Author: completebodyneeds

A federal judge won’t disturb a $256 million jury verdict in a long-running libel and RICO lawsuit against a plaintiffs’ lawyer who had charged an Alabama coal company with human rights abuses in Colombia. “Defendants’ claim that the jury was confused is simply unsupported by the record,” Senior U.S. District Judge David Proctor wrote in his June 2 opinion, upholding what has been called one of the largest jury awards in Alabama history. The case began more than a decade ago, after Collingsworth, who founded the International Rights Advocates law firm, sued Drummond Co. and other U.S. firms, accusing them…

Marsh & McLennan Agency has filed suit against brokerage Patriot Growth Insurance Services and eight former members of a surety team over an alleged poaching scheme. Filed early June in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and since remanded to state court, the lawsuit names former employees Keith Wallace Harrelson, Ryan McClendon, Albert Bowen Evans, Jeffrey Cutshall, Rebecca Burrus, Hailee Wesson, Hunter Harper, and Jennifer Barranco—who had each worked at MMA’s Birmingham, Alabama office. The group made up about half of the surety team in Birmingham, said MMA, and most resigned on May 18 by leaving…

Carol Coady has been called out of retirement to be interim president and CEO of Florida Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co., starting next week. Coady served as the professional liability insurer’s operations manager for more than 20 years, before she retired in 2024, the company said in an announcement. She succeeds Cathleen Sargent, who has been president since 2022. Coady “It is a genuine honor to return to Florida Lawyers Mutual and help lead the organization during this transformative and exciting period,” said Coady. The change in leadership comes five months after the AM Best rating firm downgraded Florida Lawyers Mutual’s…

A new United Nations assessment of ocean health documents a “deepening crisis” as climate change, pollution, overfishing, and biodiversity loss threaten marine ecosystems crucial to human survival. The result is rising sea levels, acidifying seas, dying coral reefs and declining fish stocks that supply 20% of the animal protein humans consume, according to the report released Monday and compiled by 600 scientists from 86 nations. It’s the third World Ocean Assessment since 2015 and was last updated in 2021. “The coming decade is decisive: without rapid, coordinated global action, ocean health will continue to decline, threatening climate stability, biodiversity resilience,…

A UK poll shows that a new Brexit referendum would reverse the vote that led to Britain’s departure from the European Union a decade ago. Fifty-two percent of Britons think the UK should rejoin the EU, according to an Ipsos survey of 1,137 British adults conducted between May 14 and May 20. That’s the inverse of the mood in June 2016 when a comparable share of the electorate backed Brexit. Almost half of Britons support a repeat of that referendum, with opinion evenly split on whether it should happen before or after the next general election. Asked how they would…

The US Supreme Court reinforced the Securities and Exchange Commission’s power to recover illegal profits in a case that centered on one of the agency’s most potent enforcement tools. The justices ruled unanimously Thursday that SEC doesn’t have to show identifiable investor harm in order to win “disgorgement” from people and firms found to have violated federal securities laws. The ruling will shape a panoply of SEC cases in which victims aren’t easy to pinpoint, from low-profile record-keeping violations to major insider trading allegations. The SEC used disgorgement to secure orders for more than $6 billion in fiscal 2024 and…

Florida’s governor in May signed House Bill 803 into law, dropping building permit requirements for construction work valued at $7,500 or less. The law takes effect July 1. “A local government that issues building permits shall exempt an owner of a single-family dwelling or the owner’s contractor from the requirement to obtain a building permit to perform any work valued at less than $7,500 on the owner’s property,” the bill reads. The exemption does not apply to property in a flood hazard area. A sponsor of the changes said it was designed to help speed up minor projects, such as…

Three new property insurance companies have entered the Florida market this spring, bringing to 20 the number of new carriers since Florida lawmakers ended assignment-of-benefit agreements and one-way attorney fees in 2023. “To date, these new companies since the legislative reforms bring in more than $850 million in new capital to support additional growth in the state’s property market,” Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky said in a bulletin in May. Frontline Insurance, a stalwart of Florida’s insurance market in recent years, added a new reciprocal exchange company. The Office of Insurance Regulation granted a certificate of authority in April, authorizing…

Governor JB Pritzker issued an order pausing state tax incentives for data centers in Illinois after the state legislature stalled his plan to keep data-center energy costs from affecting local residents’ bills. Pritzker, a Democrat seeking his third term, said his order was in response to the legislature’s failure to raise data centers’ electricity rates, given their high energy usage, which he asked them to do in February. He plans to push the issue during the veto session in mid-November. “Data centers are asking just too much for too little in return, whether it’s electricity or clean water,” Pritzker said…

The manufacturer of a firefighting foam that contaminated the water supply in northeastern Wisconsin with PFAS chemicals for decades agreed to a $10 million settlement with the state, the governor and attorney general announced on Thursday. The settlement comes as residents, communities, regulators and environmental activists across the country are struggling with how to address contamination from PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.” Democratic Gov. Tony Evers hailed the settlement with Tyco Fire Products as a “historic and important milestone” in the fight for clean water. The lawsuit filed in 2022 alleged that Tyco, a subsidiary of Johnson Controls, had…