Aldi Unit, Warehouse Settle Suit Over Rodent-Ravaged Sweets

By Hope Patti

A New Jersey federal court has permanently tossed a suit brought by an Aldi branch and its insurer seeking payback from a warehouse operator after rodents feasted on hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of chocolate stored there, signing off on a settlement.

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Gas Co. Not Covered For Pollution MDL, NY Court Rules

By Jennifer Mandato

A petroleum company is not owed coverage for an underlying multidistrict litigation over remediation for groundwater contamination that the suit alleges was caused by a gasoline additive, a New York state appeals court said, holding that pollution exclusions in multiple of its policies applied to the contamination.

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W.Va. Homeowner's Depreciation Suit Survives Dismissal

By Jennifer Mandato

A West Virginia federal court declined to toss a homeowner's lawsuit accusing an insurer, broker and loss adjuster of unlawfully depreciating the value of his home after a flood, determining that the homeowner met the pleading standards to defeat dismissal.

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Colo. Restaurant Says Insurer Must Cover Plumbing Damage

By Hope Patti

A Denver restaurant said it is owed coverage for its property losses and a neighbor's demand for reimbursement after a sewage leak allegedly caused by defective plumbing work damaged a commercial condominium complex, telling a Colorado state court its insurer unreasonably denied or delayed coverage.

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Delta Dental Wants Antitrust Claims Standard Decided Now

By Katryna Perera

Delta Dental has asked an Illinois federal judge to decide now — prior to ruling on a class certification bid — on the standard of review applicable in a case launched by service providers alleging the dental insurance system and its members are violating antitrust law through a $13 billion scheme to restrict competition.

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Calif. Long-Tail Ruling Continues Policyholder-Friendly Trend

The California Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Cement & Gypsum, rejecting horizontal policy exhaustion, was the latest in a string of its decisions involving insurance coverage for continuous or progressive injury claims that favor policyholders, say Billie Mandelbaum and David Goodwin at Covington.

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Opinion

Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

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Northwestern Hires 'Mediocre' Minorities Over Men, Suit Says

By Lauren Berg

Northwestern University's law school favors hiring women and minority faculty candidates with "mediocre and undistinguished records" over better-credentialed white men, a conservative group claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Chicago federal court, a year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education admissions.

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Ex-Senior Apple Atty To Pay SEC $1.1M For Insider Trading

By Gina Kim

Apple's former director of corporate law must pay $1.1 million to securities regulators stemming from criminal insider trading charges to which he pled guilty in 2022, a New Jersey federal judge said Tuesday, finding that his "egregious" violations warrant the penalty since "his very job" was to ensure compliance with securities laws.

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Giuliani Disbarred In New York Over Election Falsehoods

By Alex Wittenberg

A New York appellate court Tuesday barred Rudolph Giuliani from practicing law in New York, citing ample evidence that the former New York City mayor made repeated false statements about the 2020 presidential election.

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Trump's NY Sentencing Pushed To Sept. After Immunity Ruling

By Frank G. Runyeon

A New York judge on Tuesday delayed Donald Trump's criminal sentencing from July 11 until Sept. 18 to give prosecutors and the former president's attorneys time to argue over whether the U.S. Supreme Court's immunity decision vacates his conviction.

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Bond-Rigging Suit Revived Over Judge's Wife's Stock Conflict

By Katryna Perera

The Second Circuit on Tuesday revived a proposed class action accusing big banks of rigging corporate bonds, ruling that the New York federal judge who previously dismissed the suit should have recused himself due to his wife's ownership of Bank of America stock.

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Ex-Bankruptcy Judge Will Be Deposed Over Atty Romance

By Ryan Boysen

The former Texas bankruptcy judge whose secret relationship with a Jackson Walker LLP attorney ignited a major judicial ethics scandal has agreed to sit for a seven-hour deposition to answer questions about the episode.

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Armstrong Teasdale Pulls Back From SLC As 7 Join Dentons

By Andrea Keckley

Armstrong Teasdale LLP told Law360 Pulse on Tuesday that it plans to redirect resources from Salt Lake City, saying it is "not the right time for us to be there" after a Dentons member firm announced the day prior that it had hired seven of Armstrong Teasdale's Utah-based litigators.

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Data Breach Suits Drive Consumer Protection Docket Growth

By Allison Grande

Federal consumer protection lawsuits are back on the rise after nearly a decade of steady decline, with disputes over increasingly prevalent data breaches fueling the uptick, according to a Wednesday report by Lex Machina.

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After Fischer, Judge Releases Atty Convicted In Jan. 6 Riot

By Brandon Lowrey

A D.C. federal judge ordered the release of a Georgia attorney imprisoned for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, saying his pending appeal would likely result in his freedom after the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed an obstruction of Congress law used to convict him and others involved in the assault.

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YSL Judge Shares Transcript Of Secret Witness Meeting

By Kelcey Caulder

The transcript of a secret meeting involving Fulton County prosecutors, a key state's witness and the judge overseeing the Young Slime Life case was released Monday, shortly after it was announced that proceedings in the case would be paused until an outside judge reviews motions for the judge's recusal.

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Pa. Clerk Named After Departures Spur 'Judicial Emergency'

By James Boyle

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania's president judge has selected an interim clerk of courts to take over the office's duties following last week's sudden resignation of the elected clerk and the Supreme Court's declaration of a judicial emergency.

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Depo Gets Dad Ousted From Sesame Place Race Bias Case

By Matthew Santoni

The father of a child who was allegedly snubbed by costumed performers at a Pennsylvania theme park has been removed from consolidated race bias litigation after plaintiffs' counsel said the father had lied during a deposition, with a Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday granting a bid by other families to sever their case from his.

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Dentons Says Ex-Client Can't Escape $4.7M Fee Suit In Texas

By Emily Johnson

International law firm Dentons Europe CS LLP urged a Texas federal court Tuesday to keep alive its suit accusing a Houston-area crisis response business of failing to pay more than $4.7 million in legal fees and said the correct venue was Texas, not England, as the business has argued.

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DLA Piper Tells Judge Fired Associate Got Proper Discovery

By Pete Brush

Counsel for DLA Piper LLP told a Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday the firm has provided responsive information to a former associate who claims she was unlawfully fired while pregnant, adding it is confident her termination was lawful.

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