Wash. Panel Nixes Insurer's Gordon Rees Malpractice Claims

By Rachel Riley

A Washington Court of Appeals panel said a Great American insurance unit can't inherit an equipment manufacturer's legal malpractice claims against Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP and Sinars Slowikowski LLC because of "potential conflict" between the insurer and manufacturer in the underlying dispute over a climber's fall.

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Calif. Dialysis Bill Violates 1st Amendment, 9th Circ. Says

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday struck down provisions of a California law that aims to restrict dialysis providers' ability to profit from patients receiving health insurance premium assistance from nonprofit charities, ruling in a published opinion that the provisions violated nonprofit American Kidney Fund's and dialysis providers' First Amendment rights.

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Federal Court To Decide If Faulty Pumps Caused Detroit Flood

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday heard arguments on whether to dismiss American Select Insurance Co.'s suit alleging faulty Great Lakes Water Authority pumps were responsible for extreme flooding in Detroit and surrounding cities during heavy rainfall in June 2021.

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8th Circ. Backs Insurer Win In ND Pollution Exclusion Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

An Eighth Circuit panel on Tuesday backed an insurer's win in a coverage dispute over a man's alleged injuries from carbon monoxide exposure, finding it did not need a North Dakota high court's input to determine that a policy's pollution exclusion barred coverage.

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Timeshare Exit Co.'s Insurer Can't Appeal To 9th Circ. Yet

By Jennifer Mandato

A Washington federal judge rejected an insurer's request to reconsider a summary judgment ruling that the carrier breached its duty to defend a now-defunct timeshare exit company, stating that the carrier failed to prove an indisputable error in the ruling.

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Insurer Premera Accuses Clinic Of Misusing No Surprises Act

By Ben Adlin

Premera Blue Cross sued a weight loss clinic on Monday in Washington federal court saying it abused a federal law aimed at safeguarding patients from unexpected medical bills in order to shake down the insurer for exorbitant amounts of money — as much as 10 times what Premera pays in-network providers.

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Tobacco Co. Says Insurers Can't Void $75M Tornado Coverage

By Gianna Ferrarin

Insurers have no basis to rescind a $75 million policy issued to a tobacco company alleging it was wrongly denied coverage for $89 million worth of aging tobacco inventory that was destroyed in a tornado, the company told a Tennessee federal court.

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Auto Insurance Co. Escapes Retirement Fund Suit

By Patrick Hoff

An auto insurance company defeated a proposed class action claiming its employee retirement plan was unlawfully overinvested in a conservative default investment option, with a Michigan federal judge saying Tuesday that the suit lacked information about participants who voluntarily put money in the fund.

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Pa. Hospitals Accuse Aetna Of Underpaying Medicare Claims

By Hailey Konnath

Two Pennsylvania hospital operators have sued Aetna Health Inc. in federal court, alleging the insurer has been improperly denying Medicare Advantage claims for inpatient services, or underpaying, under a new policy.

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Hormel Foods Faces Class Cert. Bid In Retirement Fund Suit

By Sydney Price

An ex-worker for Hormel Foods Corp. asked a Minnesota federal judge to certify a class in his federal benefits lawsuit alleging the company failed to remove high-cost investment options with poor return rates from its $1.2 billion in employee retirement plans.

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What New Fla. Citizens Bill Means For Surplus Lines Insurers

A Florida bill recently passed by the Legislature as part of a continued effort to depopulate Citizens Property Insurance, the state's insurer of last resort, creates an additional pathway for commercial policies to be written by surplus lines insurers, but also presents concerns of unnecessary regulation, say attorneys at Troutman.

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Pregnant DLA Piper Atty Recounts Firing: 'This Feels Wrong'

By Pete Brush

A former associate who claims DLA Piper unlawfully fired her after she announced she was pregnant told a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday that she got positive feedback as she worked with large corporate clients and was "shocked" when she was terminated.

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Blanche Says Only Trump Knows Why Bondi's Leaving DOJ

By Courtney Bublé

Todd Blanche said on Tuesday he is now acting attorney general and no one, beyond the president, knows why Pam Bondi is out and he is in.

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Calif. Lawmakers Advance Bill To Curtail PE Role In Litigation

By Emily Sawicki

A California bill to ban corporate investors from influencing litigation strategy is heading to the state Senate, backed by bipartisan support from the Assembly.

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Top DOJ Immigration Atty Faces Ethics Complaint

By Jack Karp

The head of the U.S. Department of Justice's immigration litigation office has lied to judges, disobeyed court orders and failed to stop attorneys he supervises from engaging in misconduct in high-profile immigration cases, according to an ethics complaint filed Tuesday.

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Analysis

Habeas Orders Sharpen As Due Process Concerns Mount

By Britain Eakin

Federal judges are issuing increasingly detailed, critical and decisive orders for habeas relief in immigration cases, stepping in as what immigration experts say is a last resort check on a system viewed as having crumbling due process safeguards.

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DOJ Pushes To End Former Immigration Judge's Bias Suit

By Jake Maher

The U.S. Department of Justice moved to dismiss a former Ohio immigration judge's discrimination suit in D.C. federal court this week, calling the complaint "heavy on conclusory statements and speculation and light on allegations of fact."

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Calif. Atty Apologizes, Blames OpenCase For False Citations

By Matt Perez

A California attorney has filed a response to an order for potential sanctions over his alleged use of artificial intelligence, which resulted in false citations, saying the hallucinations appeared in a later draft after using OpenCase to perform a cite check.

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Audio

Approach The Bench: Judge Robinson On Community Court

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

Judge Devin Robinson's courtroom at the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn looks and feels very different from the courthouse archetype.

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States, DC Back NY AG James In DOJ Probe Appeal

By Emily Sawicki

Backed by amici including the attorneys general of 20 states and the District of Columbia, New York Attorney General Letitia James is fighting the U.S. Department of Justice's bid to reopen an investigation into her office launched by a federal prosecutor found to have been serving unlawfully.

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