Insurance

July 07, 2025
Ga. Property Owner, Insurer Settle Burst Pipe Coverage Suit

A property owner and its insurer have agreed to settle a lawsuit in which the owner alleged it should have received coverage under a more than $30 million policy despite the insurer receiving late notice of property damage caused during a 2022 winter freeze.
July 04, 2025
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

The past week in London has seen the owner of Crystal Palace and the troubled Olympique Lyonnais football clubs sue its current chief executive John Textor, Fieldfisher faces a claim by Georgian businessman Zaza Okusahvili, and a dispute partner at Travers Smith file a personal injury claim against the firm.
July 03, 2025
Anthem Dodges Most Claims In Lab's $3.8M Insurance Suit

A federal judge has dismissed a lab's $3.8 million suit against Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Connecticut over nearly 3,000 unpaid insurance claims related to medical testing, finding the majority were barred by anti-assignment provisions, ERISA preemption and contractual time limits.
July 03, 2025
Plumbing Co. Seeks $25M In Coverage For ERISA Claims

A plumbing subcontractor told a California federal court that its primary insurer was improperly limiting its coverage in an employee stock ownership plan dispute, hindering its ability to tap into its full $25 million tower of management liability coverage.
July 03, 2025
Hawaii Insurer Claims Defense Failures In Slip-And-Fall Suit

Hiscox Insurance Co. failed to meet its obligation to contribute to a Hawaii-based restaurant property manager's defense against a slip-and-fall suit, the manager's insurer told a Hawaii federal court.
July 03, 2025
Circuit-By-Circuit Recap: Justices Send Message To Outliers

It was a tough term at the U.S. Supreme Court for two very different circuits — one solidly liberal, one solidly conservative — that had their rulings overturned in eye-popping numbers. But it was another impressive year for a relatively moderate circuit that appears increasingly simpatico with the high court.
July 03, 2025
The Moments That Shaped The Universal Injunction Case

The U.S. Supreme Court voted along ideological lines when it hindered the ability of federal district court judges to issue nationwide pauses on presidential policies, but that outcome didn't seem like a foregone conclusion during oral arguments earlier this year. What do the colloquies suggest about the justices' thinking? Here are some moments that may have swayed them.
July 03, 2025
Biggest Decisions Of Mich. Supreme Court So Far This Year

The Michigan Supreme Court so far this year has handed down a number of decisions marking important changes to criminal law, including reshaping how late adolescents are sentenced for serious crimes and declaring that the smell of marijuana alone cannot justify a warrantless vehicle search.
July 03, 2025
Illinois Cases To Watch In 2025: Midyear Report

The impact of regulatory permits on insurance policy pollution exclusions, the debate over ditching two-step collective certifications and further interpretation of Illinois' biometric privacy law are at the heart of some of the state's biggest cases to watch through the end of the year.
July 03, 2025
The Firms That Won Big At The Supreme Court

The number of law firms juggling three or more arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court this past term nearly doubled from the number of firms that could make that claim last term.
July 03, 2025
Breaking Down The Vote: The High Court Term In Review

The U.S. Supreme Court once again waited until the term's closing weeks — and even hours — to issue some of its most anticipated and divided decisions.
July 03, 2025
Supreme Court Takes Up Transgender Sports Bans

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear challenges to West Virginia and Idaho laws barring transgender athletes from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity, putting yet more anti-trans legislation to the test after upholding Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors this term.
July 02, 2025
ACA Changes Will Result In Mass Coverage Loss, Suit Claims

Doctors for America, the Main Street Alliance and a trio of cities urged a Maryland federal court to vacate recently finalized changes to Affordable Care Act regulations, arguing they will cause at least 1.8 million people to lose their healthcare coverage.
July 02, 2025
Life Insurer Agrees To Settle Inflated Charges Suits For $45M

A Missouri-based life insurer agreed to pay $45 million to settle a group of proposed and certified class actions accusing it of using certain nonmortality factors, contrary to policy language, to impose higher costs on policyholders, bringing the insurer's total losses for such claims to over $94.5 million.
July 02, 2025
High Court Case Tops List of Securities Appeals To Watch

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up at least one shareholder's lawsuit when it reopens its doors in October, and securities attorneys from both the plaintiff and defense bars will be watching that appeal and several others as the year moves forward.
July 02, 2025
Insurers Blast Avon Ch. 11 Talc Injury Trust

A group of insurance carriers is asking a Delaware bankruptcy judge to reject cosmetic seller Avon Products' Chapter 11 plan, saying it would unfairly force them to pay possibly bogus talc injury claims.
July 02, 2025
Marsh Says Brokerage Poached Employees, Client

Insurance brokerage Marsh told a New York federal court that a competing brokerage orchestrated a scheme with former Marsh employees to steal clients in its surety business, noting that the competitor has faced over 70 other similar lawsuits.
July 02, 2025
Houston Rodeo Says Unique Policy Means COVID Coverage

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is asking an appellate court to reverse a summary judgment win in favor of its insurer, arguing two provisions of its policy mean it's covered for business losses it sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic.
July 02, 2025
Mich. Justices Say Old Insurance Policies Violated New Limits

In a closely divided order Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court held that insurance policies straddling the dates for which 2019 no-fault reforms went into effect are subjected to post-reform increased limits for liability, reversing a lower appellate opinion in favor of insurers.
July 02, 2025
The Funniest Moments Of The Supreme Court's Term

After justices and oral advocates spent much of an argument pummeling a lower court's writing talents, one attorney suggested it might be time to move on — only to be told the drubbing had barely begun. Here, Law360 showcases the standout jests and wisecracks from the 2024-25 U.S. Supreme Court term.
July 02, 2025
Kenyan Firm's Boeing Crash Fee-Sharing Suit Is Tossed

An Illinois federal judge has thrown out a suit by a Kenyan firm alleging that an Illinois firm wrongly pushed it out of a fee-sharing agreement stemming from a settlement with Boeing over the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crash, finding some of the claims fall under Illinois' litigation privilege, while the rest are unsupported by the complaint.
July 01, 2025
Insurer Seeks To Avoid Covering Conn. Cockroach Injury Suit

A Markel unit insuring a pest management company told a Connecticut federal court it should owe no coverage to a property owner facing a woman's claims that she suffered injuries after a "volume of cockroaches spilled" onto her, arguing the property owner didn't qualify as an insured.
July 01, 2025
The Sharpest Dissents From The Supreme Court Term

The term's sharpest dissents often looked beyond perceived flaws in majority reasoning to raise existential concerns about the role and future of the court, with the justices accusing one another of rewarding executive branch lawlessness, harming faith in the judiciary and threatening democracy, sometimes on an emergency basis with little briefing or explanation.
July 01, 2025
Justices Face Busy Summer After Nixing Universal Injunctions

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to limit nationwide injunctions was one of its biggest rulings of the term — a finding the court is likely going to be dealing with all summer. Here, Law360 takes a look at the decision, how it and other cases on the emergency docket overshadowed much of the court's other work, and what it all means for the months to come.
July 01, 2025
Hartford Units Avoid Asbestos Settlement Coverage

Three Hartford units have no duty to cover a brake and clutch manufacturer for an asbestos injury settlement, a New Jersey federal court ruled, finding the company's late notice of the claim doomed its chances at coverage.

Expert Analysis

Key Questions When Mediating Environmental Disputes

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency implements dramatic regulatory changes, companies seeking to use mediation to manage increased risks and uncertainties around environmental liabilities should keep certain essential considerations in mind to help reach successful outcomes, says Edward Cohen at Thompson Coburn.
Understanding How Jurors Arrive At Punitive Damage Awards

Much of the rising trend of so-called thermonuclear verdicts can be tied to punitive damages amounts that astonish the imagination, so attorneys must understand the psychological underpinnings that drive jurors’ decision-making calculus on damages, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.
Legal Ethics Considerations For Law Firm Pro Bono Deals

If a law firm enters into a pro bono deal with the Trump administration in exchange for avoiding or removing an executive order, it has an ethical obligation to create a written settlement agreement with specific terms, which would mitigate some potential conflict of interest problems, says Andrew Altschul at Buchanan Angeli.
Series

Playing Football Made Me A Better Lawyer

While my football career ended over 15 years ago, the lessons the sport taught me about grit, accountability and resilience have stayed with me and will continue to help me succeed as an attorney, says Bert McBride at Trenam.
10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks

The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.
Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

The first quarter of 2025 was filled with the refinement of old theories in the property and casualty space, including in vehicle valuation, time to seek appraisal and materials depreciation, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.
Series

Power To The Paralegals: The Value Of Unified State Licensing

Texas' proposal to become the latest state to license paraprofessional providers of limited legal services could help firms expand their reach and improve access to justice, but consumers, attorneys and allied legal professionals would benefit even more if similar programs across the country become more uniform, says Michael Houlberg at the University of Denver.
10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master

As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.
An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.
Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.
Opinion

Asbestos Trusts' Records Purge Threatens Claims Process

Recent announcements by 11 asbestos bankruptcy trusts that they plan to destroy legacy data and documents related to resolved claims risks further damage to the integrity of a compensation system long marked by a lack of oversight and transparency, says Peter Kelso at Roux.
How Calif., NY Could Fill Consumer Finance Regulatory Void

California and New York have historically taken the lead in consumer financial protection, and both show signs of becoming even more active in this area during the second Trump administration amid an enforcement pullback at the federal level, say attorneys at Sidley.
Series

Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.
Takeaways From Alaska Justices' Pollution Exclusion Ruling

A recent Alaska Supreme Court ruling that a total pollution exclusion in a homeowners policy didn't bar coverage for carbon monoxide poisoning shows that even when policy language appears unambiguous on its face, courts can still consider the reasonable expectations of an insured to determine applicability, say attorneys at Hunton.
E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols

Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.