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NEW ORLEANS —The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 10 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer and denial of the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in their lawsuit alleging that Allstate violated the Texas Insurance Code by charging its longstanding customers higher premiums than new customers for materially identical automobile insurance coverage, agreeing with the lower court that the filed-rate doctrine bars the action because the plaintiffs inherently challenge the reasonableness of the filed insurance rates that were reviewed by the Texas Department of Insurance.
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 10 vacated and remanded a lower court ruling granting GEICO summary judgment on its declaratory judgment, common-law fraud and violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims against acupuncture practices and related individuals (collectively, acupuncturists), resulting in a $6,616,142.68 damages award for GEICO, finding that the ruling was based on an inaccurate determination that a health care provider that “improperly buys patient referrals” cannot receive no-fault reimbursements.
NEW ORLEANS — A partially divided Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s certification of only one subclass out of several proposed classes and subclasses in a case by workers who accuse United Airlines Inc. of discrimination by failing to provide religious and medical accommodations, finding no abuse of discretion in the certification only of employees who sought an accommodation due to religious beliefs and were accommodated with unpaid leave.
FORT MYERS, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida on March 10 granted an insurer’s unopposed motion for summary judgment in its insureds’ breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for Hurricane Ian flood damage, holding that the “simple and unforgiving” math indicates that the insureds failed to file their suit within the one-year jurisdictional deadline and failed to submit a sworn proof of loss.
SAN FRANCISCO — A woman’s California unfair competition law (UCL) action alleging that interactions with ChatGPT led to a murder-suicide threatens to waste court resources and produce piecemeal litigation duplicative of a recently consolidated state court action, OpenAI entities say in a March 10 motion urging the federal court to dismiss the case or stay it while the state court suit proceeds.
MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge in Minnesota denied a preliminary injunction and provisional class certification to three individuals suing over allegedly unconstitutional practices by federal agencies carrying out “Operation Metro Surge” in the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas by stopping and questioning people they perceive to be Somali and Latino without “reasonable suspicion” of removability and arresting people without warrants and probable cause.
RICHMOND, Va. — Reversing and vacating certification of a mandatory class in a case challenging an employer’s decision to offer passively managed BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (TDFs) in its retirement plan, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 10 said the Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims at issue are “individualized” monetary ones that “cannot be joined in a mandatory class” and the lower court should not have “postponed the necessary rigorous analysis of commonality.”
WILMINGTON, Del. — The manufacturer of Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus on March 9 told a Delaware federal court that it agreed to dismiss all claims against Hims & Hers Health Inc. and Hims Inc. (collectively, Hims) stemming from its marketing and sale of compounded semaglutide for weight loss the same day the parties announced a partnership that will allow the sale of those drugs on the online health care provider’s website.
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a mandate denying a motion to stay and related petition for a writ of mandamus challenging lower court proceedings in which a judge denied recusal in qui tam suits alleging that the lab and related parties violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by submitting false claims to government insurers for reimbursement for COVID-19 testing services.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge on March 9 granted in part and denied in part a pet food company’s motion to dismiss a putative class action against it for allegedly falsely labeling its pet food products as containing no preservatives in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), finding that the plaintiff’s claims in general were sufficient but dismissing her omission-based and punitive damages claims.
SAN FRANCISCO — Perplexity AI Inc.’s artificial intelligence agents are barred from accessing or providing access to protected areas of Amazon.com Services LLC’s store after a federal judge in California granted the retailer’s motion for preliminary injunctive relief on March 9.