Insurer Loses Appeals Over $40M NC Drunken Driving Verdict

By Mike Curley

A North Carolina appeals court on Wednesday rejected efforts by insurer Integon Indemnity Corp. to appeal decisions in a pair of cases stemming from a $40 million drunken driving verdict, saying the receivers suing for breach of contract were in the correct venue.

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FedEx Loses $200M Interest Claim Against AIG Unit

By Mark Payne

A Pennsylvania state judge Wednesday said an AIG unit won't have to pay FedEx $200 million in post-judgment interest following a fatal crash involving one of its drivers, but allowed bad faith and promissory estoppel claims to move forward against the insurer because those claims require a trial. 

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Title Insurer Gets Atty's Emotional Distress Claims Cut

By Brian Steele

Higher-ups at Connecticut title insurer CATIC and its nonprofit holding company don't have to face a former director's claims for emotional distress and tortious interference over his ouster, a state court judge has ruled.

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Feds Say Medicare Steering Case Meets FCA Legal Bar

By Julie Manganis

The government said Wednesday that its False Claims Act complaint accusing insurers and brokers of participating in a kickback scheme to steer customers to Medicare Advantage plans doesn't conflict with a First Circuit decision last year setting out the standard for such cases.  

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Holmes Seeks Trump Clemency For Theranos Fraud Sentence

By Rae Ann Varona

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has asked President Donald Trump to commute an 11-year prison sentence she's been serving for defrauding investors with bogus blood-testing technology, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney.

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Insurer Says It Owes No More In $2.2M Wrongful Death Suit

By Gianna Ferrarin

An excess insurer told a Kentucky federal court that a policy exclusion precludes it from covering the rest of a $2.2 million judgment against a hotel found liable for a man's fatal burns from a shower.

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Mining Supplier Not Covered In Bogus Parts Suit, Insurer Says

By Hope Patti

An insurer said it has no duty to defend or indemnify a mining equipment parts supplier against claims that it sold counterfeit parts to a reseller, telling a Montana federal court that the underlying suit does not allege bodily injury or property damage caused by an occurrence.

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Firm Seeks To Toss Suit Alleging Hurricane Claim Fee Scheme

By Hope Patti

A law firm urged a Louisiana federal court Wednesday to toss a proposed class action over an alleged scheme to collect exorbitant fees on hurricane-related property insurance claims, saying the complaint fails to plead a certifiable class and involves a "smorgasbord" of individualized legal malpractice claims.

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Nationwide Unit Seeks Exit From Stock Dilution Scheme Suit

By Mark Payne

A Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. unit told a federal court that it doesn't owe coverage to a company and its officers for a shareholder derivative lawsuit alleging the officers schemed to dilute the stockholders' shares, saying the underlying suit doesn't allege a covered loss for disgorgement or restitution. 

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Costco Nears Settlement With Insurer Over Store Injury Claims

By Rachel Riley

A Hartford unit has reached a tentative deal with Costco to end claims that the insurer wrongfully refused defense coverage for a lawsuit by a customer allegedly hurt while trying to move a grill box at a California store, according to a Wednesday filing in Seattle federal court.

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Revised Imerys Ch. 11 Plan Heading For Feb. 2 Hearings

By Rick Archer

Imerys Talc, Cyprus Mines and some of their insurance carriers on Wednesday gave a preview of upcoming confirmation hearings on a joint Chapter 11 plan, with the talc companies arguing before a Delaware bankruptcy judge that the revised plan sufficiently protects insurer rights.

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7 Predictions For Cyber Risk And Insurance In 2026

In 2026, cyber risk and insurance will be shaped by developments such as the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, ongoing privacy litigation and evolving regulatory requirements, as organizations that integrate AI into their operations contend with new vulnerabilities and a legal landscape that demands greater vigilance and adaptability, say attorneys at Wiley.

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4th Circ. Class Ruling Complicates Data Breaches For Biz

The Fourth Circuit’s recent exclusion of data-breach victims from a putative class because their stolen information had not been made public further complicates how businesses should manage risk and incident response amid a growing circuit split over related questions of standing, says Brandon Hollinder at Epiq.

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How A 1947 Tugboat Ruling May Shape Work Product In AI Era

Rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence test work-product principles first articulated in the U.S. Supreme Court’s nearly 80-year-old Hickman v. Taylor decision, as courts and ethics bodies confront whether disclosure of attorneys’ AI prompts and outputs would reveal their thought processes, say Larry Silver and Sasha Burton at Langsam Stevens.

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Ex-Baker McKenzie Atty Alleges Assault In New DC Lawsuit

By Alison Knezevich

A former Baker McKenzie associate who was sued for defamation over a series of social media posts accusing the firm's Washington, D.C., managing partner of sexual assault has brought her own lawsuit, marking the first time she publicly detailed her allegations in court records.

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Trump Calls For Prosecution Of Jack Smith Post-Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Shortly after former special counsel Jack Smith gave his first public congressional testimony on the Trump cases, in which he warned the rule of law should not be taken for granted, President Donald Trump said he should be prosecuted.

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Goldstein Prosecutors Unveil Conflicting Cash Source Claims

By Jared Foretek

A former lawyer at SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein's firm said Thursday that Goldstein told coworkers that the more than $960,000 in cash he brought off a flight from Hong Kong — the source of which is integral to the government's case — had come from a client.

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ABA Outlines Limited Atty Duty To Give Info To Former Clients

By Lynn LaRowe

The American Bar Association said attorneys have a limited responsibility to convey information to former clients or successor counsel that was not within the client's file, when doing so is necessary to protect a client's interests and reasonably practicable, according to a new ethics opinion.

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Proposed Subpoena Rule Change Raises Victim Privacy Fears

By Brandon Lowrey

A proposal to loosen restrictions on the use of federal criminal subpoenas would endanger and further traumatize victims of crime, most of whom lack legal representation to fight the invasive demands, victims' rights advocates told a federal rules advisory committee on Thursday.

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Pa. Justices Say Judge's Partisan Posts Warrant Suspension

By Hayley Fowler

Pennsylvania's highest court has adopted a balancing test for restricting a sitting judge's free speech outside the context of an election and, in doing so, affirmed the suspension of a state court judge who it said damaged the court's appearance of impartiality by making political posts on social media.

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Brief

Courthouse News Drops Access Suit Against DC Court Clerk

By Emily Sawicki

National litigation news outlet Courthouse News Service has voluntarily and permanently dropped claims against a Washington, D.C., Superior Court clerk and the executive officer of the D.C. courts over filing delays, with both sides agreeing to pay their own costs.

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