ATLANTA — A Georgia trial court did not abuse its discretion when it certified a class of Atlanta-area condominium owners who allege that their condo association incorrectly imposed an assessment on them for balcony repairs without first submitting the claim to its insurer, a Georgia appellate panel ruled.

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in a lawsuit seeking recovery of a $6.4 million underlying judgment arising from a rented plane that crashed into a communications tower and caused two fatalities, concluding that the aircraft insurance policy is ambiguous.

SEATTLE — A spokesman for Monsanto Co. on March 13 confirmed that the company has reached confidential settlements to resolve several long-running state court lawsuits against the company by various plaintiffs who alleged that they were injured from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at the Sky Valley Education Center (SVEC) near Seattle. The spokesman said the company’s payment of $1 million in sanctions related to the case at hand was paid to resolve the suit even though Monsanto does not agree with the sanctions decision.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 12 affirmed in part and vacated in part a lower court’s preliminary injunction enjoining the enforcement of the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA) in a suit filed by a trade association of online businesses challenging the CAADCA, which was enacted to provide online privacy protections for children under 18, affirming the injunction regarding the act’s data use and dark patterns restrictions after finding that those provisions do not clearly describe the prohibited conduct.

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted a plaintiff’s motion to stay a $623,000 attorney fee sanction against her attorneys for allegedly bringing a frivolous suit against Walmart Inc. pending the outcome of their petition for a writ of mandamus before the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on the condition that the plaintiff post a supersedeas bond in the full amount of the sanctions.

BOSTON — A Massachusetts Appeals Court panel on March 13 vacated due to improper jury instructions a state court jury’s defense verdict rejecting all claims against a tobacco company brought by the widower of a smoker who started smoking around age 10 and died at age 65 from lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

ATLANTA — A Georgia appeals panel on March 12 affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of a boat manufacturer insured in its lawsuit alleging that its insurers acted in bad faith for failing to settle an underlying action arising from a boating accident that killed a 7-year-old boy, holding that the record evidence established that the primary insurer was at all times responsible for the insured’s defense and never tendered its policy limits to the insured.

NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel saw no abuse of discretion in a New York federal judge’s finding that the owner of a South Asian film festival in New York was unlikely to succeed on trademark claims against the owner of a South Asian film festival in both Texas and New York, affirming the judge’s decision to deny a preliminary injunction.