Insurer Sanctioned For 'Willful' Discovery Defiance

By Hope Patti

A Washington federal court on Friday said it would hold an auto insurer liable for bad faith, negligent claim handling, and violations of the state's Consumer Protection Act and Insurance Fair Conduct Act after the carrier willfully violated prior production orders in a dispute over underinsured motorist benefits.

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Hartford Unit Owed Contractor Coverage In Data Center Row

By Mark Payne

A Hartford insurance specialty unit had a duty to defend a building contractor against an underlying suit over a data center's construction even after defamation claims were dropped, a California federal judge ruled, finding that existing claims could have exposed the contractor to additional defamation allegations.

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NYDFS Fines Delta Dental $2.25M Over MOVEit Data Breach

By Allison Grande

Delta Dental has agreed to pay $2.25 million to resolve the New York financial regulator's claims that the insurer maintained inadequate cybersecurity and breach response measures that enabled hackers to obtain access to files sent through the MOVEit transfer tool containing its customers' personal information. 

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Analysis

5 Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Watch In May

By Kellie Mejdrich

HP, Siemens and Honeywell will defend victories in 401(k) forfeiture suits at the Ninth and Third circuits, while union pensioners will battle over life insurance and early retirement benefits at the Tenth and Seventh circuits. Here, Law360 looks at five coming oral argument sessions that benefits attorneys may want to keep an eye on.

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Supplier Says Travelers Must Cover Nestle Defect Claims

By Hope Patti

An industrial equipment supplier accused of providing defective compressed air piping materials for the construction of a facility owned by Nestle told a North Carolina federal court that two Travelers units must defend and indemnify it in connection with the underlying claim.

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Med Groups Say HHS Stalling Challenge To Vax Changes

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday rejected the government's request to pause discovery in a challenge by medical groups to the Trump administration's new childhood vaccination schedule while it appeals his March order blocking the changes.

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Texas Plastics Co. Seeks To Nix Full Captive Rules In 5th Circ.

By Kat Lucero

A plastics company is appealing a Texas district court's decision to partially vacate IRS regulations that listed captive insurance as potentially abusive tax avoidance schemes and will ask the Fifth Circuit to strike down the entire set of regulations, according to a notice.

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Steel Firm Workers Get OK For $1.8M ESOP Deal, $600K Fee

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan federal judge has approved a $1.8 million class settlement resolving claims that trustees of a steel company employee stock ownership plan overpaid for company stock, finding the deal "fair, reasonable and adequate" and in the best interest of plan participants. 

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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 a Swiss energy trader bring a Financial List claim against shipping benchmarking company Baltic Exchange, law firm Slater and Gordon sued by a former client, Slack and Salesforce hit Microsoft with an antitrust claim, and Stephen Fry bring a personal injury claim after he broke bones falling off a stage. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Bondi Spurs Ethics Doubts By Using DOJ Official As Counsel

By Courtney Bublé

Harmeet Dhillon, an official with the U.S. Department of Justice, is representing former Attorney General Pam Bondi in proceedings before the House oversight committee, which Democrats on the panel say raises ethical quandaries.

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Attys Defend $85M Fee Bid Blasted By Judge In Google Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

Consumers who pursued an antitrust class action against Google urged the California federal judge who criticized their 98,000 hours billed as "grotesquely bloated" to approve their $85 million fee request, emphasizing Friday that they filed suit a year before state attorneys general joined the case and maintained a leading role in the litigation.

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Military Attorney Can Prosecute Minn. Civilian Despite Regs

By Jack Karp

A Minnesota federal magistrate judge won't stop a military attorney from being appointed to prosecute a civilian accused of assaulting federal immigration officers, despite finding that the appointment violates binding U.S. Department of Defense regulations.

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Judge Grills Feds Over Undisclosed Warrant In Habeas Case

By Tom Lotshaw

A Rhode Island federal judge, who was accused by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of releasing a detained noncitizen who allegedly has an overseas warrant for homicide, pressed an assistant U.S. attorney for answers Monday after he apologized for not disclosing the warrant to the court.

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Lewis Brisbois Gets Ex-Paralegal's Claims Sent To Arbitration

By Adrian Cruz

A Florida state judge determined that a former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP paralegal has to arbitrate her claims accusing the firm of defamation and costing her a job at another firm.

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Sinema Pans 'Gross Distortion' By Ex-Guard's Wife In Tryst Suit

By Abigail Harrison

Former Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Friday doubled down on her contention that a North Carolina federal court lacks jurisdiction over a lawsuit alleging she destroyed a marriage by sending lascivious texts to her ex-security guard.

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Maduro Gets June Court Date After US Relents On Atty Fees

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday directed former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to return to court in June, after he and his wife, Cilia Flores, reached an apparent agreement with the Trump administration to access Venezuela government funds for their legal fees.

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Mass. Justices Uneasy Over Judge's Handling Of ICE Incident

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' top court on Monday appeared concerned that a state district court judge in 2018 offered to detain a defendant sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as the justices considered a public reprimand.

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Atty Seeks Docs To Back Ogletree DQ Bid In Bias Suit

By Adrian Cruz

A Georgia attorney on Monday asked a federal judge to allow discovery related to her bid to have Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC disqualified from defending ADT LLC against discrimination claims while concurrently defending Microsoft Corp. in the attorney's own pregnancy bias suit.

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Longtime South Fla. Federal Judge James King Dies At 98

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King, a Nixon appointee who spent more than half a century on the federal bench and helped shape the Southern District of Florida, died Saturday at the age of 98.

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Calif. District OKs Civil Court Audio Feeds Including Musk Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

The Northern District of California modified local court rules late Friday to allow judges to stream audio for civil jury trials in the district, accompanying its announcement with a separate notice that the high-profile Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial over OpenAI's for-profit conversion is available to access via audio stream.

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