Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Judge Orders AG to Hand Over Emails in Washington Landslide Liability Case
Sep 9 2016 // A judge this week ordered the Washington Attorney General’s Office to give him internal emails that might help explain when state lawyers handling a case about liability for the devastating Oso landslide realized...
Virginia Judge Rejects Rolling Stone’s Bid to Throw Out $25M Lawsuit
Sep 9 2016 // A Virginia judge has denied Rolling Stone magazine’s attempt to throw out a $25 million lawsuit filed by the fraternity that was the focus on its now debunked article about a gang rape. The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity...
Viewpoint: How Trade Agreements Could Help P/C Insurers in Global Market
Sep 8 2016 // The insurance industry and its consumers need to be concerned about the recent rise of protectionist policies in markets around the globe. Our industry has played an important role in building a more open, interconnected...
Court Rules Massachusetts Law Applies in Rhode Island Contamination Suit
Sep 8 2016 // The Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled that Massachusetts law should apply in deciding whether Narragansett Electric Co. (NEC), a Rhode Island-based utilities provider, is entitled to insurance coverage for...
Congress Likely to Pass Bill Allowing 9/11 Victims to Sue Saudi Arabia
Sep 7 2016 // The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote this week on Senate-passed legislation that would allow families of the Sept. 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia for liability in the attacks. Rep. Peter King of New York, the...
California’s Deal with VW in Diesel Cheating Scandal OK’d by Judge
Sep 6 2016 // Volkswagen AG’s agreement with California to resolve unfair competition claims tied to the company’s emissions-cheating scandal won final approval from the federal judge overseeing hundreds of lawsuits in the...
Two Johnson & Johnson Talc Cancer Lawsuits Dismissed by New Jersey Judge
Sep 6 2016 // Johnson & Johnson persuaded a New Jersey judge to throw out two women’s lawsuits blaming the health-care company’s talcum powder for their ovarian cancer. The ruling may help J&J fend off more than...
Judge Nixes Users’ Privacy Class Action Against Facebook
Sep 6 2016 // Facebook Inc. defeated a bid for a group lawsuit claiming the company illegally gave its users’ personal information to advertisers, with a judge ruling the plaintiffs didn’t have enough in common to pursue a...
NAIC Re-Accredits Alabama Department of Insurance for 5-Year Term
Sep 6 2016 // The Alabama Department of Insurance (ALDOI) announced Aug. 31 that it has been re-accredited by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) for a 5-year term. The ALDOI received its first NAIC accreditation...
Cyber Insurance in the Wake of PF Chang’s vs Chubb
Sep 6 2016 // Rebuilding Cyber Insurance in the Wake of P.F. Chang’s vs Chubb Ltd. If the cyber insurance landscape seems like a confusing mess, you are not alone. In fact, the recent case of P.F. Changs v. Federal Insurance Co....
Trucking Through Cost, Talent, & Regulatory Roadblocks
Sep 6 2016 // It’s been a rough ride, full of twists, turns and a few roadblocks for truckers and their insurance specialists. Truckers today face a number of obstacles that have raised the cost of doing business, including tough...
Bill Adding Ridesharing Restrictions in Honolulu Becomes Law
Sep 6 2016 // Kirk Caldwell is allowing a bill placing stricter regulations on ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft to become law. Caldwell returned the bill to the City Council and cited logistical concerns in allowing it to...
California’s Jones Appoints Allen Deputy Commissioner for Rate Regulation
Sep 2 2016 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has appointed Ken Allen as deputy commissioner of the rate regulation branch for the California Department of Insurance. Allen will fill the vacancy left by Joel Laucher, who...
Judge Dismisses Lawsuits Over 2013 Shooting at Pennsylvania Town Building
Sep 2 2016 // A federal judge has dismissed three lawsuits filed against township officials in connection with a 2013 shooting at a municipal building in Pennsylvania that left three people dead and several others injured. The...
New York State Court Rules Strip Club Owes Unemployment Insurance to Dancers
Sep 1 2016 // A midlevel state court has ruled that a suburban Syracuse, N.Y., strip club’s dancers are employees, and the company owes unemployment insurance payments on their behalf. The four Appellate Division justices have...
Commentary: It is a Catastrophe that No One Listens to the Experts on Florida
Sep 1 2016 // “If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.” Although the author is unknown, this comment is often attributed to Mark Twain or Thomas...
Judge Finds $28M Uber Offer to Settle Rider Fee Class Action Unfair
Sep 1 2016 // Uber Technologies Inc. was dealt a second rejection of a legal settlement, this time in a case over claims the company misled riders when it charged them a $1 “safe rides fee” that earned the company almost...
New Jersey High Court Rules in Favor of CGL Coverage for Subcontractor Faulty Workmanship
Aug 31 2016 // New Jersey has joined several other U.S. states in deciding that if a subcontractor’s defective work damages parts of a general contractor’s project, the damages are covered under the general contractor’s...
Judge Denies Another Trump Bid to Block Fraud Lawsuit Against University
Aug 31 2016 // Donald J. Trump and his now-defunct real-estate university lost another legal attempt to block former students from suing as a group in a California case accusing the Republican presidential candidate of fraud. Trump...
Hospital Surgery Rates for Workers’ Compensation Vary Widely
Aug 30 2016 // Hospital rates for outpatient surgery paid by workers’ compensation vary significantly across states with states with fixed fee schedules having lower surgery costs for injured workers. Workers compensation costs for...
