NJ Panel Puts Bad Faith Claims On Hold In UIM Coverage Row

By Hope Patti

A New Jersey state appeals court on Wednesday ruled that auto insurers are generally entitled to halt discovery on bad faith claims, including those brought under the state's Insurance Fair Conduct Act, until underlying uninsured or underinsured motorist disputes are resolved.

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5th Circ. Will Rehear Aetna Arbitration Bid In Aramark Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

The full Fifth Circuit will reconsider insurance company Aetna's bid to force uniform and food services company Aramark to arbitrate its dispute over employee health benefit claims, staying a panel's ruling from December that had kept proceedings in court.

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5th Circ. Calls Firm's Bid To Arbitrate $70M Award 'A Stretch'

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit panel seemed dubious of a law firm's argument that a federal court lacked jurisdiction over a claim that it shuffled assets to avoid paying an arbitration award that totaled $70 million, saying Wednesday that the firm's argument was "a stretch."

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Snack Maker Says Liberty Mutual Owes For Failed Build Costs

By Danielle Ferguson

The maker of Little Debbie snacks has filed a federal complaint arguing that Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. must make good on construction bonds and cover millions of dollars in damages and legal expenses stemming from a construction company's failure to finish work on a plant in Tennessee.

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FTC Says Fla. Co. Destroyed Evidence In Fake ACA Suit

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge postponed a preliminary injunction hearing Wednesday for a company accused by the Federal Trade Commission of selling $91 million of fake Affordable Care Act plans, but ordered two siblings connected to the scheme to explain why they allegedly destroyed evidence in violation of a temporary restraining order.

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Brief

Mass. AG, Insurer Settle Deceptive Marketing Claims For $5M

By Julie Manganis

A Texas-headquartered health insurance agency will pay $5 million to settle allegations that it engaged in deceptive and unfair marketing to sell plans and other types of health programs to thousands of Massachusetts consumers, the state's attorney general announced on Wednesday.

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Kemper Catches More Legal Heat Over Data Hack

By Lauraann Wood

Kemper Corp. has been hit with more proposed class data privacy claims from customers who say the insurance giant's "egregiously inadequate" data security protocols allowed unauthorized hackers to obtain more than 13 million private records and post them for sale on the dark web.

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Texas Couple Drops Data Suit Against Personal Injury Firm

By Mark Payne

A Houston couple who accused a law firm and a since-dismissed Progressive unit of conspiring to share the private information of car crash victims has dropped federal claims against the firm after reportedly finding no evidence that it engaged in the conduct they alleged. 

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Dollar General Can't Kick Tobacco Fee Suit To Arbitration

By Patrick Hoff

Dollar General can't kibosh a proposed class action claiming it unlawfully charged employees who use tobacco nearly $500 more per year for health benefits, with a Tennessee federal judge ruling the company hadn't properly addressed how an exclusion in its arbitration agreement applied to the case.

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Psych Facility Not Covered For Sexual Misconduct, Court Told

By Hope Patti

An insurer said it owes no coverage to a behavioral health facility in an underlying suit alleging that an employee carried out an inappropriate relationship with a patient, telling a Washington federal court Wednesday that the policy bars coverage for sexual misconduct.

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Insurer Says Mass. Dealership Handed Mercedes To Thieves

By Danielle Ferguson

A Pennsylvania insurance company has said a Boston-area Mercedes dealership must reimburse the insurer for a claim it had to pay after the dealer allegedly gave a $100,000 luxury SUV to people who posed as transport workers and stole it.

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Improving Well-Being In Law, 10 Years After Landmark Study

An important 2016 study revealed significant substance abuse and mental health issues among lawyers, and while the findings helped normalize the conversation around these topics, a decade later, structural change is still needed, says Denise Robinson at PLI.

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How They Won It

How Sullivan & Cromwell Won An $18B 'Bet The Country' Case

By Chris Villani

It is not often that a Second Circuit ruling is hailed as "the greatest legal achievement in national history" by a country's president, but that's what happened after a team from Sullivan & Cromwell LLP persuaded the appellate panel to nix an $18 billion judgment against Argentina.

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Jones Day Beats Sanctions Bid In $2M Fee Dispute

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois state judge has ruled that Jones Day can pursue punitive damages on several of its claims in a lawsuit alleging a former client made a series of unlawful transactions to avoid paying over $2 million in legal fees, and also denied sanctions sought by the ex-client against the firm.

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'Grotesquely Bloated,' Google Judge Rips Consumers' Fee Bid

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge said Thursday he would likely give final approval to Google's $700 million antitrust deal with states and consumers, but blasted the accompanying request for $85 million in attorney fees, calling the 100,000 hours the consumers' counsel said they spent on the case "grotesquely bloated."

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'Christian Witch' Says Jenner & Block Must Face Vax Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

A former Jenner & Block LLP employee told an Illinois federal judge that she didn't need to disclose that she's a "Christian witch" in order to seek an exemption to the law firm's COVID-19 vaccine requirement, urging the court to reject her ex-employer's bid to toss the case.

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Senate Advances Mont. Judge Pick Rated Unqualified By ABA

By Courtney Bublé

A judicial nominee for the District of Montana who was the only nominee of the second Trump administration so far to receive a "not qualified" rating from the American Bar Association advanced out of committee on Thursday.

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Judge Denies Push To Stop Closed Immigration Hearings

By Tom Lotshaw

A D.C. federal judge denied a Minnesota human rights organization's request to block immigration judges from restricting public and press access to proceedings, ruling that it failed to show an immediate threat of future harm from unlawful hearing closures.

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J&J Says Ill. Ruling Backs Beasley Allen's DQ From Talc Suits

By George Woolston

Johnson & Johnson told a New Jersey federal court that a recent ruling in Illinois backs the Beasley Allen Law Firm's disqualification from multidistrict litigation over its talcum powder.

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LSC Decries House Subcommittee's Proposed Budget Cut

By Marco Poggio

The nation's largest funder of civil legal aid condemned a House appropriations proposal to slash its budget for fiscal year 2027 by more than half, warning Thursday the reduction could leave nearly 3 million Americans without help for critical civil legal problems.

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Ex-Husch Blackwell Partner Urges Discovery In ERISA Dispute

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

A former Husch Blackwell LLP partner has urged a Missouri federal court to ignore the firm's request for summary judgment in a dispute over employee retirement benefits, arguing discovery should proceed in the proposed class action.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

A pair of door manufacturers ended a landmark private merger challenge, state enforcers are gearing up for a potential Live Nation breakup bid following a crucial jury win, and a separate group of states and DirecTV are challenging Nexstar's $6.2 billion deal for rival broadcaster Tegna.

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Hub Hires: Weil Gotshal, Reed Smith, Morgan Lewis

By Chris Villani

April showers bring legal hires in Boston, with several attorneys on the move. Weil Gotshal snagged an international trade lawyer from Kirkland & Ellis, Morgan Lewis added an attorney from Hunton, and Reed Smith continued to expand its new Boston office.

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