7th Circ. Erases Class Cert. Over Progressive's Car Valuation

By Ganesh Setty

The Seventh Circuit on Thursday reversed a policyholder's class certification win against Progressive Insurance over certain adjustments the insurer makes when calculating a totaled vehicle's actual cash value, finding that whether Progressive paid insureds the proper amount is a primarily individualized inquiry.

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Insurer Asks 4th Circ. To Nix $1.1M Roof Damage Verdict

By Ganesh Setty

An insurer specializing in covering religious organizations asked the Fourth Circuit to set aside a $1.1 million jury verdict it faces over roof damage that a North Carolina church said was caused by snow, arguing the lower court's jury instructions adopted the wrong causation standard.

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NJ Mall Says Insurers Owe $20M For Prop Helicopter Damage

By Hope Patti

The owner of the American Dream mall in New Jersey said its insurers wrongfully reduced a $20.5 million claim for loss and damage caused by a decorative 2-ton helicopter falling from the ceiling of its indoor water park, according to a suit removed to federal court Thursday.

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Rising Star: Willkie's Genevieve DiSpirito

By Eli Flesch

As a litigation partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Genevieve DiSpirito helped secure favorable outcomes for AIG in several opioid crisis matters in which billions of dollars were collectively at stake, earning her a spot among the insurance attorneys under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

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Lincoln National Beats Investor Suit Over $2.6B Loss, For Now

By Dorothy Atkins

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Thursday tossed with leave to amend a proposed securities class action alleging that Lincoln National Corp. misled investors about its financial health before reporting a $2.6 billion net loss in 2022, finding that the investors didn't specify when Lincoln National had access to certain data and studies.

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NJ Attys Warn RICO Case Revival Would 'Chill' Lawyering

By George Woolston

The New Jersey State Bar Association told a Garden State appellate court that lawyers across the state will be chilled from zealously advocating for their clients if it revives the state's racketeering indictment against two politically connected attorneys, making it the second attorney advocacy group to file a proposed amicus curiae brief in the case.

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Accelerant, McGraw Hill IPOs Raise Over $1.1B Combined

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Two private equity-backed companies, insurance marketplace Accelerant and education publishing giant McGraw Hill Inc., have joined the recent surge in initial public offerings, with both companies going public on Thursday after pricing IPOs that raised more than $1.1 billion total.

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Brown & Brown To Buy UK Racehorse Insurance Broker

By Tom Fish

The European subsidiary of insurance broker Brown & Brown Inc. has agreed to acquire Weatherbys Hamilton LLP, a specialist U.K. broker that offers cover for farms, estates and racehorses.

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How Property Insurers Serve As Climate Change Harbingers

Thomas Dawson at McDermott discusses the role that U.S. property insurers may play in identifying and assessing climate risk, as well as in financing climate change adaptation projects, in light of global warming and shifting geopolitical realities.

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Rule 23 Class Certification Matters In Settlements, Too

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Trump v. CASA Inc. highlighted requirements for certifying classes for litigation in federal court, but counsel must also understand how Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure may affect certifying classes for settlement purposes, say attorneys at Sidley.

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Series

Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

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Butler Snow Attys DQ'd For Fake AI Citations In Prisoner Case

By Emily Sawicki

Three Butler Snow LLP attorneys have been publicly reprimanded and removed from representing the former commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections in an incarcerated man's federal civil rights case, after a judge found they had filed motions including "hallucinations" generated by ChatGPT.

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Ky. Clerk Seeks To Overturn Marriage Equality Ruling

By Danielle Ferguson

A Kentucky clerk who made international headlines for refusing to issue marriage licenses in protest of the legalization of same-sex marriage asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn its 2015 marriage equality decision after she unsuccessfully tried to shake a civil judgment against her.

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Q&A

'Tiger King' Atty Talks Building A Firm Through Social Media

By Parker Quinlan

Hours after a federal jury in Manhattan returned a mixed verdict in a sex trafficking case against Sean "Diddy" Combs, Molly Parmer, a Georgia defense attorney and TikTok content creator with more than 94,200 followers, posted a video outlining what he could expect in terms of sentencing. Law360 spoke with Parmer about her practice and how she turned her solo firm, Parmer Law, into a space for online court observers.

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Analysis

AI Rollout At USPTO Has Attys Foreseeing Stronger Patents

By Ryan Davis

As the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office incorporates more use of artificial intelligence in patent examination, attorneys predict the technology could lead to stronger patents in the future, especially for designs, though it may make the process more challenging for applicants.

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Alina Habba Says She Is Now Acting US Atty In NJ

By Lauren Berg

Alina Habba posted on social media Thursday that she is now the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, two days after the federal district court declined to extend her tenure in the interim position.

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Trump Admin Sues NYC To Block Sanctuary Policies

By Rae Ann Varona

The Trump administration on Thursday filed suit in New York federal court seeking to bar New York City from enforcing policies it alleges amount to "intentional sabotage" of federal immigration enforcement and thus violate the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause.

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DOJ Sentence Ask In Breonna Taylor Case Shows Policy Shift

By Parker Quinlan

Although the request by top U.S. Department of Justice officials seeking a one-day sentence for a former Louisville police officer who participated in the raid that led to Breonna Taylor's death wasn't heeded, former federal prosecutors and defense attorneys say a government request to downgrade a sentence is unusual, but likely to recur in politically relevant matters.

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Jeanine Pirro's Nomination Advances To Full Senate

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted out seven U.S. attorney nominations Thursday, which include Jeanine Pirro, former Fox News host and New York state judge, and four others who had to be revoted on after Democrats walked out of last week's meeting over objections to how the consideration of controversial Third Circuit nominee Emil Bove was being handled.

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Chamberlain Hrdlicka Wins Bid To Arbitrate Malpractice Claim

By Lynn LaRowe

Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Autry PC won a Texas state appellate decision Thursday forcing a former client to arbitrate his claims that the firm's alleged malpractice over a business restructuring ultimately cost him millions in a divorce.

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High Court Hits Pause On 8th Circ. Voting Rights Order

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday paused an Eighth Circuit order to vacate two North Dakota tribes' challenge to two of the state's voting laws that they allege will silence the state's Indigenous voters and disenfranchise millions across seven Midwestern states.

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Ex-Calif. Judge Says 'Trying To Do Too Much' Led To Backlog

By Emily Sawicki

A former California state appellate justice said health problems and a strong work ethic harmed his ability to handle his caseload quickly, leading to delays in hundreds of cases that precipitated ethics charges, telling a watchdog he "can only be faulted for trying to do too much under the circumstances."

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Brief

Senate Tees Up Vote On Emil Bove To 3rd Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 50-48 on Thursday to tee up the confirmation of Emil Bove to the Third Circuit, which will likely happen next week.

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