First Republic Executives Fail in Attempt to Recover Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan Assets
In Admiral Insurance Co. v. Tocci Building Corp., 120 F.4th 933 (1st Cir. 2024), the federal Court of Appeals ruled that, under current Massachusetts law, a general contractor’s Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy does...more
With apologies to the pseudonymous children’s book author Watty Piper, this is the story of a humble buy-sell provision in a family-owned LLC’s operating agreement that temporarily ran out of steam in the lower court, only to...more
In Erie Insurance Exchange v. Hannah Baluch, ___ A.3d ___, 2025 WL 22562 (Pa. Super. Ct., Jan. 3, 2025), the Pennsylvania Superior Court addressed whether an insured with her own automobile insurance policy is entitled to...more
This week, the City of Cleveland (the City) and the State of Ohio (the State) took several key actions in the battle to prevent the Cleveland Browns from relocating to a domed facility in Brook Park, Ohio. On January 14,...more
Yesterday, the Court of Appeals of Virginia issued a significant opinion in Thibault Enterprises, LLC v. David A. Yost, et al., Yost Living Trust, a case involving a dispute over a 50-foot granted easement for ingress and...more
The Delaware Supreme Court's decisions in Henry I and Henry II have had a significant impact on workers’ compensation claims involving underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits. Here, we break down the complex issues surrounding...more
Market participants might be wary of opinions that begin with a recitation of academic literature and then turn to dictionaries. The former tend to be authored with an eye toward systemic change rather than direct experience...more
On December 31, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (the Court or the Fifth Circuit) held that the controversial $200 million Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB) uptier financing...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (the “Fifth Circuit”) ruled on December 31, 2024 that Serta Simmons Bedding’s (“SSB”) 2020 uptier exchange included a transaction that, contrary to the assertions of...more
Since the America Invents Act (“AIA”) established a new venue for hearing patent disputes, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”), much ink has been spilled regarding the impacts of this forum on patent litigation and the...more
The Appellate Court of Illinois has held that an underlying lawsuit was interrelated with another lawsuit brought against the insured by a different claimant, and thus precluded from coverage pursuant to the policy’s...more
In Lexington Insurance Co. v. Mueller, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision regarding the jurisdiction of the Cabazon Reservation Court in a dispute between Lexington Insurance Company and...more
As previously reported, this summer the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) filed a housing discrimination charge under the Fair Housing Act against an appraisal company, individual appraiser, appraisal...more
In an external contract-based or tort-based dispute between the trustee and a third party to the trust relationship, the beneficiaries are generally not necessary parties. But all beneficiaries (of an irrev. trust) whose...more
Co-Author Jesse Long The United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (“Court”) addressed in an August 22nd Opinion a riparian rights issue. See Clott et al., v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2024 WL...more
A United States District Court (C.D. California) (“Court”) addressed in a September 27th Order insurance coverage issues arising out of the construction of an apartment complex in California. See The Haven at Ventura, LLC vs....more
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals of Virginia issued a significant decision concerning easements in Barr, et al. v. Garten Development, LLC. The Court held that where a deed that released “easements” conveyed by a previous...more
A recent court decision explained the circumstances under which a plaintiff may assert a claim for promissory estoppel and whether a private right of action exists for a certain alleged violation of the Michigan Franchise...more
Conversion of State-Law Declaratory Judgment Actions Concerning First-Party Coverage Disputes into Federal Declaratory Judgment Actions Is Not Required Upon Removal - Addressing the thorny issue of whether a state-law...more
Litigation arose over whether a suit for misrepresentation and breach of contract arising out of an easement triggered a Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurer's duty to defend. Internal confidential communications...more
Merchants Preferred Insurance Company filed a declaratory judgment action in New York seeking a declaration that it had no duty to defend or to indemnify its insureds in an underlying Florida personal injury action arising...more
In Ten Injured Workers v. State of Washington, et al. (Ten Workers), the Washington Court of Appeals recently overturned a provision of RCW 51.36.070, which prohibited injured workers from posting video recordings of their...more
A New Jersey appellate court, applying New Jersey law, has held that the capacity exclusion in a directors and officers policy precluded coverage for a settlement of lawsuits alleging that an insured director defrauded a...more
A federal court has rejected an attempt by former First Republic Bank employees to recover assets held in a rabbi trust that funded deferred compensation benefits. In Harrington v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the...more
In SnapRays, d/b/a SnapPower v. Lighting Defense Group, the Federal Circuit found that a district court could exercise personal jurisdiction over a declaratory judgment defendant based on the defendant’s sending an Amazon...more