LOS ANGELES — A California appellate panel on April 29 affirmed a grant of summary judgment on insureds’ claims against their insurer for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by allegedly mishandling their claim for property damage, writing that the suit was untimely because the one-year statute of limitation for insurance claims applied even though the insureds denied bringing a breach of contract or insurance policy claim.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled April 30 that a U.S. Coast Guard reservist called to active duty during a time in which a national emergency has been declared “is entitled to differential pay without having to prove that his service was substantively connected in some particular way to some particular emergency.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorneys representing Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (Labcorp), a class of visually impaired consumers and the United States as amicus curiae supporting neither party debated before the U.S. Supreme Court on April 29 whether class certification is appropriate where the class contains members who may have no injury under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The same day that a New York federal judge presided over a fairness hearing for a $2.4 million settlement of a data breach suit against an anesthesia provider management company, he granted final approval of the agreement, disposing of putative class negligence and consumer protection violation claims against the firm and its affiliates in an April 28 order.

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 28 affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of an online gambler’s New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) and negligence suit against BetMGM LLC and other online gaming owners and operators over their alleged breach of duty of care owed to him, finding that because the gambler failed to assert claims for CFA and negligence, the complaint was correctly dismissed.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 28 agreed to hear a case in which a baby food manufacturer says a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that a district court improperly denied remand to plaintiffs who had sued the company alleging that it contaminated its products with heavy metals “directly conflicts with decisions of other courts of appeals,” ignores Supreme Court precedent concerning federal jurisdiction and “egregiously wastes judicial and party resources with no apparent benefit.”

ANCHORAGE, Ala. — Following the Alaska Supreme Court’s answers to two certified questions in a coronavirus coverage dispute, a federal judge in Alaska on April 28 entered judgment in favor of an insurer after granting its motion to dismiss an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for loss of business income under the Communicable Disease Suspension of Operations provision in the insurance policy.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 28 heard arguments from counsel representing veterans and the United States in a class dispute over the application of the Barring Act to settlements of combat-related special compensation (CRSC) requests.