Latest Lawsuits Headlines
All the headlines from our Lawsuits Topic Page, ordered by recency.
PETITION FOR CLASS ACTION FILED AGAINST CALIF. SCIF
Feb 6 2006 // Chris R. Alcala of Los Angeles has filed a petition for class action against California’s State Fund Compensation Insurance Fund for mispaying for interpreting services. According to the petition, SCIF paid $45...
Case Law Watch
Feb 6 2006 // MiscellaneousJones v. County of Missoula (Montana, Jan. 4, 2006) Ruling: At issue on this appeal was whether the county deprived citizens of their constitutional right to participate in the operation of government by...
Headed for the chopping block
Feb 5 2006 // The ruling accurately determined that an employer’s duty to provide a safe workplace is limited to employees and does not extend to others such as spouses. While shopping for turkey last Thanksgiving, it would have...
News Currents
Feb 5 2006 // Oklahoma’s legislative session shifts into gear Lawsuit reform, uninsured drivers are among issues to be debated. The bill-filing deadline for the Oklahoma Legislature passed Jan.19, 2006, and the session opens Feb....
Case Law Watch
Feb 5 2006 // Jones v. County of Missoula (Montana, Jan. 4, 2006) Ruling: At issue on this appeal was whether the county deprived citizens of their constitutional right to participate in the operation of government by failing to give...
Petition for Class Action Filed against Calif. SCIF
Feb 5 2006 // Chris R. Alcala of Los Angeles has filed a petition for class action against California’s State Fund Compensation Insurance Fund for mispaying for interpreting services. According to the petition, SCIF paid $45...
Emerging Risks
Feb 5 2006 // Anticipating and assessing risk, along with defining and assigning value to units of exposure, are basic components of an insurance underwriter’s job. Challenging as those tasks are when examining well-known...
Lloyd’s to Sue Aon, Benfield Over Central Fund Policy
Feb 3 2006 // Lloyd’s is on the verge of initiating formal legal proceedings against two of its largest brokers, Aon and Benfield, over the Central Fund reinsurance policy they negotiated with a group of six insurers in 1999. The...
Tort Reform Promises to be Key Issue in Okla. in 2006
Feb 2 2006 // Dr. Elaine Davis, an obstetrician and gynecologist in the rural northwest Oklahoma community of Enid for nearly 40 years, loved practicing medicine. But at age 68, she thought it was time to ease back on her patient load...
New Database Tracks Management Liability Claims; Finds Lawsuits Up 33%
Feb 2 2006 // Since 2002, the average number of separate lawsuits associated with a single securities-related event – such as the collapse of Enron – has jumped 33 percent, and suits against underwriters, banks, brokers and...
Judge Gives Class Action Status to La. Oil-Spill Case
Feb 1 2006 // A federal judge has certified as a class action a lawsuit against Murphy Oil Corp. over an oil spill in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon’s decision applies to an area in St. Bernard...
Denver Court Denies Class Action Certification in Morris v. Travelers
Jan 31 2006 // U.S. District Court Judge Edward Nottingham has denied a class certification in Morris v. Travelers Indemnity Co. of America, according to Morrison & Foerster LLP. The law firm represented Travelers in court in...
Two Fox News Employees Sue, Claiming Toxic Mold in TV Studio
Jan 31 2006 // Two Fox News employees have filed a lawsuit claiming they were sickened by air contaminated with toxic molds and pesticides while working in the building where “The O’Reilly Factor” and “At Large...
Miss. Commissioner Dale: Leader, Follower or Shill?
Jan 30 2006 // George Dale walks a tightrope in his job as Mississippi’s insurance commissioner. He is charged with the responsibility of regulating the industry that provides most of his election support while protecting consumers...
Insurer Sues Former Media Executive to Recover Theft Claim Payments
Jan 30 2006 // An insurance company has sued a former executive of the New York Daily News and U.S. News and World Report to recover nearly $600,000 the carrier paid to reimburse the publications for his alleged thefts. Federal Insurance...
Fla. CFO to Reform Premises Liability Rule, Fix ‘Broken Civil Justice System’
Jan 27 2006 // A lack of meaningful tort reform in Florida has added unnecessary expenses to the insurance and healthcare industries in Florida, CFO Tom Gallagher told the Coral Springs, Fla. Chamber of Commerce Board of Trustees. One of...
N.Y. Church Sues Insurer Over $1.2 Million Thefts Blamed on Priest
Jan 26 2006 // A Roman Catholic church in Manhattan has sued the Travelers Casualty and Surety Co. charging breach of contract, claiming the insurance carrier has improperly refused to pay $1.22 million stolen by a priest. The Church of...
Scruggs Says Wind vs. Flood Lawsuits on a ‘Fast Track’
Jan 25 2006 // Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs, the attorney who represents thousands of Mississippi policyholders and has filed suit to obtain payment for flood damages from their insurance carriers, maintains that damages were...
Windstorm Conference Speaker Bailey Predicts Wind vs. Flood Suits Won’t Succeed
Jan 25 2006 // The controversy over litigation about wind vs. flood damage and what could happen in the market place and to the industry if Mississippi Attorney General James Hood and attorney Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs are...
Emerging environmental risks pose problems for underwriters
Jan 23 2006 // Anticipating and assessing risk, along with defining and assigning value to units of exposure, are basic components of an insurance underwriter’s job. Challenging as such tasks are when examining well-known...