More Insurance Coverage
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June 06, 2024
Justices Affirm Taxing Of Estate On Insurance Payout
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed on Thursday a decision denying a tax refund to the estate of an owner of a building materials company that used a payout from his $3.5 million life insurance policy to purchase his shares in the business.
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June 05, 2024
Aluminum Co. Seeks Reversal Of $10M Coverage Cap
An aluminum supplier is urging the Fourth Circuit to reverse a lower court's ruling capping its damages at $10 million because of a molten material endorsement, arguing that the fire and water damage it sustained is separate and not subject to any sublimit or exclusion.
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June 05, 2024
Debevoise-Led Ambac Unveils 2 Deals Totaling $702M
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP-led Ambac Financial Group on Wednesday announced two deals totaling $702 million, as the insurance holding company said it agreed to sell its financial guarantee business for $420 million in cash and separately announced that it will purchase a majority stake in Beat Capital Partners for roughly $282 million.
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June 05, 2024
Attys For NY Life Workers Want $6.3M Cut Of $19M Deal
Current and former New York Life workers asked a New York federal court Wednesday to approve nearly $6.3 million in attorney fees in a $19 million proposed class action deal to end a suit accusing the insurance giant of unlawfully retaining shoddy proprietary investment options in their retirement plans.
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June 04, 2024
9th Circ. Backs Agency Denial Of Partnership's Crop Policy
The Federal Crop Insurance Corp. reasonably interpreted a policy that was canceled by an insurer after a farming partnership filed a claim seeking the full $1.9 million limit, the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday, affirming a decision backing the FCIC's conclusion that the operation didn't qualify for coverage.
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June 04, 2024
NM Cannabis Co. Says Insurers Can't Toss Medical Weed Row
A group of insurers can't escape a proposed class action demanding they cover medical marijuana costs, a cannabis company and several of its patients said, telling a New Mexico federal court that medical cannabis is a medically necessary behavioral health service that must be covered.
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May 30, 2024
Mich. Supreme Court To Hear Town Benefits Breach Case
The Michigan Supreme Court has said it will consider whether a village was entitled to coverage for damages it incurred in lawsuits from former employees who sued after the village decided to stop providing lifetime healthcare benefits, ordering oral arguments on an insurer's challenge to a state court's ruling.
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May 30, 2024
NC Insurance Mogul Chases Acquittal After Bribery Retrial
An insurance magnate besieged by litigation and twice convicted on charges of trying to bribe North Carolina's insurance commissioner is looking to undo the latest jury verdict, saying there wasn't enough evidence during the second trial to convict.
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May 29, 2024
Honeywell Ends Suit Over $8.75M Bond For Army Base Work
A Pennsylvania federal court has approved a request from Honeywell International Inc. to drop its lawsuit over an $8.75 million performance bond whose issuer allegedly balked at paying to replace a bankrupt subcontractor for a long-delayed job at the Tobyhanna Army Depot.
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May 29, 2024
Wash. Panel Ends Quest Diagnostics' COVID Coverage Quest
Quest Diagnostics' insurers don't owe the medical testing lab COVID-19-related business loss coverage, a Washington appeals court said, ruling the company failed to show that the presence of the virus resulted in physical loss or damage to its property.
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May 28, 2024
Colo. Justices To Mull Atty Advice Defense In Securities Cases
The Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the advice a defendant's business attorney gave him is relevant to his state of mind in a securities fraud case, according to an order Tuesday granting the state's petition for appeal.
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May 28, 2024
OpenText Says Excess Insurer Can't Join Merger Spat
OpenText urged a Michigan federal court to keep an excess insurer out of a coverage dispute stemming from an underlying class action over the software company's merger with Covisint, arguing that the insurer's reasons behind wanting to intervene are speculative and unripe.
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May 24, 2024
Foley & Lardner Given All-Clear To Exit SEC Suit
A North Carolina federal judge permitted Foley & Lardner LLP on Friday to exit as counsel for a Malta-based registered investment adviser that is defending claims in a $75 million lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, despite the judge's previous concerns about the firm's withdrawal.
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May 22, 2024
Insurance Co. Says Ex-Underwriter 'Lured' Away Colleagues
An insurance brokerage and its affiliate have accused a former high-ranking company official of decamping for a competitor and encouraging colleagues to follow suit, according to a complaint designated Wednesday to North Carolina Business Court.
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May 21, 2024
Strategic Hiring Was The New Normal For BigLaw In 2023
The 400 largest law firms by headcount in the U.S. grew more slowly in 2023 than in the previous two years, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP surpassed the 3,000-attorney threshold, according to the latest Law360 ranking.
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May 21, 2024
The Law360 400: Tracking The Largest US Law Firms
The legal market expanded more tentatively in 2023 than in previous years amid a slowdown in demand for legal services, especially in transactions, an area that has been sluggish but is expected to quicken in the near future.
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May 21, 2024
Georgia State Farm Office, Ex-Worker Settle Overtime Suit
A State Farm franchise reached a settlement with a former insurance agent producer, putting to rest claims the company misclassified him as an overtime-exempt salaried worker, failing to pay him overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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May 20, 2024
Patients Urge 9th Circ. To Deny UBH Petition In Claim Fight
Patients alleging United Behavioral Health mismanaged their mental health and substance use disorder treatment claims urged the Ninth Circuit not to grant the insurance company's petition for appellate court intervention in the consolidated action, arguing the effort was inappropriate and unjustified.
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May 17, 2024
BCBS Says 'Clear' Contract Ends Ex-NBA Player's Suit
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina pressed a state district court to throw out a lawsuit brought by retired NBA star Rodney Rogers that alleges in-home nursing was suddenly denied, arguing the "clear language" of his benefits doesn't provide for long-term, in-home nursing.
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May 15, 2024
State Farm Can't Dodge TCPA Suit Over Robocalls
State Farm must face a proposed class action alleging it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by using a third-party company to make automated telemarketing calls without prior consent, an Illinois federal judge has ruled, saying the suit states a plausible claim of the insurer's vicarious liability for the robocalls.
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May 15, 2024
Feds Urge Prison For Convicted Baby Formula Fraudster
Urging the judge to communicate the gravity of white collar crime, federal prosecutors in New York asked Wednesday that a Staten Island man get at least 2.25 years in prison after he pled guilty to forging baby formula prescriptions as part of a scheme to defraud insurers of $1.9 million.
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May 15, 2024
NC Insurance Mogul, Adviser Found Guilty Of Bribery — Again
A federal jury in North Carolina on Wednesday convicted embattled insurance mogul Greg E. Lindberg and his former political consultant on federal bribery charges for the second time after a weeklong trial in Charlotte.
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May 14, 2024
Scooter Rider Not A 'Pedestrian' In PIP Suit, NJ Justices Affirm
An electric scooter operator who was struck by an automobile is not entitled to personal injury protection benefits under his auto policy, a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed Tuesday, saying the operator does not fall within the definition of "pedestrian" for purposes of the state's No-Fault Act.
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May 14, 2024
Insurer Files Another Suit Over Firm's Malpractice Coverage
After dropping a complaint in Washington federal court seeking a declaration that it does not have to indemnify Harris Sliwoski LLP for potential malpractice liability related to a $31 million judgment, Evanston Insurance Co. filed a similar action in New York on Tuesday.
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May 10, 2024
DC Tax Atty Can't Use Ch. 7 To Ditch Depo In $19M Theft Suit
A corporate D.C. tax attorney accused of bilking a former client out of $19 million via a captive insurance scam will be deposed, despite a stay in the Maryland federal case against him and his firm after both filed for bankruptcy.
Expert Analysis
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.
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Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content
From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.
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Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.
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How HHS Discrimination Rule Affects Gender-Affirming Care
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new final rule, which reinterprets the Affordable Care Act's anti-discrimination provision, greatly clarifies protections for gender-affirming care and will require compliance considerations from sponsors and administrators of most group health plans, say attorneys at McDermott.
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A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System
As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data
Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.
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6th Circ. Bias Ruling Shows Job Evaluations Are Key Defense
In Wehrly v. Allstate, the Sixth Circuit recently declined to revive a terminated employee’s federal and state religious discrimination and retaliation claims, illustrating that an employer’s strongest defense in such cases is a documented employment evaluation history that justifies an adverse action, says Michael Luchsinger at Segal Mccambridge.
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FDIC Bank Disclosure Rules Raise Important Questions
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new rules mandating disclosures for nonbanks offering deposit products leave traditional financial institutions in a no-man's land between fintech-oriented requirements and the reality of personal service demanded by customers, say Paul Clark and Casey Jennings at Seward & Kissel.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Follow The Iron Rule Of Trial Logic
Many diligent and eager attorneys include every good fact, point and rule in their trial narratives — spurred by the gnawing fear they’ll be second-guessed for leaving something out — but this approach ignores a fundamental principle of successful trial lawyering, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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The Art Of Asking: Leveraging Your Contacts For Referrals
Though attorneys may hesitate to ask for referral recommendations to generate new business, research shows that people want to help others they know, like and trust, so consider who in your network you should approach and how to make the ask, says Rebecca Hnatowski at Edwards Advisory.