventual $3.2 million settlement.

  • May 13, 2025

    Senators Grill Allstate, State Farm Heads On Disaster Claims

    Officials from Allstate and State Farm defended their claims-handling procedures for natural disasters before a U.S. Senate committee Tuesday amid testimony that the two major homeowners insurers routinely altered estimates and underpaid policyholders to protect their profits.

  • May 13, 2025

    State Farm's Emergency Rate Hike Request Approved In Calif.

    California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced Tuesday that he had adopted a judge's recommendation to approve State Farm General Insurance Co.'s request for an emergency rate increase for property insurance in the state, following January wildfires that have already cost California insurers $12.1 billion.

  • May 13, 2025

    3rd Circ. Upholds Most Of Boy Scouts' Ch. 11 Plan

    The Third Circuit upheld the bulk of the Boy Scouts of America's Chapter 11 plan to deal with thousands of childhood sex abuse claims, but agreed Tuesday with one objecting insurer that its rights were impermissibly altered under the plan.

  • May 13, 2025

    Crypto Co. Seeks $1.9M Coverage For Mining Equipment Theft

    A cryptocurrency company told a Colorado federal court that its Markel insurers failed to cover more than $1.9 million in losses from a theft of mining hardware, saying the insurers have either failed to respond or provided no reasonable explanation for their refusal.

  • May 13, 2025

    Ga. Property Owner Says Insurer Must Pay For Burst Pipes

    A property owner told a Virginia federal court that although its insurer received late notice of property damage after a 2022 winter freeze burst pipes at its Georgia property, it was still owed coverage under a more than $30 million policy because the insurer accepted its reasons for the delay.

  • May 13, 2025

    Texas House OKs Bill Expanding Biz Court Disputes

    A bill that would bring sweeping changes to the state's business court is one step closer to becoming law after approval by the Texas House on Tuesday.

  • May 13, 2025

    Ga. Justices Nix Atty Immunity Doctrine, Uphold Tossing Case

    The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a long-standing attorney immunity doctrine that a lower court found shielded Barnes & Thornburg LLP from a legal malpractice suit, but the justices concluded that a onetime client's claims still fell short.

  • May 13, 2025

    Insurers Say McCarter Can't Blame NY Town In $22M Loan Suit

    Two insurers asked a Connecticut judge to nix four of McCarter & English LLP's defenses in a $22.3 million lawsuit over the firm's role in crafting loans for recreational improvements in a Long Island, New York, town, saying the firm can't blame municipal officials while defending contract and malpractice claims.

  • May 13, 2025

    Fla. Medical Cos. Sue Akerman For Malpractice, Fight Fees Bid

    After Akerman LLP filed suit against Rennova Health Inc. and medical laboratories for unpaid fees last month, the healthcare services company swung back with a motion to dismiss that case, while the labs filed their own malpractice lawsuits.

  • May 13, 2025

    Insurer Calls To Ax Mogul's Receivership Appeal As Sanction

    An insurer seeking to collect on a $524 million arbitration award against convicted insurance mogul Greg Lindberg has asked the North Carolina Court of Appeals to toss Lindberg's attempt at undoing a receivership order as a sanction for allegedly flouting court deadlines.

  • May 13, 2025

    Builder Says Zurich Owes $2.6M For Bronx School Damage

    A contractor said a Zurich unit owes it at least $2.6 million for costs incurred after a construction site collapse at a Bronx school, telling a New York federal court the insurer failed to timely adjust its claim and wrongfully refused to pay out any funds for the loss.

  • May 12, 2025

    Murder Is Not Assault, Drywall Co. Says In Indemnification Bid

    A drywall company told a Texas federal judge that Knight Specialty Insurance Co. cannot use an assault and battery exclusion to escape its obligation to defend the company after one of its employees murdered a woman, saying Monday "murder is different than assault or battery."

  • May 12, 2025

    Asbestos Spiked Cost To Demolish Power Plant, Suit Says

    A subcontractor doing demolition at a former Boston power plant undergoing redevelopment says it is owed more than $22 million for additional work after finding hidden pockets of asbestos in multiple locations.

  • May 12, 2025

    Insurer Must Pay Part Of $2M Construction Defect Settlement

    A Minnesota state appellate court on Monday upheld a lower court's ruling that found an insurer must cover over $170,000 of a $2 million settlement between a marina and a contractor over alleged construction defects.

  • May 12, 2025

    Ex-Liberty VP Can Shield Health Info In Bias Suit, For Now

    A Black former Liberty Mutual vice president and senior talent adviser got a temporary sealing order Monday in her race bias suit against the insurer, with a North Carolina magistrate judge stating that certain documents including her personal health information would be protected until her permanent sealing bid is resolved.

  • May 12, 2025

    Calif. FAIR Plan Must Provide Fire Claim Docs, Couple Says

    A couple displaced by toxic contamination in their home after the Los Angeles wildfires asked a California state court on Monday to force the state's last-resort insurer to turn over all claim-related documents to policyholders who have requested them, saying the insurer's refusal to do so is unlawful.

  • May 12, 2025

    Will Justices Finally Rein In Universal Injunctions?

    The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to address for the first time Thursday the propriety of universal injunctions, a tool federal judges have increasingly used to broadly halt presidential orders and policy initiatives, and whose validity has haunted the high court's merits and emergency dockets for more than a decade.

  • May 12, 2025

    Cadwalader Drops Data Breach Coverage Suit Against Lloyd's

    Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP and a Lloyd's of London syndicate it sued seeking coverage for litigation stemming from a 2022 data breach have agreed to end their dispute in North Carolina's business court with prejudice, according to a joint stipulation from the parties.

Expert Analysis

  • Managing Anti-Corporate Juror Views Revealed By CEO Killing

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    After the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson laid bare deep-seated anti-corporate sentiments among the public, companies in numerous industries will have to navigate the influence of related juror biases on litigation dynamics, say Jorge Monroy and Keith Pounds at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Opinion

    California Climate Lawsuit Bill Is Constitutionally Flawed

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    A bill in the California Legislature that would let victims of climate-related disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires sue oil and gas producers for spreading misinformation about climate change is too vague, retroactive and focused on one industry to survive constitutional scrutiny, says Kyla Christoffersen Powell at the Civil Justice Association of California.

  • How Law Firms Can Counteract The Loneliness Epidemic

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    The legal industry is facing an urgent epidemic of loneliness, affecting lawyer well-being, productivity, retention and profitability, and law firm leaders should take concrete steps to encourage the development of genuine workplace connections, says Michelle Gomez at Littler and Gwen Mellor Romans at Herald Talent.

  • 5 Keys To Building Stronger Attorney-Client Relationships

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    Attorneys are often focused on being seen as the expert, but bonding with clients and prospects by sharing a few key personal details provides the basis for a caring, trusted and profoundly deeper business relationship, says Deb Feder at Feder Development.

  • Drug Kickback Ruling Will Make FCA Liability Harder To Prove

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    The First Circuit's ruling in U.S. v. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, requiring the government to prove but-for causation to establish False Claims Act liability based on violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, raises the bar for FCA enforcement and deepens a circuit split that the U.S. Supreme Court may need to resolve, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

  • Notable Q4 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    In a continuation of trends in property and casualty insurance class actions, last quarter insurers struggled with defending the merits and class certification of sales tax and fee suits, and labor depreciation cases, but succeeded in dismissing privacy class actions at the pleading stages, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.

  • Evidence Rule May Expand Use Of Out-Of-Court Statements

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    A proposed amendment to Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A) would broaden the definition of nonhearsay, reflects a more pragmatic approach to regulating the admissibility of out-of-court statements by declarant-witnesses, and could help level the playing field between prosecutors and criminal defendants, say attorneys at Hangley Aronchick.

  • Series

    Racing Corvettes Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I use when racing Corvettes have enhanced my legal practice in several ways, because driving, like practicing law, requires precision, awareness and a good set of brakes — complete with the wisdom to know how and when to use them, says Kat Mateo at Olshan Frome.

  • Opinion

    Attorneys Must Act Now To Protect Judicial Independence

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    Given the Trump administration's recent moves threatening the independence of the judiciary, including efforts to impeach judges who ruled against executive actions, lawyers must protect the rule of law and resist attempts to dilute the judicial branch’s authority, says attorney Bhavleen Sabharwal.

  • The Math Of Cross-Examination: Less Is More, More Is Less

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    When conducting cross-examination at trial, attorneys should remember that “less is more, and more is less” — limiting both the scope of questioning and the length of each query in order to control the witness’s testimony and keep the factfinders’ attention, says Thomas Innes at the Defender Association of Philadelphia.

  • Appealing An Interlocutory Order On Insurer Duty To Defend

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    A recent First Circuit decision on a motion regarding an insurer's duty to defend underlying litigation highlights how policyholders may be able to pursue immediate appeals of interlocutory orders, especially in light of other circuit courts' stances on this issue, say attorneys at Anderson Kill.

  • Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises

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    “No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.

  • How Design Thinking Can Help Lawyers Find Purpose In Work

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    Lawyers everywhere are feeling overwhelmed amid mass government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits — but a design-thinking framework can help attorneys navigate this uncertainty and find meaning in their work, say law professors at the University of Michigan.

  • Tools For Witness Control That Go Beyond Leading Questions

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    Though leading questions can be efficient and effective for constraining a witness’s testimony, this strategy isn’t appropriate for every trial and pretrial scenario, so techniques like headlining and looping can be deployed during direct examination, depositions and even witness interviews, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Del. Justices' D&O Ruling Clarifies 'Related' Claim Analysis

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    In its recent decision in the Alexion Pharmaceuticals coverage case, the Delaware Supreme Court adopted a "meaningful linkage" standard for relatedness analysis, providing further guidance to Delaware policyholders on how to navigate those directors and officers insurance disputes, say attorneys at Hunton.

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