Author: completebodyneeds

A Massachusetts judge on Monday declined to lift an order that forced turbine supplier GE Vernova to continue work on the largest offshore wind farm in New England or to send its dispute with the $4.5 billion project’s developer, Vineyard Wind, into arbitration. Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Peter Krupp in Boston ruled that nothing had changed since he issued the injunction in April and that Vineyard Wind was contractually allowed to pursue its legal dispute in court in order to obtain urgent relief. The judge had issued a preliminary injunction requiring GE Vernova to continue work at the behest…

A corrections officer at New York City’s Rikers Island prison has pleaded guilty to receiving more than $200,000 in workers’ compensation benefits to which he was not entitled, prosecutors reported. According to Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jovanny Concepcion pled guilty on June 1 to making false statements to obtain benefits. “As he has now admitted, Jovanny Concepcion fraudulently received hundreds of thousands of dollars from New York City taxpayers by falsely claiming injuries following incidents where force was used against an incarcerated person,” said Clayton. The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board administers…

Despite the current ceasefire between the United States and Iran, it remains too risky to move the thousands of sailors stuck in the Gulf, the head of the U.N.’s shipping agency said. “We will not be able to activate anything until the root causes are addressed and there is more of a final agreement, a ceasefire, or complete agreement, between the parties involved in the conflict,” Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, told Reuters on Sunday ahead of the start of the Posidonia shipping industry week in Athens. There are an estimated 20,000 seafarers aboard vessels stuck in…

Shipping executives meeting in Athens on Monday said that any peace deal worked out between the United States and Iran would need to offer clear rules allowing vessels to resume normal business via the Strait of Hormuz. Shipowners and maritime industry officials met at a Capital Link conference and other events to begin Posidonia, a week-long biennial shipping exhibition. Below are selected quotes (in alphabetical order): ARSENIO DOMINGUEZ, SECRETARY GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANISATION (IMO) “There have been … recent announcements that there’s a possibility of a 60-day ceasefire. If that includes, of course, the Strait of Hormuz, and I can…

Lack of transparency in property protection classifications from a state rating bureau is one of the biggest concerns from people involved with fighting fires in Washington, a new report from the Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner shows. The OIC’s report on property protection classification standards recommends performance-based modernization and transparency for the Washington Survey & Rating Bureau, among other changes to the state’s independent fire protection rating bureau. The Legislature requested a report on the WSRB’s rating methodologies and the potential for modernizing them. The OIC delivered the report to the Legislature on May 28. Related: Wildfire Risk…

Artificial intelligence hallucinations, also known as “AI slop,” have become such a concern in court filings that the Florida Supreme Court has issued new statewide rules designed to hold attorneys more accountable. The rules, which take effect June 15, will require lawyers to certify that case rulings and opinions cited in filings actually exist and are accurately referenced. The order, an amendment to existing court rules, also authorizes lower courts to impose sanctions on attorneys and self-represented people who cite cases that turn out to be bogus. In recent months, a number of circuit courts around the state have required…

Alfa Insurance, one of the largest property insurers in Alabama, named David Bailey senior vice president of claims, effective this week. Bailey Bailey, who recently served as regional vice president, takes over from Bryan Hubbard, who retired after 36 years at the Montgomery-based firm, Alfa said in a news release. Bailey has been with Alfa since 2005, when he started out as a claims adjuster. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and his law degree from Birmingham School of Law. He holds an associate in claims designation from the Insurance Institute of America. In Atlanta, Alliant Insurance…

Warming global temperatures will probably mean more hailstorms with larger and more damaging hailstones, a study published in a prestigious, peer-reviewed journal predicts, echoing troubling trends identified in by other data sources. “Here we show a 36.5%–42.1% increase in global hailstorm-induced damage potential by the late twenty-first century, with the magnitude determined by the emission scenario,” reads the abstract for “Rising global hail damage potential in a warming world,” posted last week in the journal Nature. Researchers from Peking University and from Central Michigan University found that the frequency of hailstones larger than 1.18 inches in diameter will rise by…

A former mergers and acquisitions lawyer with top firms including Latham & Watkins and Goodwin Procter pleaded not guilty to charges that he led a massive insider trading ring that made tens of millions of dollars in illegal profits. Nicolo Nourafchan entered his plea Monday during a court appearance in federal court in Boston. His brother, Lorenzo Nourafchan, and more than a dozen other defendants also pleaded not guilty on Monday. Around 30 people have been charged with participating in the ring. According to two indictments, as well as a parallel suit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nicolo…

Uninsurable areas refer to places where property insurance has become either impossible to get or to afford. This can happen because insurers are not offering coverage in a high climate risk area (due to coverage limits or market withdrawal), or because they offer insurance at premiums so high that most residents simply cannot pay them. One of the clearest examples of an uninsurable area to date comes from California. In 2024, State Farm, one of the largest home insurers in the United States, chose not to renew 72,000 home insurance policies across the state due, in part, to unsustainable wildfire…