WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida appellate court panel reversed and remanded a lower court’s order denying a motion by the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) to enforce a settlement agreement and granting the insureds’ motion to enforce a settlement agreement in a dispute over coverage for purported water damage, finding that the lower court erred in requiring that FIGA “pay the entire settlement amount,” which included the attorney fee portion.

ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s award of attorney fees to a debtor’s lawyer, finding the debtor failed to show the bankruptcy court erred in allowing attorney fees to be paid from undisbursed funds held by the bankruptcy trustee after the debtor’s Chapter 13 bankruptcy case was dismissed.

SAN FRANCISCO — On remand after reversal by the U.S. Supreme Court, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in two Aug. 12 rulings affirmed the confirmation of an arbitration award worth more than $1.2 billion against an Indian state-owned company, ruled on an issue of first impression that forum non conveniens challenges do not apply to petitions to confirm under the New York Convention, vacated a ruling allowing intervenors to register the judgment and remanded the issue of whether the award’s set-aside in India “warrants relief from judgment.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Aug. 12 granted an application by Apple Inc. and issued an administrative stay of the proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which granted injunctive relief and issued a contempt finding against Apple over anticompetitive practices on its App Store in an antitrust dispute with Epic Games Inc.

NEW ORLEANS — In an en banc ruling to which some judges partially dissented, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed universal vacatur of two challenged provisions of an agency rule implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) that concerned qualifying payment amount (QPA) issues; however, the appellate court also reversed universal vacatur of a third provision.

NEW YORK — In a student’s putative class action seeking reimbursement for tuition for when Syracuse University transitioned to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals certified to the New York Court of Appeals a question regarding whether New York law requires that a university make a “specific” promise to provide “exclusively” in-person instruction in order to form an implied contract, finding that the split between federal and state courts on the application of New York contract law to COVID transitions to remote learning implicates important state interests.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on Aug. 11 denied a motion to dismiss filed by insureds in a marine insurer’s suit seeking a declaration that there is no coverage for lightning damage to a yacht because the insureds allegedly breached the policy’s fraud provision by failing to disclose a prior marine claim for hurricane damage, finding that the insureds’ argument that the policy must be reformed for mutual mistake addresses a fact dispute that courts do not resolve at the dismissal stage of the litigation.

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s judgment in favor of an insurer, rejecting the appellant’s argument that the lower court erred in declining to stay the coverage dispute pending resolution of postjudgment motions in the underlying wrongful death action and in denying his motion to amend his answer to assert a counterclaim against the insurer.