State Farm Bungled LA Wildfire Claims, Calif. Regulator Says

By Lauren Berg and Bonnie Eslinger

California's insurance regulator announced Monday that it's pursuing major penalties against State Farm over its alleged mishandling of claims related to 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, the same day the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in court that insurers conspired to cancel homeowners' policies in the years before the fires.

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Texas Beach Town Can Keep Most New Rental Rules For Now

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A Texas federal judge has largely allowed a Galveston County beach town to enforce its new short-term rental rules, finding them to be reasonably tied to safety and nuisance control.

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Broker Says It's Not To Blame For Harvard's Lack Of Coverage

By Hope Patti

An insurance broker told a Massachusetts federal court that it had no common law duty to report claims made against Harvard University to the school's excess insurers in a suit seeking to recover legal fees Harvard expended in litigation that upended affirmative action.

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Hospital Group Calls Anthem's Out-Of-Network Plan Unlawful

By Hope Patti

The California Hospital Association urged a state court to block Anthem Blue Cross' implementation of a new policy that penalizes participating facilities for using nonparticipating providers, saying the plan is illegal, fraudulent and an unfair business practice.

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Construction Co. Seeks $2.9M Over Lejeune Build Delays

By Ganesh Setty

A construction company has accused a demolition subcontractor in North Carolina federal court of delaying facility construction for more than 1,000 days at the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune training base, seeking roughly $2.9 million in damages.

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Fla. Contractor Says Policy Covers Defective Door Death Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

A Florida contractor is urging a federal judge to dismiss an insurer's complaint claiming it has no duty to defend the company in a wrongful death suit, saying the policy covers claims in the underlying case and arguing that parallel state court cases are better positioned to resolve the dispute. 

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Pillsbury Launches Boston Office With Latham Litigator

By Matt Perez

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP announced on Monday the opening of a Boston office with a team of five senior attorneys and additional associates.

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How Geopolitical Risk Affects Data Center Coverage

Escalating tensions with Iran risk disrupting the energy and infrastructure inputs that support data center operations, raising insurance coverage concerns for operators affected by events far outside their physical footprints, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

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2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

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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 Atty Can Prosecute Minn. Civilian Despite Regulations

By Jack Karp

A Minnesota federal 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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DOJ Apology For Hidden Warrant Not Satisfying For Judge

By Tom Lotshaw

A Rhode Island federal judge, whom the U.S. Department of Homeland Security criticized for releasing a noncitizen with an alleged overseas warrant for homicide, was dissatisfied with an assistant U.S. attorney's apology for not disclosing the warrant to the court beforehand.

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Wash. Bar Task Force Spotlights Atty Mental Health Issues

By Rachel Riley

A Washington State Bar Association wellness survey of roughly 900 members found that nearly 10% said they experienced suicidal thoughts or self-harm in the past year, and about 20% expressed concerns about their alcohol consumption, a task force reported to bar leadership on Saturday.

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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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Analysis

DOJ's In-House Detention Legal Aid Plan Is MIA

By Courtney Bublé

A year ago, U.S. Department of Justice officials said the government would be taking over a program historically run by nonprofits to provide legal orientations and referrals for pro bono representation for adults in immigration detention facilities. But those involved in the program say the Trump administration hasn't taken any steps to run the program.

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2nd Circ. Raises Concern Over Challenge To NY US Atty's DQ

By Stewart Bishop

A Second Circuit panel on Monday voiced concern over the U.S. Department of Justice's argument that a now-former acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York was serving lawfully when he subpoenaed the New York Attorney General's office over a pair of cases disfavored by President Donald Trump.

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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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