Insurance Law

Insurers Outraged at Law Firm’s Suits to Collect Very Small Amounts of Money

A Florida law firm doesn’t have many friends amongst insurance companies with a presence in Broward County. That’s because LaBovick & LaBovick has been suing them. Since forming its own collection agency last summer, it has filed more than 1,200 such lawsuits in the Fort Lauderdale-based court, most of them…

May 3, 2010 10:41 PM CDT

Shipman & Goodwin Opens in D.C. with 6-Lawer Hogan Lovells Group & New Client

A six-attorney group has departed Hogan & Hartson on the eve of the Hogan Lovells merger to open a new Washington, D.C. , office for a smaller, Connecticut-based law firm. Led by partner James Ruggeri, it will continue to provide legal services to The Hartford Financial Services Group at the…

May 3, 2010 4:59 PM CDT

As Hundreds of Law Firms Report E-Mail Scams, One Loses Bid for Insurance Coverage

The plight of a law firm in Albany, N.Y., serves as a cautionary tale for other small-firm lawyers who are increasingly targeted in e-mail collection scams. Lombardi, Walsh, Wakeman, Harrison, Amodeo & Davenport is among hundreds of law firms that have been victimized in the counterfeit check scams, the New…

Apr 30, 2010 1:57 PM CDT

‘River of Oil’ from Gulf Spill Hits La. Shore, Could Dwarf Exxon Valdez Damage

Updated: The blowout of an oil well being dug by a British Petroleum rig in the Gulf of Mexico has resulted in a massive spill that could dwarf the environmental damage done in 1989 when the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska. The “river of oil” that began washing onto…

Apr 30, 2010 12:17 AM CDT

Panel: Suspended Lawyer Only Pretended Not to Practice and Should Be Disbarred

After his law license was suspended, a prominent Kansas attorney essentially kept right on practicing, bringing in another lawyer to serve as the public front of his law firm but continuing to operate it himself from behind the scenes, contends a state attorney disciplinary panel. It is now recommending that…

Apr 29, 2010 7:13 PM CDT

Lawyer Takes Pay Cut to Save His Marriage and Help His Epileptic Son

A Fort Worth, Texas, lawyer expects his salary will nearly double after the new federal health insurance law takes effect. Andrew Griffin took a pay cut at the law firm he joined two years ago so he could qualify for health insurance coverage for his epileptic son under a Texas…

Apr 29, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

16-Lawyer Wilson Elser Group Leaps to Lewis Brisbois

A 16-lawyer group led by insurance defense litigator Gregory Katz has departed Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker to join the New York office of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith. With the new group, the Los Angeles-based Lewis Brisbois has over 75 lawyers in New York, where it first opened…

Apr 23, 2010 7:58 PM CDT

Now Practicing Law, 2 Ex-NFL Players Have Won Some $100M in Football-Related Worker’s Comp Awards

An unusually liberal worker’s compensation system in California, as far as professional athletes are concerned, made the New York Times this week when the wife of former National Football League player Ralph Wenzel filed an apparently unique test case over early-onset dementia that she contends is related to her 67-year-old…

Apr 8, 2010 12:07 AM CDT

How Many Lawyers Does Constitution Allow? Onetime Billionaire Allen Stanford May Find Out

Just how many times does the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allow a defendant the right to counsel of his own selection? It appears that onetime billionaire R. Allen Stanford could be on the verge of testing that question, although a federal judge in Texas is allowing him one…

Apr 6, 2010 7:47 PM CDT

Attorney Charged with 28 Felonies Over Alleged Role in ‘Phantom Menace’ Auto Insurance Scam

A Los Angeles lawyer has been charged with 28 felony counts for allegedly participating in an insurance scam involving the staging of accidents in order to collect fraudulent payouts. Susana Ragos Chung, 59, is accused of hiring Norberto “Chito” Mora to recruit drivers and passengers and stage Northern California accidents.…

Apr 1, 2010 6:34 PM CDT

Lovells to Shutter 20-Lawyer Chicago Office

Lovells expects to close its approximately 20-lawyer Chicago office by the end of October. The decision was made after the firm conducted a strategic and financial review in conjunction with its planned May 1 merger with Hogan & Hartson. The news follows announcements within the past month that 56 lawyers…

Mar 30, 2010 7:38 PM CDT

Refused Liver Transplant Coverage, Man Pays for It Himself, Sues & Wins Legal Fees

A successful produce merchant, Ephram Nehme was able to pay for a liver transplant himself. That enabled him to have the life-saving surgery when his insurer—after initially approving coverage for the surgery—rejected his doctor’s recommendation to seek a transplant out-of-state, where the wait time was expected to be much shorter.…

Mar 16, 2010 6:37 PM CDT

DOJ Sues 18 Lawyers, Says $300M PCBs Pact in 2003 Didn’t Include Medicare Reimbursement

The Department of Justice has sued 18 lawyers, as well as law firms, manufacturers and insurers, contending that a $300 million settlement agreed to in 2003 in an Alabama environmental case wasn’t properly allocated to include reimbursement of Medicare costs for 907 of the 3,500 plaintiffs. It isn’t clear exactly…

Mar 1, 2010 11:51 PM CST

Top NY Court Reinstates Felony Charges Against PI Firm Over Retainer Filings

In the latest twist in an unusual criminal case against a law firm, New York’s top court has reinstated felony charges brought against Silverman & Taylor over alleged factual misstatements in filed retainer agreements. Initially convicted in 2005, following a two-week bench trial, of filing a false instrument, Silverman &…

Feb 16, 2010 9:54 PM CST

5th Circuit Stays Judge’s Order That Insurer Must Pay Stanford’s Lawyers

Staying a federal district court’s order that a renowned insurance company must pay for R. Allen Stanford’s defense in a criminal case, a federal appeals court today scheduled oral arguments on the issue later this month. Last week, a federal judge in Houston ruled that Lloyd’s of London had a…

Feb 5, 2010 12:58 AM CST