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Insurance
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March 27, 2024
NC Commissioner Says Insurance Mogul's Argument 'Mistaken'
The North Carolina insurance commissioner asked the state's Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow him to give his take on a group of insurers' lawsuit against embattled mogul Greg Lindberg that alleges he pilfered the insurance companies as owner, saying if the court lets him submit an amicus brief he'll explain how Lindberg's main argument is "mistaken."
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March 27, 2024
Farm Data Co. Wants To Bar Carlton Fields Atty From IP Suit
Lawyers for an agricultural industry data software outfit want a Carlton Fields lawyer banned from participating in a patent dispute with a rival startup because of her in-house involvement at the rival and work on an older trade secrets suit involving the same technology.
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March 27, 2024
6th Circ. Backs Allstate In Worker's Religious Bias Appeal
The Sixth Circuit declined Wednesday to reinstate a former Allstate employee's lawsuit alleging he was fired for expressing faith-based anti-LGBTQ views, saying he failed to rebut the company's argument that he was cut loose for his lackluster performance.
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March 27, 2024
Justices Grapple With Complex $3M Estate Tax Dispute
The U.S. Supreme Court confronted a complicated dispute Wednesday over whether the estate of a deceased building supply company owner should be taxed on $3 million in life insurance proceeds the company used to buy his shares after his death, with two justices seeming to take opposing sides.
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March 27, 2024
Camden Diocese Insurers Demand Ch. 11 Plan Be Halted
Several insurers of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden told a New Jersey bankruptcy judge Wednesday that the approval of the debtor's third modified Chapter 11 plan stripped the insurers' rights and urged the court to implement a stay on the order.
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March 27, 2024
Feds Say Murdaugh Lied, Broke Plea Deal Over $9M Fraud
Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina attorney serving a life sentence for killing his wife and son, was dishonest with the government and should potentially face a harsher prison sentence than the one proposed in a plea agreement on federal charges of stealing at least $9 million from clients, prosecutors said.
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March 27, 2024
Smucker Needn't Pay Multiple Limits For Tainted Jif Row
J.M. Smucker Co. does not have to satisfy the retained limit for 225 underlying claims seeking damages for salmonella-contaminated Jif peanut butter individually before being eligible for coverage, an Ohio federal judge ruled, holding that the underlying claims constituted a single occurrence.
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March 27, 2024
Insurer Ducks Coverage Of Florida Law Firm Dispute
A personal injury law firm involved in a joint venture dispute has no insurance coverage for the litigation, a Florida federal judge has ruled, finding its policy only provided professional services liability, not anything else.
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March 27, 2024
VAT Applies To UK Insurer's Prior Service Pact, Court Rules
Value-added taxes apply to performance fees invoiced to a U.K.-based insurance company by an investment management firm as part of service agreements, a London court said, because those payments occurred outside the duration of the arrangement.
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March 27, 2024
Advice-Of-Counsel Defense Curbed From NC Tax Fraud Trial
Two St. Louis attorneys and a North Carolina insurance agent can't fall back on advice-of-counsel defenses during their upcoming tax fraud trial after a federal judge found that they had failed to follow court orders requiring them to hand over information about the advice they sought.
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March 27, 2024
BCBS Can't Escape Therapy Coverage Suit
A North Carolina federal judge refused to throw out a proposed class action accusing Blue Cross Blue Shield of unlawfully refusing to cover proton beam therapy to treat prostate cancer, saying the case could remain in court if a state worker health plan is added as a defendant.
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March 26, 2024
Insurer Wants $29M Treble Damages Ruling Reversed In NC
An insurer has asked a North Carolina state appeals court to overturn a nearly $29 million ruling penalizing it for failing to defend an employee who crashed a company truck, killing his colleague, citing a policy exclusion for employee injury cases it said the trial court ignored.
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March 26, 2024
Alcoa Retirees Score Partial Win In Life Insurance Fight
Alcoa USA Corp. violated its collectively bargained obligations when it unilaterally cut off company-provided life insurance benefits, but was within its rights to pay retirees to waive their claims to benefits, an Indiana federal judge ruled.
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March 26, 2024
Insurance Mogul's Ex-Political Consultant Wants Own Retrial
A former political consultant charged alongside embattled insurance mogul Greg Lindberg wants their criminal retrial on wire fraud and bribery charges severed, telling a federal court that Lindberg's potential plan to throw him under the bus will destroy any defenses against the government's accusations.
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March 26, 2024
Insurer's Intervention In Sex-Trafficking Coverage Suit Limited
Starr Indemnity & Liability Co. can intervene in another insurer's suit against a hospitality company over coverage for sex trafficking allegations, but only if the other carrier's policy isn't rescinded and the case proceeds to a second phase of litigation, a Texas federal court has ruled.
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March 26, 2024
Geico Alleges $5.6M Billing Scam Targeted NY Insurance Cos.
The insurance giant Geico has sued a New Jersey man and three medical imaging companies in New York federal court, accusing them of a $5.6 million scheme to submit fraudulent bills for unnecessary or otherwise useless tests on auto accident victims.
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March 26, 2024
UK Marine Insurer Investigating Baltimore Bridge Crash
Britannia, a British marine insurer, confirmed Tuesday that it is working with authorities in Baltimore after a container ship destroyed the city's landmark Francis Scott Key Bridge in a collision that experts say is likely to cost the insurance sector billions of dollars in claims.
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March 25, 2024
NC Justices Undo Stacking Auto Insurance Coverage
The North Carolina Supreme Court has overruled 30 years of intermediate appellate court adherence to "stacking" underinsured motorist policies, ruling the plain language of a state law only allows that type of coverage to be combined among policies on a vehicle involved with a collision.
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March 25, 2024
Colo. Justices Say Insurer's Vintage Car Exclusion Holds Up
Colorado's justices on Monday ruled that specialty insurance policies for vintage cars can limit uninsured motorist coverage when they work "in tandem" with a policy for a regular-use vehicle, with the court finding that antique car policies warrant "different treatment."
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March 25, 2024
Berkshire Hathaway Unit's Patent Must Undergo 3 PGRs
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has instituted three post-grant reviews challenging a single Columbia Insurance Co. fire wall hanger patent, following petitions from Simpson Strong-Tie Company Inc.
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March 25, 2024
Geico Beats COVID-19 Auto Rebate Class Action On 2nd Try
A California federal judge has granted Geico's bid for victory in a certified class action alleging the insurance company owed additional refunds to drivers who overpaid their auto insurance premiums during COVID-19 shutdowns, saying the company's rebate program was adequate and did not violate the state's insurance code.
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March 25, 2024
Tesla, Travelers Settle Wrongful Death Coverage Dispute
Tesla and a Travelers unit reached an agreement in the parties' dispute over coverage of a wrongful death lawsuit involving a construction worker at a company factory in Austin, shortly after a Texas federal judge declined to strike three of the insurers' defenses.
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March 25, 2024
NC High Court Vacates Workers' Comp For Weight Loss Surgery
A divided North Carolina Supreme Court has adopted a test for determining when someone is entitled to workers' compensation for treatment related to their workplace injury and, in doing so, reversed a ruling finding a preschool must pay for an employee's weight loss surgery.
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March 25, 2024
No Coverage for Pa. ATV Accident, Insurer Says
Truck Insurance Exchange has told a Pennsylvania state court it should owe no coverage to a policyholder facing a personal injury suit over an all-terrain vehicle accident, saying the policyholder's insurance agent "intentionally" failed to disclose the accident before Truck issued the policy.
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March 25, 2024
Ex-Root Exec Gets 51 Months In Prison For $10.2M Theft
The former chief marketing officer for Columbus, Ohio-based car insurer Root Inc. has been sentenced to 51 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for embezzling more than $10.2 million from his employer and spending it on plastic surgery, a yacht, a plane, and other personal expenses.
Expert Analysis
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Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary
The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.
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DC Ruling Provides Support For Builders Risk Claim Recovery
To deny coverage for builders risk claims, insurers have been increasingly relying on two arguments, both of which have been invalidated in the recent U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decision, South Capitol Bridgebuilders v. Lexington, say Greg Podolak and Cheryl Kozdrey at Saxe Doernberger.
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A Deep Dive Into FSOC's Expansion Of Nonbank Oversight
The Financial Stability Oversight Council's new nonbank guidance, designed to provide the council with added flexibility in risk response, not only modifies the process for designating nonbanks as systemically important institutions, but also sends a clear signal that the FSOC may assume a more active role in addressing financial stability risks across the economy, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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9th Circ. ERISA Ruling Informs DOL's New Fiduciary Proposal
The Ninth Circuit's reasoning in its recent Bugielski v. AT&T decision illustrates the importance of the U.S. Department of Labor's proposals to expand the reach of Employee Retirement Income Security Act third-party compensation disclosure rules and their effect on investment adviser fiduciaries, says Jeff Mamorsky at Cohen & Buckmann.
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AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier
Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.
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Harvard's Broker Fight Shows Active Risk Management Is Key
Harvard University’s recently filed suit against its insurance broker for alleged malpractice in handling the Students for Fair Admissions claim illustrates that risk management requires the concerted effort of policyholders, brokers and insurers to protect against disastrous losses, say William McMichael and David Klein at Pillsbury.
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Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World
As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.
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Series
ESG Around The World: South Korea
Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.
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General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI
With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.
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Illinois Trump Tower Ruling Illuminates Insurance 'Occurrence'
In Continental Casualty v. 401 North Wabash Venture, an Illinois appellate court found that Trump Tower was not entitled to insurance coverage for operating its HVAC system without a permit, helping to further define a widely litigated general liability insurance issue — what constitutes an "occurrence," say Robert Tugander and Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.
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Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information
As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.
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Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD
Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.
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How Shareholder Activists Are Targeting Insurers
As shareholder activists take a closer look at the insurance industry, they are pushing insurers to take value-enhancing and climate-related measures — but insurers can prepare by anticipating activist concerns, maintaining robust shareholder engagement, and considering changes in response to the universal proxy rules, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Breaking Down Insurers' Improper Recoupment Efforts
In a recent trend, insurance companies have sought to recoup defense costs from their policyholders, but there are four counterarguments that policyholders can deploy to fend off these concerning recoupment efforts, say William Passannante and Nicholas Bradley at Anderson Kill.
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M&A Ruling Buoys Loss Calculation Method, R&W Insurance
The recent Southern District of New York decision in Taylor Precision Products v. Larimer affirms the use of EBITDA as a basis to quantify loss, highlighting the potential shortcomings of a traditional seller indemnity compared to representation and warranty insurance, say Mark Schwartz at Lockton, and William O’Neil and Gretchen Scavo at Winston & Strawn.