Insurance Law

Harvard Law Prof Testifies Congress Can Make You Buy Veggies and Insurance

Harvard law professor Charles Fried testified before Congress on Wednesday that he’s “quite sure” the health-care law’s insurance requirement is constitutional. Fried, who was solicitor general in the Reagan administration, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the commerce clause gives Congress the power to require insurance, the Talking Points…

Feb 3, 2011 4:31 PM CST

Trial of Michael Jackson’s Doctor Could Decide Insurance Coverage for Canceled ‘This Is It’ Concert

A decision earlier this month to try Michael Jackson’s personal physician for involuntary manslaughter could determine whether London market insurers ante up in the cancellation of the famous singer’s final “This is It” concert tour. Because the policy reportedly may cover only Jackson’s non-appearance due to “accident,” it might not…

Jan 27, 2011 1:29 AM CST

Gumshoes are Now Glued to Internet as They Search for Adverse Insurance Information

Yet another reason to be wary about posting on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites: It isn’t just teachers, employers and jealous spouses and significant others who are taking a close look at such pages. They’re a gold mine for insurance companies, too. Private investigators who once were only…

Jan 25, 2011 1:06 AM CST

Liberty Mutual Sues One of Its Contract Lawyers, Claims ‘Sextortion’ Attempt

A contract lawyer for Liberty Mutual is accused in a civil suit of threatening to expose an insurance executive’s sexual liaisons if he wasn’t paid millions of dollars and given more work. New York lawyer Michael Devereaux is accused of seeking more than $3 million and at least 25 more…

Jan 20, 2011 12:18 PM CST

New Calif. Law Lets Individuals Rent Cars to Strangers, Via ‘Green’ Nonprofit

Tempting though it might be to pick up a few bucks by letting a friend or acquaintance rent your car in tough economic times, doing so runs the risk of invalidating your personal auto insurance policy and being held responsible for an accident. But a new California law that took…

Jan 12, 2011 5:06 PM CST

5th Circuit Nixes $21M Katrina Pact, Worried That Legal Fees and Other Costs Could ‘Cannibalize’ It

A federal district court judge erred by approving a $21 million settlement of Hurricane Katrina damage claims, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday, because attorney’s fees and administrative costs could “cannibalize” most or all of the money. Absent a showing that the more than 500,000 residents and businesses concerned will…

Dec 17, 2010 4:27 PM CST

Holder Op-Ed: Health Care Challenges Are ‘Troubling’ and Wrong on the Law

Legal attacks on the insurance mandate in the new health care law are “troubling” and could have devastating consequences if they succeed, according to an op-ed by Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Writing in the Washington Post, Holder and Sebelius say they…

Dec 14, 2010 12:27 PM CST

Most 9/11 Responders in New York Agree to $625M Settlement re World Trade Center Health Claims

They aren’t necessarily happy about it. However, over 10,000 plaintiffs who have sought for seven years to hold the city of New York and its contractors responsible for alleged health injuries suffered by police, firefighters and others responding to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center…

Nov 19, 2010 9:48 PM CST

Law Firm Sues Insurance Broker in Effort to Recover $1.6M Lost to Madoff

A Washington, D.C., law firm that lost $1.6 million in pension money invested with convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff has sued its insurance broker in an effort to recover the money. Grossberg, Yochelson, Fox & Beyda claims in the suit that its insurance broker did not obtain an insurance bond…

Nov 19, 2010 1:00 PM CST

Top Court in NY Permits Life Insurance Bets in Case Involving Kramer Levin Partner

New York’s highest court has ruled that state law doesn’t bar a person from taking out a life insurance policy with the intent of selling it to a hedge fund that expects to make more money on the death than the premiums it will pay. The 5-2 decision said such…

Nov 18, 2010 2:03 PM CST

Law Firm Sues Akin Gump and Lloyd’s, Says It Was Stiffed on Stanford’s $437K Defense Bill

A law firm defending onetime Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford in federal civil securities litigation has sued the insurer providing his company’s policy of directors and officers liability coverage and the insurer’s legal counsel, contending that they are obligated to pay a $437,151 legal bill but haven’t anted up. Certain…

Nov 17, 2010 11:00 AM CST

Murdered Michigan Lawyer Had ‘No Shortage of Enemies’

Police are investigating the murder of a Michigan med-mal defense lawyer found dead on Wednesday from multiple gunshot wounds in the entry of his apartment. The slain lawyer, Nicholas Anthony Ianni, had practiced law in Bloomfield Hills and was associated with an offshore malpractice insurance company that was accused of…

Oct 22, 2010 3:17 PM CDT

Lloyd’s $100M D&O Policy Doesn’t Cover Stanford’s Legal Defense Bill in Ponzi Case, Judge Rules

Lloyd’s of London doesn’t have any obligation to cover onetime billionaire R. Allen Stanford’s criminal defense costs under a $100 million policy of directors and officers insurance for his company, a federal judge has ruled. In a four-day trial in August the insurer proved, under a preponderance standard, that Stanford…

Oct 13, 2010 6:01 PM CDT

Judge Upholds Health Insurance Mandate; Case Is ‘Set Up Nicely’ for Appeal

A federal judge in Michigan has upheld the health insurance mandate in the new health care law in a challenge brought by the Thomas More Law Center. The ruling by Judge George Caram Steeh of Detroit is the first to reject a challenge to the law on the merits, rather…

Oct 8, 2010 12:59 PM CDT

Suicide Attempt Survivor’s 39-Story Fall Destroys Muscle Car, But Owner Will Forgo Deductible Suit

A man who unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide by reportedly jumping some 400 feet from a New York building totaled the 2008 Dodge Charger on which he landed feet-first, breaking both legs as he plunged through the roof and rear window. But in addition to miraculously surviving the approximately 39-story…

Sep 2, 2010 11:40 PM CDT