GRASSLEY GIVES REPRIEVE TO LIFE INSURERS ON COLI TAX
SHELTERS.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) has
reconsidered his committee's decision Sept. 17 to require companies
to pay tax on corporate-owned life insurance benefits and . . .
SUIT OF THE WEEK: MILWAUKEE SCALPERS LOSE CONSTITUTIONAL
CLAIM.
Fifteen scalpers who sold tickets in the vicinity of a Milwaukee
sports arena cannot claim their constitutional rights were violated when
they were arrested and booked for violating a city . . .
SENATE TO VOTE FOR PENSION BILL DESPITE WHITE HOUSE
OPPOSITION.
Despite opposition from the White House Office of Management and
Budget, the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee
and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee . . .
FRIST SETS VOTES ON CLASS ACTION, ASBESTOS, MEDMAL, GUN
LIABILITY.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) released his 2004
legislative calendar last week showing he intends to call up the class
action bill in the next three weeks and asbestos fund, gun . . .
BUSH DOWNPLAYS LIABILITY ISSUES IN STATE OF UNION SPEECH.
In his Jan. 20 State of the Union message, President Bush shifted
his focus and barely mentioned the liability issues at the forefront of
his agenda since taking office three years ago.
Instead, . . .
NEW YORK JURY AWARDS PUNITIVE DAMAGES IN SMOKER'S
LAWSUIT.
A jury in Brooklyn, NY, has returned the first punitive damages to
be awarded in the state in a lawsuit over the death of an individual
smoker.
In their Jan. 9 verdict, jurors found Brown & . . .
CALIFORNIA REGULATOR WARNS AGAINST DECLINING QUAKE
COVERAGE.
Too many California residents are passing up earthquake coverage,
Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has warned on the eve of the 10th
anniversary of the Northridge earthquake on Jan. 17, 1994.
. . .
4TH CIRCUIT UPHOLDS FIRING IN CASE ALLEGING AGE, SEX
BIAS.
The en banc Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the
firing of a 57-year-old aircraft sheet metal mechanic who alleged she
was targeted by a Lockheed Martin safety inspector who referred . . .
PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORP. REPORTS RECORD DEFICITS.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. reported Jan. 15 its
largest-ever year-end deficit, with a deficit for its single-employer
pension plan program going from a deficit of $3.6 billion in 2002 to . . .
P/C INSURANCE CEO FORUM: TORT SYSTEM COSTS ARE SOCIETAL
PROBLEM.
The high cost of the nation's tort system increases product
cost and inhibits investment, a panel of insurance leaders told
insurance chief executive officers Jan. 13 in New York City.
"The cost . . .
EDWARDS ENDORSED BY DES MOINES REGISTER, MOVES UP IN
POLLS.
Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), a former plaintiffs' lawyer, was
endorsed for his presidential bid Jan. 11 by the Des Moines Register,
Iowa's largest newspaper, and quickly moved up in the polls as . . .
SUIT OF THE WEEK: WARSAW PACT BARS SUIT OVER CANCELED
FLIGHT.
The Warsaw Convention bars a lawsuit against an airline over a
canceled international flight, the Fifth U.S. Court of Appeals ruled
Jan. 14.
The decision affirmed a ruling by a federal judge in . . .
LEGAL STUDY QUESTIONS RATIONALE FOR LIMITING CLASS
ACTIONS.
A study released last week by two law professors in the Journal of
Empirical Legal Studies found "no robust evidence" to support
limiting class actions on grounds class-action awards are . . .
NAS PANEL CALLS FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE COVERAGE BY
2010.
The United States Congress should guarantee universal health
insurance by 2010, a 16-member panel of the Institute of Medicine
concluded Jan. 14, reigniting the debate on universal health care led . . .
BUSH MAKES RECESS APPOINTMENT OF PICKERING TO 5th
CIRCUIT.
President Bush announced late Jan. 16 he had appointed U.S.
District Court Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr. to the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Pickering was sworn in later . . .
NEW YORK CITY SETTLES WITH DIALLO FAMILY FOR $3 MILLION.
The family of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea
killed by New York City police in February 1999, has agreed to accept a
$3 million settlement from the city.
Four plainclothes police . . .
NEW JERSEY AUTO MARKET ON ROAD TO RECOVERY, GOVERNOR
SAYS.
Auto insurance reforms are making significant progress in
establishing a system "that works for drivers - one that fosters
competition, attacks fraud and benefits good drivers," Gov. James
E. . . .
ILLINOIS VERDICT AGAINST ACCOUNTING FIRM IS UPHELD.
The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld a verdict against Coopers
& Lybrand for its role in investment losses by the City Colleges of
Chicago but ordered the $12.65 million award offset by a . . .
PROPERTY/CASUALTY MARKET SHOWS 12% RATE INCREASE IN
DECEMBER.
The property/casualty insurance industry showed a 12 percent
increase in premiums in December 2003, up 2 percent from November but
down from the 30 percent rate increases in December 2002, said . . .
LIBYA AGREES TO PAY $170 MILLION IN BOMBING OF FRENCH
PLANE.
Libya agreed Jan. 9 to pay $170 million to families of those killed
in the bombing of a French airliner over Africa in 1989, undertaking to
provide $1 million for each of the 170 victims.
The . . .
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