Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Motel Has No Duty to Prevent Guest’s Suicide, Massachusetts Appeals Court Rules
Sep 6 2022 // A motel and its employees have no duty to prevent a guest’s suicide even when family members warn that the guest is a suicide risk. A Massachusetts Court of Appeals has ruled that while innkeepers may have an...
Rescinded Policies Owe No Coverage for Lead Paint Claims, Maryland High Court Rules
Sep 6 2022 // Insurers that rescinded general liability policies issued to landlords who misrepresented their exposure to lead paint claims owe no coverage to 12 plaintiffs who had not yet obtained final court judgments,...
Judge Rules Walgreens Contributed to San Francisco’s Opioid Crisis
Sep 5 2022 // A federal judge ruled in mid-August that Walgreens can be held responsible for contributing to San Francisco’s opioid crisis for over-dispensing opioids for years without proper oversight and failing to identify and...
California Lawmakers Pass Landmark Fast Food Workers Bill
Aug 31 2022 // California lawmakers this week approved a nation-leading measure that would give more than a half-million fast food workers more power and protections, over the objections of restaurant owners who warn it would drive up...
Washington Judge Enters Order on Washington Insurance Commissioner’s Credit Scoring Ban
Aug 31 2022 // Judge Indu Thomas entered the final order declaring that Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler exceeded his authority when he issued a permanent rule banning the use of credit-based insurance scores. Judge Thomas initially...
Florida Judge Dismisses Contractors’ Challenge to SB 2D’s Attorney Fee Limits
Aug 31 2022 // A Florida judge has thrown out a constitutional challenge to an insurance litigation reform law, noting that the state officials named in the lawsuit were not the correct defendants. Plaintiffs Restoration Association of...
North Carolina Judge Sets Lindberg’s New Trial Date for March 2023
Aug 30 2022 // A new trial for North Carolina insurance executive Greg Lindberg has been set for March 2023, three years after his conviction on bribery charges, a conviction that was later overturned. Federal prosecutors and...
Win for Qualcomm as No EU Appeal Court Ruling Against $991M Fine
Aug 29 2022 // EU antitrust regulators will not appeal a court ruling scrapping its 997-million-euro ($991 million) fine against Qualcomm, people familiar with the matter said, in a major win for the U.S. chipmaker that ends a...
Sept. 11 Victims Not Entitled to Seize Afghan Central Bank Assets, Says Judge
Aug 29 2022 // A U.S. judge on Friday recommended that victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks not be allowed to seize billions of dollars of assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank to satisfy court judgments they obtained...
Regulatory Roundup: DHS Adjuster Licensing, Pandemic Regulatory Catchup, Idaho Joins SBS
Aug 29 2022 // This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. State by state variations of laws, compliance protocols, industry transparency, and general regulatory cultures can lend one the impression that keeping up with...
DCA Can’t Prohibit Lower Court Ruling, Florida Justices Decide in Insurance Case
Aug 26 2022 // Claim Was Settled, But Insurer Attorneys Revealed Mediation Info, Claimants’ Lawyer Says An appeals court cannot be used to prohibit a lower court’s decisions, except through the normal appeal process, the...
Judge Cuts $500K Punitive Award Against Prison Guard to $5,000
Aug 26 2022 // A federal judge has overturned a jury’s decision imposing $500,000 in punitive damages against a former Delaware prison guard accused of sexually assaulting an inmate during a pat-down. The jury found in December...
Judge Dismisses Former Nebraska Officer’s Discrimination Lawsuit
Aug 25 2022 // A judge has dismissed the discrimination lawsuit of a former Lincoln, Nebraska Police Department spokeswoman, saying her allegations did not sufficiently prove a hostile work environment. Erin Spilker said in her lawsuit...
California Lawmakers Allow Lawsuits Against ‘Cyber Flashers’
Aug 24 2022 // Victims who receive unsolicited sexually graphic material by text, email, app or other electronic means could sue the sender under a bill that California lawmakers sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom this week. The bill targets...
Judge Blocks Florida ‘Anti-Woke’ Law Pushed by Gov. DeSantis
Aug 22 2022 // A Florida judge has declared a Florida law championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts race-based conversation and analysis in business and education unconstitutional. Tallahassee U.S. District Judge Mark...
Judges Behind ‘Kids-for-Cash’ Ordered to Pay More Than $200M
Aug 18 2022 // Two Pennsylvania judges who orchestrated a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks were ordered to pay more than $200 million to hundreds who fell victim to their crimes. U.S. District Judge...
Bankruptcy Judge Clears Way for Defamation Case in Connecticut Against Alex Jones
Aug 17 2022 // A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday cleared the way for a defamation lawsuit in Connecticut to proceed against Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The case was filed by relatives of some victims of the 2012...
Another State Supreme Court Rules No Coverage for COVID-19 Shutdown
Aug 12 2022 // The South Carolina Supreme Court on August 10 became the fourth state high court in the nation to rule that the virus that causes COVID-19 cannot cause a direct physical damage or loss covered by a commercial property...
Judge Rules Walgreens Contributed to San Francisco’s Opioid Crisis
Aug 12 2022 // A federal judge ruled this week that Walgreens can be held responsible for contributing to San Francisco’s opioid crisis for over-dispensing opioids for years without proper oversight and failing to identify and...
Judge in Flint Water Case Talks to Lawyers, Seals Transcript
Aug 8 2022 // A judge handling a trial over liability for lead contamination in Flint’s water sealed the transcript of a hearing with lawyers, a conference held this week while jurors were on an 11-day break from deliberations. A...
