Maryland High Court Rejects Duty Element In Bystander Asbestos Case
BALTIMORE — A household member who suffers an injury from exposure to asbestos brought home on work clothing qualifies as a bystander, and state law does not impose a duty element for a strict liability claim, the Maryland Supreme Court said in answering a certified question from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Trial Court Erred In Refusing To Sever N.J. Statutory Claim, Panel Says
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals panel on April 29 reversed a trial court’s denial of an insurer’s motion to sever and stay a claim alleging violation of the New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA) after determining that staying the IFCA claim until after the insured’s claim for underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits is resolved promotes judicial efficiency and protects the interests of both parties.
Md. Supreme Court: Insurer Can’t Moot Embryo Thawing Class Case With $900 Payment
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Health policies in Maryland, with the exception of policies issued to small employers, must “cover expenses arising from IVF [in vitro fertilization] procedures to the same extent as expenses arising from other pregnancy-related procedures,” a divided Maryland Supreme Court ruled, affirming an appellate panel’s reinstatement of putative class claims by insureds seeking coverage for embryo thawing and agreeing that a class case can’t be mooted by reimbursing the insureds after the complaint was filed and before class certification was sought.
U.S. High Court Hears Arguments On Judicial Review Of TPS Revocation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — No judicial review of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s decision to terminate the temporary protected status (TPS) for Syria and Haiti is permitted under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the U.S. solicitor general told the U.S. Supreme Court April 29 during oral arguments in two putative class cases consolidated by the high court after it treated the government’s applications to stay orders postponing the TPS terminations as petitions for writ of certiorari before judgment and granted them.
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Class Suit Against Meta Over Facebook Content
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 28 affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a putative class action suit against Meta Platforms Inc. alleging that anti-Rohingya content on Facebook incited violence against the plaintiffs and their villages in Myanmar and that Meta breached its duty of care to avoid injury to others, finding that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act barred the plaintiffs’ claims because the content at issue was third-party content.
Judge Remands Smoker’s Suit Against Tobacco Companies, Local Retailers
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts federal judge on April 28 remanded a lawsuit filed by a 58-year-old smoker with lung cancer against three tobacco companies and two retailers to state court, finding the tobacco defendants failed to establish fraudulent joinder of one of the retailers and that the plaintiff’s misidentification of the retailer in the pleadings was an “excusable misnomer.”
Purdue Pharma Sentenced In Criminal Case Stemming From Role In Opioid Crisis
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge on April 28 sentenced Purdue Pharma LP in its criminal proceeding, ordering the OxyContin manufacturer to pay a criminal fine of $3.544 billion and an additional $2 billion in criminal forfeiture to end criminal proceedings five years after the drug maker pleaded guilty to three felony offenses relating to its role in the opioid epidemic.
Full 5th Circuit To Consider ERISA Equitable Relief Issue In Suit Against Aetna
NEW ORLEANS — Vacating a panel decision that included a partial dissent, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 28 granted a petition for en banc rehearing that the appellant said concerns “[w]hether a request for compensatory money damages to remedy an alleged breach of fiduciary duties is an equitable, not legal, remedy”; the case challenges the behavior of the third-party administrator (TPA) of health plans.
In Unanimous Reversal, High Court Finds Injury To Associational Rights
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Unanimously reversing a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court on April 29 held that pregnancy center operator First Choice Women’s Resource Centers Inc.has standing to challenge a subpoena from New Jersey’s attorney general in federal court because “First Choice has established a present injury to its First Amendment associational rights.”
8th Circuit Certifies Question In Insurer’s Strict Liability Suit Against Amazon
ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 27 determined that the Minnesota Supreme Court should determine the novel legal issue of “whether, under Minnesota law, Amazon is strictly liable for a defective product it offered, stored, and shipped, even though someone else was the seller,” noting that the Minnesota high court “has not decided a significant chain-of-commerce strict-liability case involving a retailer since pre-internet times” and that the panel “would be wading into murky waters” if it tried to guess what the Minnesota high court would decide.
9th Circuit Reverses Lower Court’s Aggregate Limit Ruling In Contamination Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s ruling in a dispute over coverage for environmental contamination remediation costs after determining that an annual aggregate limit provision in an umbrella liability insurer’s policies is ambiguous and must be construed in favor of coverage for the insured.