3/4/24
By: Michael Freed
Under Georgia law, a party appealing a trial court’s order who wishes to include a hearing transcript in the appellate record must ensure that the transcript is prepared and filed within 30 days after filing the notice …
Author: Sean Carroll
Yield rational results: Texas’s attempt to rein in nuclear verdicts
3/4/24
By: Gabriel Canto and Tim Soefje
Last year, the Texas Supreme Court in Gregory v. Chohan1 dropped a hammer on “unsubstantiated anchoring,” the plaintiff tactic of putting big numbers, often seemingly pulled out of a hat, in the mind …
No bright line rule for an Illinois circuit court retaining jurisdiction to enforce settlement?
2/29/24
By: Donald Patrick Eckler and Joshua W. Zhao
In Zanayed v. Mufarreh, 2024 IL App (1st) 230331-U, an Illinois appellate court held that a circuit court had jurisdiction to enforce a settlement agreement even though the dismissal order did …
Clarification of duty in Indiana to advise opposing counsel of motion for default judgment
2/27/24
By: Donald Patrick Eckler and Adelaide Bell
Default judgments and the crucial role of proper notice in legal proceedings were recently examined in the case of Milestone Contractors North, Inc. v. ReEnergize USA, LLC, No. 23A-CT-1607 (Ind. App. 2023), …
Insurer petitions Ninth Circuit for rehearing on pollution exclusion case
2/22/24
Wesco Insurance has asked the Ninth Circuit to rehear a January 23, 2024 decision finding that it must defend its insured against a lawsuit arising from the 2018 Camp Fire. The opinion reversed the trial court’s decision …
The Supreme Court of Georgia limits its “equal-division” jurisdiction
2/21/24
By: Michael Freed
Georgia’s Constitution requires the Court of Appeals to transfer a case to the Supreme Court when it is equally divided in deciding whether to affirm or reverse a lower court ruling. This situation does not occur often …
2/21/24
By: Shane Miller
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) recently made clear that an employer should avoid taking two actions when responding to an employee’s request for a workplace …
2/20/24
By: Donald Patrick Eckler and A. Mark O’Danovich
In Phillips v. Havenar, 2024 IL App. (4th) 230204-U, the Illinois Appellate Court provided a detailed discussion of plaintiffs’ failure to comply with numerous evidentiary and discovery rulings, the most important of …
2/19/24
By: Rachel E. Hobbs, Galina Kletser Jakobson, and Mary Mead
In a rare victory for insurers in Washington state, on February 15, 2024, the Washington Supreme Court ruled in favor of Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (“Liberty”) regarding Liberty’s …
2/19/24
By: Dave Cecil
The Kentucky Court of Appeals recently settled a decades-long controversy and resolved a split between Kentucky federal district courts by holding that insurance adjusters cannot be held individually liable for “bad faith.”
In Breedlove v. State Farm …
2/15/24
By: Donald Patrick Eckler and Joshua W. Zhao
In WEOC, Inc. v. Niebauer ex rel Estate of Blount, No. 23S-CT-184 (2024), as an issue of first impression, the Indiana Supreme Court considered whether common-law liability still applies to claims …
Is A.I. here to stay in California?
2/15/24
By: Matthew S. Jones
Just this past week, California lawmakers introduced a bill (SB 1047) that will require companies to thoroughly test artificial intelligence (“A.I.”) before releasing it into commerce for use. The bill seems to come during a time …