UnitedHealth Must Reveal Nitty-Gritty In Claim Denial AI Case

By Hannah Albarazi

A Minnesota federal judge has ordered UnitedHealth Group to hand over discovery on the secretive algorithm it uses to manage Medicare Advantage claims, ruling Monday that the insurer must disclose internal records detailing whether the technology was designed to override the clinical judgment of doctors.

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2nd Circ. Revives Geico's Suit Over Acupuncture Referrals

By Mark Payne

A lower court erred in granting summary judgment to Geico after the insurer sued over reimbursements to an acupuncturist involved in what Geico said was a kickback scheme, the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday, finding the district court misinterpreted a state law detailing requirements for referrals and no-fault payments. 

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Insurer's Cyber Liability Capped At $250K, Texas Court Finds

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Texas federal court ruled that an insurer has no further liability beyond a $250,000 policy limit it paid to a construction company for its losses stemming from a social engineering cyber theft incident.

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Wash. To Set Its Own Vaccine Schedule Under New State Law

By Dan McKay

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson has signed legislation that requires health plans to cover vaccines and other preventive care recommended by the state rather than the federal government, joining a movement toward states setting their own recommendations.

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Liberty Mutual Says Mich. Clinics Ran RICO Billing Scheme

By Melanie Dorsey

Liberty Mutual has sued a group of Michigan medical providers, a physician and related businesses, claiming the collective ran a coordinated no-fault billing scheme that steered auto accident patients through affiliated providers to generate unnecessary medical bills.

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CVS Can't 'Relitigate' Price-Gouging Class Cert.

By Bryan Koenig

A Rhode Island federal judge refused to narrow the certified classes of health plans alleging CVS schemed with pharmacy benefit managers to overcharge insured health plans for generic drugs, finding that PBM Express Scripts' refusal to produce its contracts changes nothing about how the classes will be assessed.

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Insurers Can't Resume Investor Fight In $220M Coverage Row

By Emily Lever

A Texas appellate court Tuesday rejected two insurance companies' bid to stop a group of shareholders of now-bankrupt Cobalt International Energy from pursuing claims on behalf of thousands of other investors, stymieing the carriers' attempts to curtail a fight over coverage of a $220 million securities settlement.

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Firm, Atty Say Insurer Can't Stop Covering Ponzi Scheme Suits

By Hope Patti

A Maryland law firm and attorney accused in two underlying actions of aiding a Ponzi scheme have sued their professional liability insurer in federal court, saying the carrier has wrongfully declined to continue defending them beyond mediation.

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Pot Exclusion Blocks Coverage For Explosion Suit

By Mike Curley

An Oregon federal judge has ruled in favor of a Liberty Mutual unit, finding that it owes no coverage to defendants in a suit over a fatal gas leak explosion because of the marijuana exclusion in the policy.

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Insurer Can't Oust Arbitrator In Asbestos Fight, Court Told

By Hope Patti

An arbitrator and a group of reinsurers sought to toss an insurer's bid to disqualify the arbitrator from a dispute over coverage for millions of dollars' worth of asbestos bodily injury claims, telling a New York federal court that it lacks authority to remove him.

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Genworth Unravels 401(k) Fund Suit Class Cert. At 4th Circ.

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday reversed class certification for Genworth Financial Inc. employee 401(k) participants who alleged that their retirement savings were dragged down by underperforming BlackRock Inc. target date funds, holding that individual plan participants' investment performance was too varied for the court to sign off on their claims as a group.

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Kirkland-Led Truelink Capital Wraps $2B Fund Above Target

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised private equity shop Truelink Capital on Tuesday announced that it wrapped fundraising for its second fund above target after securing $2 billion of investor commitments.

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Military Attys In DOJ 'Erodes Democratic Norms,' Ex-JAGs Say

By Lauren Berg

Nearly a dozen former military lawyers raised the alarm about the Trump administration appointing judge advocate officers to U.S. attorneys' offices, urging a Minnesota federal judge Tuesday to bar an Army lawyer from prosecuting a case that accuses a civilian of assaulting federal immigration enforcement agents.

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DOJ Official Faces Ethics Case Over Georgetown DEI Letters

By Alison Knezevich

U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin has been hit with disciplinary charges in the nation's capital over threatening letters he sent to Georgetown University Law Center last year while he was interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.

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Dems Confront Roberts At Wide-Ranging Judiciary Gathering

By Jeff Overley

The federal judiciary's top administrator voiced "serious and urgent concerns" Tuesday regarding threats of retribution against judges, a warning that coincided with a judicial gathering where Democrats discussed security fears and controversial U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

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Prosecutor Resigns, Judge Shows Slide Deck On AI Errors

By Abigail Harrison

A federal prosecutor told a North Carolina federal court Tuesday that he was separating from the office after admitting in open court to using artificial intelligence to help draft a response brief, what he called "the worst decision I've ever made in my 30-year career."

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Calif. Atty Gets Over 11 Years For Solar $1B Ponzi Scheme

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has sentenced a corporate attorney to 11 years and five months behind bars after he pled guilty to nearly two dozen charges for his role in DC Solar's $912 million Ponzi scheme, which duped major investors including Berkshire Hathaway, Progressive and SunTrust Equipment Finance & Leasing.

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Ex-Moses & Singer Partner Admits Tax Crimes, Will Pay $2.8M

By Aaron Keller

A former Moses & Singer LLP partner admitted to practice in New York and North Carolina courts has pled guilty to three counts of failing to file personal income tax returns and will pay $2.8 million in restitution, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut announced Monday.

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Judiciary Approves Supreme Court Public Defender Office

By Katie Buehler

The federal judiciary approved a new office Tuesday aimed at improving the quality of representation for indigent defendants with cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. 

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Judge Fumes As Live Nation Antitrust Trial Remains In Limbo

By Stewart Bishop

The status of Live Nation Entertainment's antitrust trial and proposed settlement over federal and state government claims of anticompetitive conduct remained up in the air Tuesday amid pushback by several states, while the Manhattan federal judge overseeing the case upbraided the parties for keeping him out of the loop about negotiations.

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DOJ Unveils Superseding Policy For Corporate Criminal Cases

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday released its first-ever, department-wide, corporate enforcement policy for criminal matters, outlining how it will decline to prosecute companies that voluntarily disclose misconduct, cooperate with investigators and remediate wrongdoing.

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DLA Piper Can't Rep Itself At Bias Trial, Fired Atty Says

By Pete Brush

DLA Piper should not be permitted to represent itself at trial in a pregnancy discrimination case brought by a senior associate who was fired in 2022, lawyers for the plaintiff told a Manhattan federal judge.

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Judge Nixed Over MAGA Op-Ed Seeks Reinstatement

By Emily Sawicki

A retired Illinois state trial court judge pursuing First Amendment claims against the state Supreme Court after his right-wing opinion column resulted in his removal from a temporary judgeship has moved for immediate reinstatement to the Cook County Circuit Court.

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Wisconsin Judges Decline To Extend Interim US Atty's Term

By Courtney Bublé

A majority of judges in the Eastern District of Wisconsin have declined to extend the tenure of interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel, according to an announcement Tuesday.

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J&J Opposes Beasley Allen Reinstatement Bid In NJ Talc Fight

By Emily Sawicki

Johnson & Johnson is urging the New Jersey Supreme Court to not take the "extraordinary step" of intervening in an appellate panel ruling that disqualified Beasley Allen from representing hundreds of women in product liability litigation against the pharmaceutical giant after the Georgia-based firm "knowingly collaborated" with a former Johnson & Johnson outside counsel.

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