Insurance

  • April 15, 2024

    Tax Attys, Broker Peddled 'Financial Fantasy,' NC Jury Told

    A North Carolina federal jury on Monday heard a series of secret recordings at the start of a tax fraud trial in which an insurance agent and a St. Louis attorney unwittingly pitched an undercover IRS agent on a way to decrease taxable income — or what the government characterized as a "financial fantasy."

  • April 15, 2024

    Allstate Asks Court To Order Takedown Of 'Smear' Posts

    Allstate asked a Colorado federal judge to order a former independent contractor to remove false statements on his website accusing the insurer of selling customers' personal information to criminals, arguing it has been irreparably injured and that the defendant has signaled he has no plans to stop his smear campaign.

  • April 15, 2024

    Geico Must Arbitrate Fraud Claims Against Chiropractors

    The Third Circuit held in a precedential opinion Monday that Geico must arbitrate three lawsuits accusing chiropractic practices of providing unnecessary services totaling $10 million, pointing to documentation indicating that disputes connected to personal injury protection benefits must be resolved out of court.

  • April 15, 2024

    Baltimore Taps DiCello Levitt, Saltz Mongeluzzi For Key Bridge

    The city of Baltimore announced Monday it has hired DiCello Levitt and Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky PC as it plans legal action against those responsible for a container ship destroying the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, the same day FBI agents boarded the ship as part of a criminal investigation.

  • April 15, 2024

    Diocese Says Insurer Must Refund Sex Abuse Claims Defense

    Certain underwriters at Lloyd's of London must pay defense expenses related to sexual abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, the diocese has told a New York court, maintaining that its bankruptcy proceedings do not relieve the insurer of reimbursement requirements.

  • April 15, 2024

    Calif. AG Backs Unfair Competition Claims Against State Farm

    California policyholders should be able to assert claims under the state's unfair competition law independent of a one-year claim filing deadline under their insurance policy, state Attorney General Rob Bonta told the California Supreme Court, backing a San Francisco homeowner's unfair competition claims against a State Farm unit.

  • April 15, 2024

    Tyson Can't Have Reinsurance Row In UK, Appeal Court Rules

    A London appeals court on Monday dismissed a bid by a Tyson Foods Inc. subsidiary to overturn a ruling that prevented the food giant from bringing proceedings in England in a jurisdictional row involving two reinsurance contracts over fire coverage.

  • April 15, 2024

    State Farm, HOA Settle Wire Fraud D&O Coverage Dispute

    A State Farm unit and a property owners association reached a conditional settlement agreement in the association's suit seeking directors and officers coverage for underlying litigation stemming from a wire fraud incident, they told a California federal court.

  • April 12, 2024

    Anthem Wants Kwok Ch. 11 Trustee To Foot Mediation Bill

    Anthem has objected to plans from the Chapter 11 trustee overseeing Chinese exile Ho Wan Kwok's estate to force it and hundreds of other avoidance action defendants into mediation, questioning the merits of the case against it and arguing the insurer should not be forced to cover half of the costs of the efforts.

  • April 12, 2024

    Illinois Firm, Ex-Partner Resolve $2.4M Client-Poaching Suit

    An Illinois insurance defense law firm and a former partner have settled a nearly six-year suit alleging the attorney poached clients while leaving the firm in 2016, with both sides agreeing to dismiss claims the lawyer caused $2.4 million in damages to his former employer.

  • April 12, 2024

    Judge Rejects Tehum's $54M Bid To Resolve Injury Suits

    A Texas bankruptcy judge has rejected prison healthcare company Tehum Care Services Inc.'s $54 million settlement to resolve hundreds of personal injury suits while declining the claimant committee's request to dismiss the Chapter 11 case.

  • April 12, 2024

    Jackson Lewis Hires Employment Litigator In Baltimore

    Employer-side firm Jackson Lewis PC has added a former U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission litigator to its Baltimore office who says her experience with the federal bias watchdog gives her a comprehensive view on how to advise clients.

  • April 12, 2024

    Ala. Church's Hurricane Claims Are Covered, 11th Circ. Rules

    There was enough evidence for an Alabama federal jury to conclude that a church suffered nearly $170,000 in covered property damage from Hurricane Sally, the Eleventh Circuit has ruled, rejecting an insurer's argument that the church's claims failed as a matter of law under a wear and tear exclusion.

  • April 12, 2024

    Mich. Panel Says Out-Of-State Car Accident Isn't Covered

    A Michigan resident is not entitled to insurance benefits for a car accident under the state's no-fault law, a state appeals court has ruled, reinstating its previous decision that claimants are not eligible for state-provided benefits for injuries arising from out-of-state accidents.

  • April 12, 2024

    Woman Pleads Guilty To $1.3M COVID Tax Credit Fraud

    A California woman pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining $2 million in COVID-19 government loans and falsely claiming $1.3 million in tax credits, crimes that could result in a 20-year prison sentence, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • April 12, 2024

    The Week In Trump: Catch Up On The Ex-President's Cases

    Donald Trump and his legal team proved that they are nothing if not persistent as they repeatedly tried — and failed — to hit the brakes on the former president's porn star hush money trial in Manhattan.

  • April 12, 2024

    Chubb Unit Must Contribute To Fatal Crash Deal, Lowe's Says

    A Chubb unit wrongly refused to contribute its $10 million policy limits to a settlement in a Texas state court suit over a crash involving a Lowe's employee that killed an infant and seriously injured the child's parents, the home improvement giant has told a North Carolina federal court.

  • April 12, 2024

    Absent Link To $10M Root Suit, Exec's Family Info Off Limits

    An Ohio federal magistrate judge has shut down two subpoenas directed at the wife and father of an advertising executive named in car insurance company Root Inc.'s $10 million racketeering and fraud suit, writing in the order that the insurer cannot simply assume documents are relevant in requesting them.

  • April 12, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen footwear brand Dr. Martens hit online retailer Temu with a passing off claim, Welsh soccer club Swansea sue its former head coach Russell Martin, Russian diamond tycoon Dmitry Tsvetkov file a claim against his former business Equix Group Ltd., and U.S. bank Omega Financial Corporation hit African oil and gas company Tende Energy with a claim. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • April 11, 2024

    UnitedHealth Patients' Addiction Coverage Suit Revived, Again

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived for the second time a proposed class action accusing UnitedHealth of wrongly rejecting coverage for outpatient substance use disorder treatments in violation of federal benefits law, finding the plaintiff plausibly alleged the insurer employed an excessively strict review process for those claims.

  • April 11, 2024

    Judge Invalidates Software Patents Over Generic Parts

    A Nebraska federal judge ruled Thursday that agricultural software developer AGI Suretrack's claims for a series of software hardware patents were too abstract to be valid.

  • April 11, 2024

    Energy Co. Says Insurer Can't Execute $21M Death Settlement

    A Berkley unit should be barred from executing a $21 million policy-limit settlement demand in a wrongful death suit, an energy company facing a separate suit told a Texas federal court, saying it will be left without coverage for a competing settlement demand if the insurer exhausts its policy limits.

  • April 11, 2024

    Ex-Geico Agents Ask 6th Circ. To Revive Classification Suit

    A group of former Geico agents asked the Sixth Circuit to revive their claims that they were misclassified and denied benefits, challenging the accuracy and relevance of plan documents that the lower court reviewed when dismissing the workers' suit.

  • April 11, 2024

    Insurer Drops Suit After Evidence Clears Stihl In Fire Case

    Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co. agreed Wednesday to drop a lawsuit in North Carolina federal court seeking to hold Stihl Inc. liable for fire damages at a policyholder's home after evidence showed a hedge-trimmer battery didn't cause the fire.

  • April 11, 2024

    Syracuse Diocese Told Its Ch. 11 Plan Needs More Work

    A New York bankruptcy judge Thursday told the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse that its Chapter 11 plan disclosure statement needs another round of revisions to address objections by insurance carriers claiming the plan impairs their contractual rights.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons

    Author Photo

    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from consumer fraud to employment — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including coercive communications with putative class members and Article III standing at the class certification stage.

  • Rebuttal

    High Court Should Maintain Insurer Neutrality In Bankruptcy

    Author Photo

    While a recent Law360 guest article argues that the U.S. Supreme Court should endorse insurer standing in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum, doing so would create a playground for mischief and delay, and the high court should instead uphold insurance neutrality, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

    Author Photo

    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What 2 Years Of Ukraine-Russia Conflict Can Teach Cos.

    Author Photo

    A few key legal lessons for the global business community since Russia's invasion of Ukraine could help protect global commerce in times of future conflict, including how to respond to disparate trade restrictions and sanctions, navigate war-related contract disputes, and protect against heightened cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Cos. Seeking Cyber Coverage Can Look To Key Policy Terms

    Author Photo

    As cyberattacks increasingly threaten business operations, including one last month that partially paralyzed UnitedHealth's services, expanded interpretations of several key policy terms may allow affected companies to recover under cyber business interruption policies or other coverage, even if their business hasn't completely shut down, say attorneys at Kasowitz.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

    Author Photo

    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • How Calif. Video Recording Ruling May Affect Insured Exams

    Author Photo

    A recent California appellate decision, Myasnyankin v. Nationwide, allowing policyholders to video record all parties to an insurance examination under oath, has changed the rules of the road for EUOs and potentially opened Pandora's box for future disputes, say John Edson and Preston Bennett at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Opinion

    Insurance Industry Asbestos Reserve Estimates Are Unreliable

    Author Photo

    Insurance regulators rely on industry self-reporting in approving insurance company reorganizations, but AM Best data reveals that actuarial and audit estimates have been setting perniciously low levels of loss reserves for asbestos liabilities and thus should be treated with deep skepticism, says Jonathan Terrell at KCIC.

  • Insurance Implications Of Trump's NY Civil Fraud Verdict

    Author Photo

    A New York state trial court’s $450 million judgment against former President Donald Trump and affiliated entities for valuation fraud offers several important lessons for companies seeking to obtain directors and officers insurance, including the consequences of fraudulent misrepresentations and critical areas of underwriting risk, says Kevin LaCroix at RT ProExec.

  • Business Litigators Have A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

    Author Photo

    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Understanding Insurance Is Key To Limiting Antitrust Liability

    Author Photo

    As regulators signal their intent to continue last year's aggressive campaign of corporate antitrust litigation, businesses must make active management of their liability insurance policies, along with a firm knowledge of the limits of their coverage, central to their strategies for limiting the enormous financial risks of enforcement, say attorneys at Nossaman.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Opinion

    High Court Should Endorse Insurer Standing In Bankruptcy

    Author Photo

    In Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum, the U.S. Supreme Court will examine bankruptcy standing doctrine as applied to insurers in mass tort cases, and should use the opportunity to eliminate spurious standing roadblocks to resolving insurer objections on their merits, says Frank Perch at White and Williams.

  • Texas Insurance Ruling Could Restore Finality To Appraisal

    Author Photo

    The Texas Supreme Court's decision in Rodriguez v. Safeco, determining that full payment of an appraisal award precludes recovery of attorney fees, indicates a potential return to an era in which timely payment undoubtedly disposes of all possible policyholder claims, says Karl Schulz at Cozen O'Connor.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Insurance archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!