SAN DIEGO — A California appellate panel ruled in an unpublished opinion that a trial court abused its discretion by dismissing a wrongful death lawsuit against Monsanto Co. and others for delay in prosecution after the plaintiffs made a sufficient showing of good cause for the delay.

HOUSTON — Three racial discrimination cases by employees against Houston Community College, including two that were filed as class actions, were separately dismissed by a federal judge in Texas after more than 100 named plaintiffs reached a confidential global settlement with the school.

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge granted in part and denied in part an insurer’s motion to dismiss a pool construction company’s suit against it stemming from two underlying suits for property damage and construction defects, finding that the company provided sufficient allegations to plausibly support the company’s claims for breach of contract and bad faith, but not its claims for declaratory relief or under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) or the Texas Insurance Code.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Taking the position supported by multiemployer plans and amicus curiae the U.S. government and opposed by the withdrawing employers, the U.S. Supreme Court on May 21 affirmed a ruling that the actuarial assumptions used to calculate liability for withdrawing from a multiemployer pension plan do not have to be made by the “measurement date,” which is the end of the plan year before the withdrawal.

LONDON — An English judge on May 20 denied the former director of a Russian company’s challenge of a London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) arbitrator’s ruling dismissing the director’s claim for an unpaid bonus worth $1.3 million for lack of jurisdiction, writing that the arbitrator properly found the alleged incentive agreement was fraudulently backdated and therefore invalid.

NEW ORLEANS — A defense expert may testify that a man suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in addition to other asbestos-related illnesses, a federal judge in Louisiana said May 19 in denying a motion to exclude.  In other developments, the court announced that the man had settled with Shell USA Inc. and asked the court to reconsider summary judgment on a nonintentional tort claim, and the parties wrapped briefing on a plaintiff expert’s “contaminated house” testimony.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Court of Appeals of North Carolina on May 20 affirmed a lower court order granting a motion for a charging order filed by a life insurance company against the economic interest of former insurance mogul, Greg Lindberg, in his holding company, Global Growth Holdings LLC, finding that the lower court had statutory authority to issue the charging order and “was not required to establish in rem or quasi in rem jurisdiction over Global because charging orders are not directed at foreign LLCs but rather concern the judgment-debtor’s personal property.”

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge did not properly analyze whether alleged infringers’ shipments of products with copyrighted art to Pennsylvania established personal jurisdiction before dismissing an artist’s copyright infringement suit against dozens of foreign entities, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held May 19, vacating the dismissal.