Latest Legislation Headlines

All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.

California Lawmakers to Consider Universal Healthcare Proposal

Jan 11 2022 // California lawmakers will start debating whether to create the nation’s first universal health care system in a key measure of whether the proposal will muster the support it needs to pass this year — and be sent...

Kentucky Lawmakers Plan to Move Quickly on Tornado Recovery Package

Jan 11 2022 // Kentucky lawmakers, back in session, are planning to take up tornado-recovery legislation this week, with the goal of quickly distributing an initial round of assistance, House Speaker David Osborne said. The newly...

Michigan Judge Dismisses Gay Corrections Officers’ Suit

Jan 11 2022 // A federal judge in Michigan has tossed a lawsuit brought by two gay corrections officers, ruling that some of their discrimination claims weren’t sufficiently proven and that statutes of limitation barred...

Southeast Lawmakers Meet This Week with Comp, Captive and Property Insurance Bills on Their Plates

Jan 11 2022 // Legislatures in most Southern states convene this week and dozens of insurance-related bills are now in the hoppers. Here’s a look at some of the measures that have been filed, which could affect property and...

Kansas High Court Ruling Keeps Law Allowing COVID Lawsuits Alive

Jan 10 2022 // Kansas’ highest court on Jan. 7 kept intact a law that allows people to sue counties over mask mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions and obtain quick trial-court decisions. The Kansas Supreme Court declined to...

Federal Judge Divides Insurance Proceeds in Maine Fishing Boat Tragedy

Jan 7 2022 // A federal judge has divided almost $1 million in insurance proceeds between the families of four fishermen who died in 2020 when a fishing boat sank in high seas off the coast of Massachusetts. U.S. District Judge John...

Judge Tosses California Lawsuit of Man Who Was Nude Baby on Album Cover

Jan 6 2022 // A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit of a 30-year-old man who alleged that the image of him nude as a 4-month-old on the 1991 cover of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album is child pornography. Judge Fernando...

Judge Narrows SEC Claim vs Morningstar Over Undisclosed Bond Rating Changes

Jan 6 2022 // A U.S. judge on Wednesday narrowed but refused to dismiss a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing Morningstar Inc. of letting analysts adjust credit rating models for about $30 billion of mortgage securities,...

Judge Approves Partial Settlement in 2018 Fatal Shooting by Kansas City Police

Jan 4 2022 // A federal judge has approved a partial settlement of a lawsuit filed by the parents of a man who was shot and killed by Kansas City police in 2018. Court records do not include the amount of the settlement paid to the...

Unfinished Business Awaits California Lawmakers

Jan 4 2022 // California lawmakers are flush with money and unfinished business from last year as they returned to the state Capitol on Monday, but they head into an election year rife with uncertainty due to the redrawing of...

Judges Send Iowa Tyson Workers’ Virus Lawsuit Back to State Court

Jan 4 2022 // A federal appeals court has ruled that Tyson Foods can’t claim it was operating under the direction of the federal government when it tried to keep its processing plants open as the coronavirus spread rapidly within...

Judge Orders Mediation for Purdue Pharma, Sacklers, States Over Opioid Settlement

Jan 4 2022 // A U.S. judge on Monday ordered mediation in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy, calling for the company, the Sackler family members that own it and nine states to determine whether they can reach a new opioid litigation...

Judge Holds Skanska Negligent for Barge Damage During Florida Hurricane

Dec 30 2021 // A federal judge has found that Skanksa USA, part of one of the largest construction companies in the world, failed to secure its barges before a 2020 Florida hurricane hit. The ruling opens the door to hundreds of lawsuits...

Purdue Bankruptcy Judge Extends Sacklers’ Lawsuit Shield Until February

Dec 30 2021 // A bankruptcy judge has extended temporary protections against opioid-related litigation for the Sackler family members who own Purdue Pharma until Feb. 1 after another judge overturned the OxyContin maker’s...

Italian Judge Drops Case Against Unipol CEO Over Merger With Insurer Fondiaria

Dec 27 2021 // An Italian judge on Thursday dropped a case against the CEO of Unipol and six other people related to the 2013 merger between Italy’s second-largest insurer and smaller rival Fondiaria-SAI, a judicial document seen...

Indiana Lawmakers Consider Vaccine Limits as COVID Surges

Dec 20 2021 // Some Indiana doctors and health experts warned last week that a Republican-backed proposal aimed at limiting workplace COVID-19 vaccination requirements would hurt efforts to stem the illness as the state’s hospitals...

Update: After Latest Court Ruling, Must Employers Follow Biden’s Vaccine Mandates?

Dec 19 2021 // Tens of millions of workers across the U.S. are in limbo as federal courts have issued different rulings related to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates for larger private companies, certain health care...

Amid COVID, Insurance Regulation Remains Profitable

Dec 19 2021 // This post is part of an Insurance Journal blog presenting the work and viewpoints of The International Center for Law & Economics. The COVID-19 pandemic hit state budgets particularly hard in 2020, with a $24.11...

Per-person Limits Apply, Not Per-accident in Deadly Crash, Carolina High Court Rules

Dec 17 2021 // It’s not unusual for uninsured and underinsured motorist policies to carry per-person limits and per-accident limits. But in North Carolina, which limit applies isn’t always so easy to determine, thanks to what...

Judge Rules Dominion Defamation Suit Against Fox News Can Move Forward

Dec 17 2021 // Fox News probably had enough information after the 2020 presidential election to know a conspiracy theory claiming Dominion Voting Systems Inc. rigged the contest was false, a judge said in denying the network’s...