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BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland on March 20 granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) halting access to Social Security Administration (SSA) data for anonymous individuals associated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) while calling the individuals’ actions “a fishing expedition” and stating that the federal government has not “identified or articulated even a single reason for which the DOGE Team needs unlimited access to SSA’s entire record systems, thereby exposing personal, confidential, sensitive, and private information that millions of Americans entrusted to their government.”
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 20 affirmed a lower court ruling that dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit by a remanufacturer of ink cartridges accusing Amazon.com Inc. and its subsidiaries of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL), the Lanham Act and other laws by allowing third-party sellers to post allegedly deceptive listings for recycled printer ink cartridges, thereby diverting business from authentic ink cartridge recyclers, finding that “to the extent claims” against Amazon “survive” the Communications Decency Act (CDA), the remanufacturer “has failed to allege an actionable false statement by Amazon.”
PASADENA, Calif. — The majority of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 20 affirmed a district court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an auto insurer after determining that the auto insurer did not act in bad faith in failing to settle a claim on behalf of its insured because the third-party claimant failed to turn over his medical records despite numerous requests from the auto insurer.
MIAMI — A Florida appeals court panel held that hotel insureds are not owed business interruption coverage in the absence of “direct physical loss” or “damage” to their properties, affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of the insurer in a coverage dispute arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Texas appeals panel on March 20 reversed a motion to dismiss a third-party complaint in a condominium roof construction defect case, agreeing with an appointed qualified inspector that the general contractor failed to submit a proper affidavit claiming that it produced a certificate of merit backing its legal position.
NEW YORK — A property insurer does not owe coverage to its insureds for a missing boat dock because the insureds’ failure to provide requested proof of loss forms within 60 days of receiving the request from the insurer constitutes a violation of the insurance policy’s terms and relieves the insurer of its duty to pay the insureds’ claim, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 19 in affirming a district court’s ruling on the insureds’ breach of contract and bad faith claims.
ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 19 dismissed an appeal of a Florida federal court order refusing to compel arbitration of a Chinese investor’s claims related to an EB-5 visa and real estate investment fraud and remanding the suit to state court, writing that the Circuit Court lacks jurisdiction over such appeals.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 19 held that a financial group could not use the zone of natural expansion doctrine in support of its claims of priority of use of the mark “Money Mart” in connection with pawn shops and pawn brokerage, affirming a partial grant of another company’s petition for trademark cancelation.
GRETNA, La. — A split Louisiana appellate court panel on March 19 affirmed in part a lower court order requiring a life insurer to pay a policy beneficiary $50,000, the face value of a life insurance policy, finding that the lower court did not err in its determination that the insurer failed to show that the decedent “made material misrepresentations with an intent to deceive” in the policy application.
TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington judge hit Canadian mining outfit Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (ACL) with a $16.2 million verdict after entering default judgment against the company for failure to comply with discovery rulings.
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin federal judge on March 19 signed a consent order and judgment under which the third-party administrator (TPA) for hundreds of self-funded employee welfare benefit plans will “pay or cause to be paid at least $20,250,000,” plus civil penalties, to resolve a suit in which the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) challenged adverse benefit determinations regarding hospital emergency services claims and urinary drug screening claims.