Chevron, Insurers Settle $52M Iran Oil Seizure Dispute

By Elaine Briseño

Three insurers have reached a settlement with Chevron over whether their separate marine cargo and war risk policies covered nearly $52 million worth of crude oil the Iranian military seized in retaliation for U.S. economic sanctions.

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Event Center Destroyed In Floyd Protests Beats Fraud Claims

By Hope Patti

A Minnesota event center did not conceal evidence or misrepresent facts in an effort to inflate its claimed vandalism losses from protests following the death of George Floyd, a federal jury recently found.

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Ex-HR Co. Owner Challenges Insurer's $72M Damages Win

By Hope Patti

The former owner of a professional employer organization asked a Florida federal court to rethink its finding that an insurance manager is entitled to $72 million in damages for unpaid workers' compensation deductibles and breached agreements, saying the award far exceeds the manager's identified damages of $25.8 million.

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Calif. Judge Seeks Clearer Limits On ICE Use Of Medicaid Data

By Tom Lotshaw

A California federal judge ordered 22 states and the Trump administration to reach an agreement on the proper scope of his injunction limiting Medicaid data use for immigration enforcement, saying he's unsure how it should apply to people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status.

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Faulty Fee Comparisons Doom Ameritas Workers' 401(k) Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

Life insurance giant Ameritas defeated a proposed class action alleging an employee 401(k) plan was saddled with excessive fees, after a Nebraska federal judge held workers' allegations that management lapses cost millions failed to state a claim for violating federal benefits law.

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Insurer Seeks Exit From Fatal Drunk-Driving Trucker Suits

By Danielle Ferguson

An insurer told an Alabama federal court it has no duty to defend or indemnify a tractor-trailer driver against several lawsuits alleging he was drunk while driving his wife's tractor when he crashed into multiple vehicles, arguing he was not operating as a motor carrier at the time.

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Denver Firm Challenges Ex-Counsel's 90% Settlement Fee

By Zach Dupont

A Denver law firm asked a Colorado state court judge Tuesday to distribute the attorney fees portion of a motor vehicle collision settlement with a law firm that previously represented its client and contends it is owed 90% of the more than $140,000.

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Real Estate Firm Says Insurers Owe $5.3M For Motel Damage

By Gianna Ferrarin

A pair of insurers under the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Munich Re umbrellas wrongly refused to cover over $5.3 million in damage to a motel that a real estate company purchased to convert into affordable housing, according to a complaint removed to Washington federal court.

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Brief

Liberty Mutual Gets Green Light For $13.4M 401(k) Suit Deal

By Patrick Hoff

A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday signed off on a $13.4 million settlement that wraps up a lawsuit accusing Liberty Mutual of loading its employee 401(k) plan with excessive fees and underperforming investments.

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Opinion

NC Litigation Funding Ban Sets Model For Other States

States worried about rising liability costs and the commercialization of their courts should treat North Carolina's recently enacted litigation funding ban as a model because a prohibition adequately addresses the distortion that disclosure only documents, say attorneys at McAngus Goudelock.

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DOJ Says Berkeley Law Is Racially Biased In Admissions

By Craig Clough

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education said Wednesday that the University of California, Berkeley School of Law discriminated against white and Asian applicants in its 2024 and 2025 admissions cycles by preferring Black applicants because of their race, violating federal civil rights law and recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

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Murdaugh Murder Retrial Venue Shift Fueled By Bias Concern

By Emily Sawicki

A South Carolina trial court has approved a request to move Alex Murdaugh's murder retrial to a different county, finding the disgraced attorney could not expect a fair trial in Colleton County, where his wife and son were killed and where he was previously convicted for the crimes.

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Sugar Buyers Want Paul Weiss DQ'd From Price-Fixing MDL

By Dorothy Atkins

Hershey, J.M. Smucker and other food makers urged a Minnesota federal judge Tuesday to disqualify Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP from representing Domino Foods in sugar price-fixing multidistrict litigation, arguing the firm is conflicted out because it saw their confidential sugar-purchasing data when it was being considered as plaintiffs' counsel.

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Virginia Law Prof Says He'll Take USPTO General Counsel Job

By Jack Rodgers

A University of Virginia School of Law professor who has taught tort, administrative, patent and international intellectual property law there for more than 15 years recently said he plans to become the new general counsel of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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Hogan Lovells Partner Tapped For Mass. Judgeship

By Julie Manganis

A Hogan Lovells Cadwalader senior partner has been nominated to a seat as an associate justice on the Massachusetts Superior Court, the governor's office announced Wednesday.

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Kilpatrick Atty Tapped For Yakima County Bench In Wash.

By Ben Adlin

Washington's governor appointed Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP litigator Bree R. Black Horse to the Yakima County Superior Court bench on Wednesday, filling the first new position added to that court in nearly three decades.

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