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NEW YORK — A split New York Court of Appeals answered in the negative a question certified to it by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals regarding whether an insurer can deny a provider’s claim for no-fault benefit payments for the provider’s alleged misconduct in paying for patient referrals related to an appeal of a ruling awarding GEICO $6,616,142.68 in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit.
CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 25 affirmed a lower court’s ruling that denied law firm Morgan & Morgan’s challenge to the attorney fee award distribution in the settlement of litigation stemming from the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, ruling that any harm the firm suffered was “a result of its own doing” because it advocated for a quick-pay provision in the settlement that allows plaintiffs’ counsel to be paid soon after the settlement is approved, even while the settlement is still subject to appeal.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A $1,995,000 class settlement won final approval on Nov. 25 in a case that had challenged the use of forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions to offset the plan sponsor’s future matching contributions, with a California federal judge granting the requested $665,000 award for attorney fees and costs but directing that 10% of the fees be retained by the settlement administrator pending a determination “that the settlement distribution process has been completed.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 25 affirmed a California federal judge’s finding that some claims in patents describing systems for routing streamed content over the internet were invalid as indefinite and likewise affirmed findings that the technology company’s products did not meet a claim limitation required by the patents at issue.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 25 affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to order more than $250,000 in attorney fees and additional sanctions against a company that sued Google LLC for allegedly infringing a patent on a system that allows musical artists to remotely update an album already on a user’s device.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) on Nov. 25 announced a proposed nationwide settlement with Lowe’s Home Centers LLC to resolve alleged violations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting rule (RRP), under which Lowe’s will pay a $12.5 million penalty.
PASADENA, Calif. — Affirming dismissal of a suit against a health insurer in a Nov. 24 unpublished memorandum disposition, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said that because the claims of the drug and alcohol treatment provider both reference “and have an impermissible connection with” a plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the claims “are therefore preempted by ERISA.”
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 24 affirmed a district court’s ruling issuing a permanent injunction barring certain individuals from future participation in multilevel marketing programs related to their participation in marketing internet-based travel services in violation of the FTC Act and imposing a sanction of $7,306,873.14 for violating a permanent injunction related to an earlier suit, finding that the sanction was appropriate and that the permanent injunction was “not overly broad.”
WHEELING, W.Va. — A federal judge in West Virginia on Nov. 24 sanctioned attorneys $10,000 for contempt for their conduct in a class action over alleged illegal phone calls that solicited clients for mass tort cases relating to toxic waterexposure at Camp Lejeune. The judge ruled that the attorneys in question provided an “insufficient” explanation for their conduct once they were ordered to show why they should not be held in contempt for their failure to comply with the court’s order approving the class notice plan.
SAN DIEGO — An appeals panel in California on Nov. 24 affirmed a $28 million combined verdict against Monsanto for a man who developed cancer from exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, ruling that the plaintiff’s claims were not preempted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and that the punitive damages award did not violate Monsanto’s due process rights.
NEW YORK — In a summary order saying that the complaint “fails plausibly to allege breach of fiduciary duty against any of the Defendants,” the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 21 affirmed dismissal of a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case in which a participant in a defined-benefit multiemployer pension plan challenged an allegedly high-risk investment strategy.