A medical clinic located in New Orleans, Spine Care East, LLC, filed suit in a federal district court in Louisiana on August 24, against its insurer, Hanover Insurance Company.  In the Complaint (click here to review the Complaint), Spine Care alleges that Hanover acted in bad faith by failing to properly compensate Spine Care for its business interruption losses sustained in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. 

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Read More Katrina Business Interruption Loss Suit

Following a Rhode Island jury’s verdict in 2006 that three manufacturers of lead paint created a public nuisance when they manufactured and sold the paint, the state’s Attorney General, Patrick C. Lynch, has filed a plan to abate lead in houses and buildings in Rhode Island. 

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Read More Rhode Island Proposes That Paint Makers Fund a $2.4 Billion Lead Abatement Plan

On September 18, 2007, a broad coalition of large institutional investors, state officials and environmental groups filed a petition for interpretive guidance with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission titled Request for interpretive guidance on Climate Risk Disclosure, No. 4-547.

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Read More Investors Representing $1.5 Trillion in Assets Call upon the SEC to Require Full Corporate Climate Risk Disclosure

On September 24, 2007, the Hon. Judge Kenneth Stern issued an Order denying defendants’ (insurance brokers and insurers) motion to dismiss an insured’s second amended complaint (the “Complaint”). 

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Read More Florida State Court Denies Defendant Insurance Brokers’ and Insurers’ Motions to Dismiss Insured’s Complaint Alleging Anticompetitive Behavior Finding, In Part, That McCarran-Ferguson Act Does Not Bar Claim

In a 73-page exhaustive treatment of RICO pleading standards, Chief Judge Brown of the District of New Jersey dismissed with prejudice the federal RICO claims levied by putative class plaintiffs against most of the nation’s large insurers and insurance brokers. 

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Read More Judge Dismisses Federal RICO Claims in Insurance Brokerage Antitrust Case

Prudential Financial, Inc. announced yesterday that one of its subsidiaries has filed a lawsuit against State Street & Trust Corp. and State Street Global Advisors over losses allegedly suffered by Prudential clients in two bond funds managed by State Street.  The suit accuses State Street of “radically” changing its investment strategies for the two funds without disclosing those changes to Prudential or its clients. 

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Read More BREAKING NEWS: Prudential Sues State Street Over Mortgage Related Losses

Last week, the House of Representatives voted 263-146 to approve the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007 (H.R. 3121), which, among other things, would allow homeowners to purchase windstorm coverage from the National Flood Insurance Program (“NFIP”). 

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Read More House of Representatives Passes Bill to Amend NFIP

August 29 was the last day that Louisiana residents could file lawsuits against their insurers alleging that their insurers did not properly adjust, or pay, their Hurricane-Katrina related claims.  Louisiana had previously extended the time in which parties had to file lawsuits arising out of Katrina-related damage, on property claims from one to two years. 

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Read More The Flurry of Katrina-Related Filings Before the Statute of Limitations Passed

Christopher Christie, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, yesterday announced a settlement with four major hip and knee replacement manufacturers that allows the companies to avoid criminal prosecution and civil suits arising from alleged kickback relationships with orthopedic surgeons. 

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Read More Hip And Knee Replacement Manufacturers Agree To Pay $310 Million To Avoid Criminal Prosecution And Civil Suits For Alleged Kickback Arrangements With Doctors

As previously reported here, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia has specifically declined to adopt the learned intermediary doctrine.  Johnson & Johnson Corp. v. Karl, No. 33211 (W.Va. June 27, 2007).  The Court reasoned that the healthcare industry has changed and that pharmaceutical manufacturers “are pushing their products onto the public like never before.” 

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Read More West Virginia’s Recent Rejection of The Learned Intermediary Doctrine In The Pharmaceutical Context May Apply Equally To Medical Device Claims