NJ Justices Bar PI Damages For 'Collectible' Future Med Bills

By Gianna Ferrarin

New Jersey's highest court unanimously ruled that the state's no-fault insurance scheme for victims of automobile accidents bars claimants from asking a jury to award future medical expenses if those projected costs fall within their personal injury coverage limits.

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Conn. Diocese Settles Abuse Defense Suit Against Travelers

By Danielle Ferguson

The bankrupt Norwich Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp. has reached a settlement with its insurer in a Connecticut state court lawsuit alleging the insurer improperly bailed on defense coverage for a sexual abuse case just days before the start of a trial.

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Colo. Jury Asked To Award I-70 Project Contractor $32.5M

By Rachel Konieczny

A New York engineering and design firm that contracted to reconstruct a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in Denver asked a Colorado state jury to award it $32.5 million for breaches it says a subcontractor made during the project's course.

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Insurer Needn't Cover Real Estate Co.'s $330K Arbitration Bill

By Hope Patti

An insurer is not on the hook for more than $330,000 in defense costs that a commercial real estate company and its manager incurred in arbitration with investors, a Washington federal court ruled Thursday, saying the company failed to show that the costs arose from covered fiduciary duty claims.

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Insurer Owes No Coverage For Mall Pollution, Fla. Judge Says

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge ruled an insurance company doesn't have to provide coverage to the owner of a California shopping center contaminated with dry cleaner chemicals, finding that benefits were properly denied under site development and pollution exclusions in the policy issued by the insurer. 

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Brief

New PBGC Amicus Program Offers Input On Important Cases

By Grace Elletson

Litigants involved in benefits cases that involve novel or significant pension-related issues can now ask the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to lodge briefs shedding light on their disputes, the PBGC announced Thursday.

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Insurance Co. Says Fraudster Can't Arbitrate $524M Claim

By Joyce Hanson

An insurance company has urged a Puerto Rico federal court to throw out pro se litigation filed by disgraced insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, who wants to arbitrate claims related to a $524 million judgment as he awaits sentencing later this month on a massive fraud conviction.

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Insurer Beats Calif. Health Group's Discovery Costs Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

A California federal judge said Wednesday that an insurer did not have to reimburse the state's largest private health foundation for roughly $400,000 in discovery costs it incurred during an executive's now-settled wrongful termination suit, finding the foundation failed to get the insurer's consent before running up the bill.  

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Harvard Pilgrim Sued Over 'Ghost' Mental Health Network

By Julie Manganis

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and its parent company have lured subscribers with a "ghost network" of mental health providers who are frequently out of network, don't accept the insurance or are not taking new patients, according to a proposed class action filed in Massachusetts state court.

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Insurer 'Arbitrarily' Cut NC Farmers' Coverage, Court Told

By Gianna Ferrarin

A crop insurance provider owes two farmers for the cost of arbitration proceedings and other damages they suffered after the insurer tried to halve their recovery for a tobacco crop-related loss, according to a complaint filed in North Carolina federal court.

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Safeguarding RWI Coverage As Materiality Focus Persists

As first-quarter broker claims reports reveal that materiality disputes remain a key driver of representations and warranties insurance claims, the scarce case law in this area indicates that including a materiality scrape provision in an RWI policy may aid policyholders with recovery, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

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AI Data Center Boom May Spur Wave Of Toxic Tort Suits

Nascent litigation matters against data center operators, set against limited government regulation and a growing body of public health research, suggests we may be on the cusp of an era of mass toxic tort claims, with a liability framework firmly rooted in precedent from other industries, says Benjamin Heller at RFZ Law.

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Series

Speed Jigsaw Puzzling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My passion for speed puzzling — I can complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in under 50 minutes — has sharpened my legal skills in more ways than one, with both disciplines requiring patience, precision and the ability to keep the bigger picture in mind while working through the details, says Tazia Statucki at Proskauer.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Morrisons sued by a former logistics partner, EDF and Cripps LLP face a claim brought by a family estate near Hinkley Point C and a former BBC broadcaster file a defamation claim against a Welsh news site over articles linking her to Russian state media and conspiracy theories. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Morgan Lewis Hires 2 More Hunton Litigators

By Andrea Keckley

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced on Friday that it has hired two more attorneys from Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP to build up its litigation bench.

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Legal Industry Bounces Back, Gaining 2,400 Jobs In April

By Tracey Read

The legal sector is once again on a positive trajectory, gaining 2,400 jobs last month, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Paul Weiss Says Atty Cuts Were Part Of Performance Reviews

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP told Law360 on Friday that the firm has parted ways with some attorneys following an annual review process.

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Top Atty In DOJ Appeal Over Law Firm Exec Orders To Depart

By Jake Maher

The lead federal prosecutor on the Trump administration's appeal to reinstate executive orders targeting four law firms is stepping down from his government role at the end of May, he publicly announced this week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a split Seventh Circuit panel rejected the Trump administration's argument that immigrants unlawfully in the United States have no due process rights.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The head of the U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits section said agency investigations will focus on benefit plan managers' loyalty conflicts, including pursuit of socially conscious goals. Meanwhile, Dell became the latest company to consider Texas as its new legal home. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Prosecutor Faces Probe Into Withheld Immigration Case Info

By Bonnie Eslinger

The lead assistant federal prosecutor for Rhode Island's civil division is under investigation for allegedly withholding information in an immigration case, according to an order from the Ocean State's top federal judge.

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DLA Piper Accused Of 'Frivolous' Suit To Please Chipotle GC

By Gina Kim

DLA Piper aggressively litigated a "frivolous" computer fraud lawsuit against a nonprofit volunteer in order to appease the then-general counsel of Chipotle, a client, who referred the case to the firm, according to a malicious-prosecution complaint filed Thursday in California state court. 

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

By Adam LoBelia

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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