Syracuse Diocese Strikes $61M In Deals With Insurers

By Rick Archer

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse informed a New York bankruptcy judge that it has reached nearly $61 million in settlements with its insurance carriers to fund a trust for child sexual abuse claims in the diocese's Chapter 11 plan.

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FAIR Plan Failed To Pay For LA Fire Smoke Claims, Suit Says

By Hope Patti

Another group of California homeowners has accused the state's insurer of last resort of illegally denying and underpaying claims for smoke damage following the Los Angeles wildfires despite its obligation to cover all fire-related damage under California law, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.

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Petrol Co. Says Carriers Must Defend Benzene Injury Suit

By Ganesh Setty

A petroleum services company told a New York state court that three of its marine insurers have failed to cover any defense costs incurred in a benzene injury lawsuit, even after it said the lead insurer agreed to defend it under a reservation of rights.

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8th Circ. Told Insurer Must Keep Defending Fatal Crash Suit

By Elizabeth Daley

A logistics company facing wrongful death claims told the Eighth Circuit its insurer must pay to defend it because it was insured under a trucking company's policy and there was no agreement that a $1 million payment by the insurer absolved the insurer of its duties.

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GE, Haier Owe Nearly $3M For Motel Fire, Insurer Says

By Elizabeth Daley

An insurer is seeking about $3 million from GE and Haier in connection to a Super 8 motel fire it claims was started by a faulty heating and cooling unit, according to a lawsuit removed to a Texas federal court.

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Insurer Fights Arbitration Of Legionnaires' Claims Suit

By Caroline Simson

A Michigan healthcare system's insurer is fighting efforts to send its coverage lawsuit over underlying Legionnaires' disease claims to arbitration in Bermuda, arguing that the dispute does not fall within an underlying arbitration clause.

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Century Surety Seeks Exit From Vape Battery Lawsuit

By Jonathan Capriel

Insurance provider Century Surety Co. says it shouldn't be on the hook for the legal defense of a smoke shop being sued by a customer who was burned when a vape pen battery caught fire in his pocket, arguing that one defendant isn't actually covered under the larger policy and the incident did not take place at one of the insured's retail locations.

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Insurance Agency Says Carrier Can't End Car Policy Program

By Hope Patti

An insurance agency that provides specialized policies for car rental companies asked a Pennsylvania federal court to halt an insurer's plan to abruptly cancel a program through which the agency writes the policies, saying the proposed termination would cause "major disruptions" to rental companies and their customers nationwide.

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Estate Sues Insurer Over 'Paltry' Offer In DUI Death Case

By Greg Lamm

The estate of a motorcyclist killed by a driver allegedly overserved at a Washington bar has sued to force the bar's specialty insurance company to cover a partial settlement in an underlying wrongful death suit.

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Geico's Failure To Settle Caused $2.8M Judgment, Suit Says

By Ganesh Setty

A court-appointed receiver for an at-fault driver has told a North Carolina federal court that Geico should be on the hook for a more than $2.8 million consent judgment against the driver stemming from an August 2020 crash, saying the insurer failed to settle underlying injury claims for the driver's $100,000 limit.

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Conn. Insurer Dumped Agent For Raising Red Flags, Suit Says

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut insurance company terminated one of its agents in retaliation for his complaints about alleged illegal activity, including a concern that Allstate agents were using company log-in information "to pull Progressive quotes," according to a lawsuit in state court.

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Imerys Halts Ch. 11 Trial Over Foreign Claimant Issues

By Vince Sullivan

Bankrupt talc suppliers Imerys Talc America and Cyprus Mines Corp. and parties supporting their Chapter 11 plan to deal with asbestos injury claims unexpectedly announced Monday they wanted to halt the plan confirmation proceedings, following more than four days of evidence, citing issues surrounding the treatment of foreign claims against the debtors.

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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.

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The 2025 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey

Law firms and the legal profession are facing new uncertainties, shifting the stress levels, economic pressures, and overall contentment of lawyers in private practice, according to the 2025 Law360 Pulse Lawyer Satisfaction Survey.

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'The Court Is Not A Cartoon': Judge Rips Dragon Watermark

By Hailey Konnath

A Michigan federal magistrate judge Monday ordered an East Lansing, Michigan, firm called Dragon Lawyers PC to stop plastering its pleadings with a large, suit-clad purple cartoon dragon watermark on each page, saying it's not only "distracting, it's juvenile and impertinent."

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Analysis

Feds Have Strong Hand On Judge Charged With Blocking ICE

By Danielle Ferguson and Carolyn Muyskens

A Wisconsin state judge faces an uphill battle in defending against federal criminal allegations that she helped a man evade immigration officials at a Wisconsin courthouse, but she may be able to stake out a defense in arguing the government can't prove intent, experts told Law360. 

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California Judge Loses Pay After Conviction For Murdering Wife

By Gina Kim

The California Commission on Judicial Performance formally suspended a California judge without pay after a state jury found him guilty of second-degree murder last week for shooting his wife to death in their Anaheim Hills home on Aug. 3, 2023, following a heated argument. 

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Q&A

Sullivan M&A Chief Sees Opportunities Amid Tariff Turmoil

By Al Barbarino

After a rocky start to 2025, the mergers and acquisitions landscape is grappling with economic volatility, shifting trade policies and a complex regulatory environment. But even in a "choppy" market, there are always deals to be made, says Melissa Sawyer, global head of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP's M&A group and co-head of its corporate governance practice.

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NJ Judge Apologizes Through Waylon Jennings Lyrics

By George Woolston

Clark Township, New Jersey, Municipal Judge Antonio Inacio said Tuesday that he isn't proud of all the things that led him to appear before a Garden State judiciary disciplinary committee, but he can say that he never intentionally hurt anyone by his conduct.

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$10M Brown Rudnick Deal With Guo Trustee Gets Judge's OK

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved a $10 million deal between Miles Guo's Chapter 11 trustee and the Chinese exile's onetime attorneys at Brown Rudnick LLP, and greenlighted 10 lesser settlements with other firms and luxury retailer Versace.

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Analysis

GOP Plan To Shutter Audit Watchdog Could Strain SEC

By Jessica Corso

Congressional Republicans are renewing the push to get rid of a financial regulator that conservatives have complained is costly and lacks proper oversight, but some former staffers at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board wonder whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has the manpower or expertise to take over the board's duties.

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Federal Defenders Of NY Staff Announce Union Drive

By Andrea Keckley

Staff members at the Federal Defenders of New York have announced their plans to join their attorney colleagues as members of the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys.

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Justices Scoff At Feds' Defenses In Mistaken FBI Raid Case

By Chart Riggall

Supreme Court justices Tuesday appeared flummoxed by the government's "ridiculous" arguments it should be immune to a Georgia resident's lawsuit over a mistaken FBI raid on her house, but seemed unlikely to issue a blanket ruling on when an officer's discretion trumps their liability for injuries caused by their actions.

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Alex Jones Wants High Court Look At $1.3B Sandy Hook Case

By Brian Steele

Bankrupt Infowars host Alex Jones will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate a mammoth libel judgment that families of Sandy Hook shooting victims secured against him and his company over his conspiratorial broadcasts calling the massacre a hoax, he told a Connecticut appellate court in seeking to extend a pause on the payout.

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Breyer To Talk Pragmatism At NJ Bar Association Convention

By Carla Baranauckas

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will bring his pragmatic legal philosophy to center stage when he appears at the New Jersey State Bar Association Convention on May 16 in Atlantic City.

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