Mass. Court Hints At 2nd Look Of $165M Insurance Judgment

By Carolyn Muyskens

Massachusetts' highest court hinted Friday that it could order a judge to show how she calculated the restitution included in a $165 million judgment against three UnitedHealth-owned companies for deceptive marketing practices.

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9th Circ. Says AmeriBen Data Breach Enough To Allege Injury

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit on Friday revived a proposed data breach class action alleging health plan administrator AmeriBen unlawfully revealed patients' information, ruling the disclosures were enough to sustain a lawsuit even if the underlying information might seem "mundane."

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Estate Says Insurer Must Cover Fatal Hyperbaric Chamber Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

The parents of a 5-year-old killed in a hyperbaric chamber explosion and the center where he was receiving the therapy urged a Michigan federal court to reject an insurer's bid to avoid defending the center, saying that insurance coverage is warranted in the family's wrongful-death suit.

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Colo. Milling Co. Fights To Keep $6M Coverage Suit Alive

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado-based flour processor urged a state court not to toss its claims over $6 million in coverage for equipment destroyed in a Texas mill explosion, contending insurance adjusters improperly refused to inspect the company's damaged equipment.

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DA Pans Mangione's Double Jeopardy Bid In NY Murder Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

New York prosecutors on Friday panned Luigi Mangione's bid to dismiss his state murder case, arguing that his guilty plea to federal stalking charges does not subject him to unlawful double jeopardy, as the second-degree murder charge is meant to prevent a different kind of "harm or evil."

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Insurers Can't Avoid $5.3M Motel Damage Suit, Court Told

By Hope Patti

A real estate development company urged a Washington federal court to reject its insurers' bid to avoid a suit seeking $5.3 million in coverage for damage to a motel that was supposed to be converted into affordable housing, saying the carriers' arguments concerning improper service are meritless.

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Intel Contractor Not Covered For Injury Suit, Travelers Says

By Abraham Gross

An Intel contractor is not owed coverage for a worker's $9.4 million personal injury suit stemming from an alleged chemical inhalation at the technology corporation's plant, two Travelers units told an Oregon federal court.

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Mill Co. Says It's Immune To Suit Over Deadly Tank Collapse

By Rachel Riley

Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. LLC, which runs a Pacific Northwest pulp and paper mill where 11 employees died after a chemical tank burst in May, has told a Washington judge that a wrongful death suit over the incident can't proceed because of the state's workers' compensation law.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen PrivatBank sue its former oligarch owner, building materials provider Kingspan face a €100 million ($112 million) claim over Grenfell Tower cladding and energy giants VaroPreem and Viaro Energy become embroiled in an intellectual property row.

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Roundup

ERISA Recap: 6 Notable Decisions From September

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Tenth and Seventh circuits issued published opinions in two union retirement disputes, while the Sixth Circuit found that the Commonwealth of Kentucky's lawsuit against pharmacy benefit managers does not belong in state court, citing colorable federal preemption arguments. Here's more on those decisions and three other notable rulings involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act that came down in September.

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Conn. Insurers Should Prepare To Explain Premium Hikes

As of Jan. 1, Connecticut insurers must provide a reasonable explanation for personal risk insurance premium increases upon policyholder request, and thus should familiarize themselves with a recent bulletin that prescribes the details, say attorneys at Troutman.

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Health Plan Takeaways After 2nd Circ. No Surprises Act Ruling

While the Second Circuit's recent ruling in East Coast Advanced Plastic Surgery v. Cigna gives health plans breathing room in finding that healthcare providers cannot enforce out-of-network billing dispute resolution awards in court, sponsors should not assume that declining to pay awards will go unaddressed by regulators, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

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Nelson Mullins Sued In SC Over October Data Breach

By Jake Maher

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP has been hit with a proposed class action in South Carolina federal court over a data breach that took place in early October.

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Justices Won't Eye 'Weaponized' Sanctions Of Election Attys

By Jeff Overley

Despite outrage among Ninth Circuit conservatives, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to scrutinize six-figure sanctions of lawyers who challenged Arizona election protocols, leaving intact discipline designed to "send a message."

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Reddit Fights Proskauer's 'Hot Potato' AI Client Bid In IP Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

Reddit Inc. has urged a New York federal judge to block its former law firm Proskauer Rose from defending Perplexity AI in Reddit's suit over alleged data scraping used to train artificial intelligence models, arguing the firm can't represent Perplexity after dropping Reddit as a client like ‌a "hot potato."

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Pa. Firm Can't Toss Uber's RICO Claims Over Insurer Payouts

By Linda Chiem

A Pennsylvania federal judge allowed Uber to pursue Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act claims alleging a Philadelphia personal injury firm schemed with healthcare providers to fabricate medical records and inflate accident claims involving Uber and FedEx drivers, saying Uber doesn't lose standing just because its insurer paid its legal fees in underlying litigation.

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DOJ Cites Privacy Concerns In Rejecting NM Epstein Files Bid

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice has rebuffed the state of New Mexico's request for the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files for its investigation into possible crimes at Epstein's Zorro Ranch, saying it would hinder law enforcement operations.

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Case Dropped Against Judge Accused Of Endorsing Violence

By Madison Arnold

Ethics charges against a Florida state court judge in Jacksonville alleging he made comments appearing to endorse violence, convey bias and demean individuals during several proceedings last year have been dropped.

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What The Justices Won't Hear: A Roundup Of Cert Denials

By Taylor Bowie

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant a writ of certiorari to another batch of applications Tuesday, including cases involving six-figure sanctions, wine shipment laws and overtime claims. 

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week saw stockholders challenge Nvidia Corp.'s roughly $20 billion deal with artificial intelligence chipmaker Groq Inc., Hertz Global Holdings Inc.'s electric vehicle strategy and more than $1.5 billion in Humana Inc. stock buybacks.

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