8th Circ. Affirms Ala. Apt. Owner's $27M Fire Coverage Win

By Hope Patti

A split Eighth Circuit affirmed Monday an apartment complex owner's $27 million jury award against a Travelers unit in a fire coverage dispute, saying sufficient evidence existed to support the verdict that the presence of microscopic soot constituted "direct physical loss or damage" to property as required by the policy.

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ExxonMobil Says Insurers Owe Coverage For Cancer Suits

By Mark Payne

ExxonMobil alleged that seven insurers failed to cover it against legal claims after two former contractors sued the petroleum giant, contending that exposure to a chemical in oil caused their cancer.

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2 Execs Found Guilty In $233M ACA Fraud Scheme

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal jury returned a guilty verdict on Monday against a marketing company CEO and insurance brokerage executive who were accused of submitting fraudulent enrollments to fully subsidized Affordable Care Act insurance plans to get millions in commission payments from insurers.

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Fla. Panel Says Co. Isn't 'De Facto Defendant,' Denies Fee Bid

By David Minsky

A Florida state appellate court has ruled that a construction company isn't a "de facto defendant" in an ancillary proceeding for a charging lien, denying the company's bid to recover attorney fees that it spent fighting the lien in a case that initially started as an insurance lawsuit.

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Roundup

Pa. Supreme Court Snapshot: Skill Games Top Nov. Lineup

By Matthew Santoni

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's November session will tackle the legality of the "Pennsylvania Skill" games that have popped up in gas stations and convenience stores, answering the long-simmering question of whether they should be regulated like slot machines. Here are some of the cases the state supreme court will hear during its three-day session in Harrisburg.

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Cannabis Co. Not Covered In Product Safety Suit, Insurer Says

By Hope Patti

A cannabis company is not entitled to coverage for a proposed class action accusing it of misrepresenting the nature and safety of its cannabis-infused products, a Nationwide unit told an Illinois federal court, saying the suit doesn't allege bodily injury, property damage, or personal and advertising injury to trigger coverage.

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Colo. HOA, Insurer Settle Remaining Hail Damage Claims

By Zach Dupont

A homeowners association and its insurer reached a settlement in Colorado federal court Friday in the homeowners association's breach of contract lawsuit where it claimed the insurer incorrectly issued roughly $1,600 for hail damage despite the association's $3.5 million damage estimate.

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Brief

Cos. Seek Wash. Justices' Clarity On Wage Disclosure Reach

By Irene Spezzamonte

A McDonald's franchise operator and the operator of Jack in the Box restaurants asked the Washington Supreme Court to clear up the reach of a state law requiring job postings to list pay information in two related cases involving Houston Casualty Co.

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3 Firms Steer Mitsui's $1.44B Minority Stake In Barings

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Japanese insurance company Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. on Monday announced that it has agreed to take a minority stake in MassMutual-owned asset management firm Barings LLC in a $1.44 billion deal built by three law firms.

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Willkie-Led Rockland Clinches 5th Fund With $1.2B In Tow

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP-advised private equity shop Rockland Capital announced Monday that it wrapped fundraising for its fifth fund after securing $1.2 billion in investor commitments.

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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Dynamic Databases

Several recent federal court decisions illustrate how parties continue to grapple with the discovery of data in dynamic databases, so counsel involved in these disputes must consider how structured data should be produced consistent with the requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, say attorneys at Sidley.

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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: November Lessons

In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five recent rulings and identifies practice tips from cases involving claims related to oil and gas royalty payments, consumer fraud, life insurance, automobile insurance, and securities violations.

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Bonus Spotlight

Cravath Unveils Associate Bonuses, Multiple Firms Follow

By Aebra Coe

Multiple firms swiftly fell in line Tuesday evening just hours after Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP announced associate bonuses in line with those offered last year, continuing a long tradition of BigLaw firms following Cravath's lead on compensation.

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Pillsbury Winthrop Latest Firm Targeted By Data Breach Suit

By Hailey Konnath

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on Tuesday was hit with a proposed class action stemming from a data breach the firm says happened in April, adding to the growing litigation firms are facing in the aftermath of cyberattacks.

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Analysis

Perkins Coie's Trump Fight Doesn't Scare Off UK Suitor

By Chris Villani

Perkins Coie LLP's ongoing fight with the Trump administration did not deter a proposed combination with British law firm Ashurst, signaling that the legal community is not worried about fallout from the president's suspension of the firm's security clearances.

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Republican Senators Seek Judge Boasberg's Suspension

By Courtney Bublé

Six Republican senators, three of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are asking that Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia be administratively suspended while Congress considers his impeachment.

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Sanctioned Atty Convinces Mo. Court Errors Not Caused By AI

By Emily Sawicki

A Missouri federal judge sanctioned former counsel for Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Co. Monday for including citation errors in a motion this fall, finding that, although the attorney likely inserted the errors herself without the use of AI software, "such carelessness, exacerbated by a lack of internal guardrails, is entirely unacceptable."

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Brief

Conn. Atty Fined $500 For AI-Generated Errors In Wage Suit

By Emily Sawicki

In an order that noted an attorney's remorse, a Connecticut federal judge sanctioned a solo practitioner $500 this week for submitting a brief packed with false, AI-generated case citations, finding the fake authorities wasted court resources, risked misleading a pro se litigant and undermined trust in the judicial system.

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Disbarred NC Atty Must Pay $5.2M For Escrow Fund Misuse

By Abigail Harrison

A disbarred attorney was ordered to pay $5.2 million in restitution and serve four years of probation during a Tuesday sentencing hearing in North Carolina federal court, after he pled guilty to a criminal wire fraud charge related to the misuse of escrow funds.

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Judge Upholds NY Law Blocking ICE Courthouse Arrests

By Andrea Keckley

New York beat back a federal lawsuit challenging the state's policy barring immigration officials from arresting people near its courthouses, after a federal judge rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's preemption claims.

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NY AG James Blasts 'Outrageous Conduct' Behind Indictment

By Adrian Cruz

New York Attorney General Letitia A. James has told a Virginia federal court to dismiss the U.S. government's indictment of her, calling it "patently unconstitutional" and "outrageous conduct."

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McGuireWoods Is Delaying Defamation Case, NC Justices Told

By Hayley Fowler

The former CEO of a managed care organization who alleges McGuireWoods and one of its ex-partners defamed him during a press conference more than seven years ago has told North Carolina's top court not to take up the case, panning their petition as yet another stalling tactic.

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Brief

Missouri Federal Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool of the Western District of Missouri has given notice he will take senior status upon the confirmation of state Judge Megan Benton, whose nomination to the federal bench President Donald Trump announced Friday.

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CFPB's Gradler Takes Deputy Post Amid Agency Uncertainty

By Jon Hill

Geof Gradler, a former industry lobbyist who recently joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's front office, said that he is taking over as the agency's deputy director, a job that positions him as a potential successor to acting director Russell Vought.

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