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AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal judge granted a motion for preliminary injunction by an organization representing Texas students seeking to stop the enforcement of certain provisions of a state law that requires age verification and parental consent for minors prior to downloading a mobile app, finding “a likelihood that, when considered on the merits,” the law violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“Voluntary” accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity insurance programs are the focus of four recent putative class actions filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act against large employers and insurance brokers, with the plaintiffs alleging that they paid “excessive and unreasonable premiums” because of mismanagement and prohibited transactions.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge granted summary judgment to a railroad company, barring further litigation of pre-2019 mine subsidence claims but denied the company’s request for permanent injunctive relief; in the same order, the judge rejected a reinsurer’s cross-motion argument that claims are acquired only upon payment, asserting that state law ties acquisition to reimbursement documentation and that prior successor-liability rulings foreclosed relitigation.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A judge’s ruling appointing a receiver over a foreign company’s insurance assets regardless of where those assets exist was improper and conflicts with various other court rulings, a Canadian asbestos defendant tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a reply in support of its petition for a writ of certiorari.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Supreme Court justice administratively stayed pending further consideration two rulings by the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals enforcing the National Labor Relations Board’s decision against a Pittsburgh newspaper.
BALTIMORE — A Maryland jury on Dec. 22 awarded a mesothelioma sufferer who operates a nonprofit supporting children $1.5 billion in punitive damages plus compensatory damages for asbestos exposure linked to Johnson & Johnson entities’ talc products.
SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on Dec. 22 granted a Chinese law firm’s petition to confirm a Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) award worth more than $765,000 in unpaid attorney fees against the firm’s former client, who is now residing in Washington state.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 22 said it won’t reconsider its order finding that allegations that the government failed to correct false testimony during a criminal trial do not warrant a new trial for former Theranos Chief Operating Officer Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, denying his petition for rehearing or a rehearing en banc.
DOVER, Del. — The Supreme Court of Delaware, sitting en banc¸ reversed a lower court’s rescission of Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package in a shareholder’s derivative suit, finding that rescission was an improper remedy because Musk couldn’t be restored to the status quo ante.
CHICAGO — Concluding that it had erred in failing to include a mixed-motive jury instruction, an Illinois federal court on Dec. 22 denied a municipal transit authority’s motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) but granted its alternate motion for a new trial after a jury awarded a former transit authority employee $425,000 for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from his termination for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 after being denied a religious exemption.
FRESNO, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted final approval of a class action settlement and finalized certification of the settlement class in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) case, authorizing class members to receive $875 in cash compensation per affected loan under an uncapped, claims-made agreement with an estimated maximum class payout settlement of $29.5 million, also approving $9.031 million in attorney fees, $2.07 million in litigation expenses and $5,000 service awards to the five class representatives.