Fla. Jury Finds No Insurer Bad Faith In Lodge Shooting Claim

By Hope Patti

The insurer for a Florida lodge did not act in bad faith when handling an estate's claim over a fatal shooting that occurred at the Fort Pierce property in 2015, a federal jury found.

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Allstate Says Fla. Surgery Centers Padded Bills For Care

By Carolina Bolado

Seven ambulatory surgery centers, a pain clinic and an anesthesia practice that are all run by Surgery Partners conducted "extraordinarily aggressive treatment" on patients involved in minor car crashes to inflate the bills submitted to Allstate, the insurer told a Florida federal court Friday, alleging it paid millions for unnecessary treatment.

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11th Circ. Backs Lincoln Life's Long-Term Disability Denial

By Hailey Konnath

The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed a lower court's order backing Lincoln Life Assurance Company of Boston's decision to terminate long-term disability benefits for a Mattress Firm manager who injured his back in a skiing accident, finding that he failed to show that he continued to be disabled.

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Judge Resets Investors' Lead Counsel In Globe Life Suit

By Sydney Price

A Texas federal judge has reset the leadership structure in consolidated shareholder derivative litigation involving Globe Life Insurance Inc., granting the Plymouth County Retirement Association's bid to serve as sole lead plaintiff and appointing Scott + Scott Attorneys at Law LLP and Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP as sole co-lead counsel.

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Chubb Unit Says Other Insurer Owes $450K For Fatal Crash

By Hope Patti

A Chubb unit said an auto insurer must reimburse it $450,000 for a payment made to the estate of a mutual insured who was fatally hit by a car while in a crosswalk, telling a Colorado federal court that its umbrella policy was in excess of the other policy.

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Denver Ritz-Carlton Owner Says Contractors Hit Water Line

By Rachel Konieczny

Two contractors acted negligently while performing work at a neighboring property to the Ritz-Carlton Denver that resulted in an uncontrolled release of water entering the hotel, the hotel's owner and insurers alleged in Colorado state court.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Aston Martin file an appeal in a row with Chinese carmaker Geely over its winged logo for London black cabs, Ineos sue Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team for a £180 million ($244 million) boat, White & Case face a claim from two energy storage companies, and a golf tour company bring a claim against Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund after the fund invested in its rival.

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Brief

Furniture Cos.' $19M Captive Insurance Scam Suit Resumed

By Hope Patti

A Maryland federal court has resumed a lawsuit accusing a D.C. corporate tax attorney and his former law firm of a $19 million captive insurance scam following notification that the bankruptcy proceedings of the attorney and the firm have concluded.

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What GCs Should Consider Before Tendering TM Litigation

When a trademark lawsuit lands on a general counsel's desk, the instinct is to tender it to the insurer, but that model often breaks down in intellectual property litigation, where the stakes extend far beyond defense costs to injunctions, forced rebranding and permanent market constraints, says Bill Wagner at Taft.

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How Banks Can React To Risks In FinCEN Whistleblower Rule

Financial institutions should reassess and, if necessary, strengthen existing policies, procedures and other frameworks related to whistleblowers and internal reporting in light of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recent proposal to formalize a whistleblower award program, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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2 Discovery Rulings Break With Heppner On AI Privilege Issue

While a New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner suggests that some litigants’ communications with AI tools are discoverable, two other recent federal court decisions demonstrate that such interactions generally qualify for work-product protection under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, says Joshua Dunn at Brown Rudnick.

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Black McDermott Atty Says White Men Favored For Partner

By Lauren Berg

A Black female McDermott Will & Schulte attorney accused the firm of gender, race and pregnancy discrimination in a lawsuit lodged in California state court, saying she has been consistently bypassed for promotion by less-experienced white attorneys and was yanked off casework after taking medical leave following a life-threatening illness during pregnancy.

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'Kind Of Lawyering We Don't Like': Judge Rips Quinn Emanuel

By Bonnie Eslinger

Guardant Health Inc. urged a California federal judge on Monday to make Quinn Emanuel pay nearly $1.3 million on top of $3 million in sanctions already imposed over misrepresentations lawyers made representing its rival Natera Inc., prompting the judge to criticize Quinn Emanuel lawyers for making distinctions so fine they veer into misrepresentation.

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Q&A

She Has A Point: Fish & Richardson's Nitika Gupta Fiorella

By Dani Kass

Fish & Richardson PC principal Nitika Gupta Fiorella is "a no-stone-unturned, always super prepared" lawyer who "epitomizes professionalism and respect," according to Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP partner Cora Holt.

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Fox Lawyer In Dominion Case Confirmed To Texas Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 47-46 Monday evening to confirm Andrew Davis, a partner at Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP who defended Fox News in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case, to serve on the bench in the Western District of Texas.

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Justices Won't Consider IP Theft Allegations Against Akin

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a former Cornell University graduate student's petition trying to revive his malpractice suit against Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP stemming from patent litigation against Illumina Inc. over DNA sequencing intellectual property.

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DC Ethics Office Says Ex-Interim US Atty Can't Remove Case

By Emily Sawicki

Washington, D.C., ethics officials have asked a federal court to send U.S. Department of Justice official Ed Martin's ethics case back to the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, arguing the D.C. federal court lacks jurisdiction over a disciplinary matter, which is neither a civil action nor a criminal prosecution.

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Ex-Newman Clerks, Judges Back High Court Suspension Fight

By Adam Lidgett

A group of former clerks for Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, as well as former federal judges, have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the challenge to her suspension imposed by her colleagues.

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Insurer Intentionally Avoiding $200M Loan Claim, Court Told

By Hope Patti

A litigation funding firm has accused its insurer of wrongfully refusing to pay out its policy's guaranteed $200 million in coverage for an unpaid loan, saying the insurer buried it in duplicative and burdensome information requests to avoid paying a valid claim.

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Judge Says Ill. Justices Can't Fire Him Over MAGA Op-Ed

By Jack Karp

Illinois Supreme Court justices have no authority to remove a state judge from the bench for alleged misconduct, so their effort to dismiss a retired state trial judge's claims that his removal for penning a political opinion column violated his constitutional rights should be rejected, the retired jurist has said.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week delivered another mix of procedural rulings, fiduciary duty disputes and deal litigation, highlighting both the court's gatekeeping role and its continued focus on stockholder rights and transactional fairness.

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