NJ Justices Back Coverage Exclusion Reservation Of Rights

By George Woolston

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday said an insurer doesn't waive its right to rely on a policy exclusion after initially defending a claim, backing Berkley Insurance Co. in a coverage dispute stemming from self-dealing suits against a pharmaceutical company and its chairman.

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Agencies Pitch Employers Offering Voluntary Fertility Benefits

By Kellie Mejdrich

Federal agencies overseeing employer-provided health coverage proposed new rules aimed at expanding workers' access to coverage for infertility treatments and related health conditions by letting employers offer voluntary fertility health benefit policies for procedures such as in vitro fertilization.

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ChatGPT Suit Points To Ups And Downs Of Pro Se AI Use

By Cara Bayles

A recent lawsuit against OpenAI highlights many of the hopes and anxieties about pro se litigants using generative artificial intelligence to churn out legal arguments. The technology raises concerns about confidentiality, hallucinations and ethical issues, but some access-to-justice advocates worry the lawsuit may hinder technology that might democratize legal services.

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Mich. Providers Say Jury Must Weigh Allstate RICO Claims

By Danielle Ferguson

Medical providers accused of scheming to fraudulently bill for unnecessary or unrendered treatments under the Michigan No-Fault Act have asked a federal judge to reject Allstate's bid for a pretrial win, arguing a jury should decide whether the providers intended to defraud the insurer.

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Insurer Says Late Notice Warrants Repayment For Crash Deal

By Hope Patti

The excess insurer for a construction company said it is entitled to recoup amounts it contributed to settle an underlying crash dispute that resulted in a $17.3 million verdict against its policyholder, telling a California federal court it was prejudiced by the company's "extremely late reporting" of the incident.

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Insurer Must Cover Water Damage At Ind. School, Court Told

By Hope Patti

An Indiana-based Christian school said it is entitled to tap into more than $12 million in coverage for a sprinkler system leak and resulting water damage that left its building uninhabitable, telling a federal court that its insurer has wrongfully limited coverage to $10,000 under a flood sublimit.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a varied mix of settlement approvals, political office disputes, transaction fights, emergency injunction bids and questions over how far the court can go to preserve records for litigation outside Delaware.

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Brief

Colorado Justices Decline To Rehear Insurer Cooperation Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

The Colorado Supreme Court denied Monday a policyholder's bid for the court to rehear his case after the justices dismissed his claims last month and limited the reach of a Colorado law addressing procedural requirements for insurers asserting failure-to-cooperate defenses against policyholders.

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Navigating Insurance And Contract Risks Amid Hormuz Crisis

The Strait of Hormuz has become a legal choke point where contractual obligations, insurance coverage and international law intersect, underscoring for maritime lawyers the importance of proactive contract drafting, rigorous policy review and close engagement with clients, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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Heppner Ruling Left AI Privilege Risk For Lawyers Unresolved

While a New York federal judge’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner resolved a privilege question surrounding client-side artificial intelligence use, it did not address how to mitigate the risks that can arise when confidential information enters the operative context of an AI system used by an attorney, says Jianfei Chen at Quarles & Brady​​​​​​​.

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Analysis

Trading Scheme Is A 'Wake-Up Call' For BigLaw Compliance

By Chris Villani

The breadth of a decade-long insider trading scheme prosecutors say was fueled by stolen BigLaw merger information should jolt firms to reexamine their practices to close gaps in internal security, experts told Law360, even if totally eliminating bad actors is nearly impossible.

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Quinn Emanuel Founder Exiting Executive Chair Role

By Tracey Read

Four decades after high-stakes litigation firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan first opened in Los Angeles, founding partner John B. Quinn is stepping down as executive chairman of the firm effective immediately.

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NY Ethics Panel Finds US Attorney Committed Misconduct

By Courtney Bublé

The New York Attorney Grievance Committee has found that President Donald Trump's pick leading the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York engaged in "professional misconduct" last summer, according to a letter released on Monday.

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Trump Taps 6 Judges, Including Picks Needing Blue Slips

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced six judicial nominees on Monday, including picks for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits and two district court picks that needed support from Democrats.

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Plaintiffs' Attys Sanctioned In Tylenol MDL, Sparking Appeal

By Gianna Ferrarin

A New York federal court sanctioned a plaintiffs' firm and its co-founder in federal multidistrict litigation by families alleging that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen can cause autism, saying they improperly shared confidential information from the case in related state court actions.

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Senate Confirms 13 US Attorneys In En Bloc Vote

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 46-45, along party lines, to confirm 13 U.S. attorneys on Monday as part of a larger nominations package.

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Pa. Law Firm, Doctors Can't Shake Uber, FedEx RICO Suit

By Linda Chiem

A Pennsylvania federal judge said Monday that Uber and FedEx offered extensive and detailed allegations to press ahead with their racketeering lawsuit accusing a Philadelphia personal injury firm and local healthcare providers of scheming to fabricate medical records to inflate accident claims.

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