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COURT UPHOLDS $150 MILLION SETTLEMENT IN INSURER PRICE-FIXING CLASS ACTION
"A federal appeals court has affirmed settlements worth $150 million, plus $29.9 million in legal fees and costs, in class action cases alleging that Zurich Financial Services and insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. engaged in price fixing from 1994 to 2005. The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the settlements reached in 2006 with customers and 10 state attorneys general were fair and reasonable and that the firms representing the plaintiffs deserved the fees. The suits, consolidated in federal court in Trenton, stemmed from investigations that showed that insurance brokerages ? particularly industry leader Marsh & McLennan ? colluded with insurers to divide property and casualty insurance business and fix prices at artificially high levels. Marsh & McLennan agreed in 2005 to establish an $850 million restitution fund."

LYNDHURST FIRM'S MALPRACTICE INSURER SAYS NO COVERAGE FOR FRAUD SUIT
"Scarinci & Hollenbeck's malpractice carrier has taken the Lyndhurst firm to federal court, seeking a declaratory judgment that it does not have to defend a state court suit that alleges two of the firm's attorneys engaged in fraud in a real estate deal. The carrier, Navigators Insurance Co. of Rye Brook, N.Y., alleges that because the underlying suit charges Scarinci lawyers Joel Glucksman and Frank Kapusinski with fraud and dishonest acts, it does not fall within the scope of coverage of the firm's policy. The carrier also alleges coverage is excluded because the underlying suit alleges numerous acts of misconduct that occurred before the inception of the policy, which the lawyers either knew or could reasonably have foreseen might be expected to be the basis of a claim. Glucksman and Kapusinksi decline to comment. Another Scarinci lawyer, Thomas Cafferty, says the firm believes Navigators is obligated under the policy to provide a defense."

CRIMINAL PLEA FORMS AMENDED TO STATE DEPORTATION CONSEQUENCES
"The New Jersey judiciary has revised its standard plea form in criminal cases to ensure that aliens charged with committing certain "aggravated felonies" will deported if they plead guilty. The revision comes in the wake of the state Supreme Court's July ruling in State v. Nunez-Valdez, 200 N.J. 129, which vacated a guilty plea because the resident-alien defendant was not told he would be deported as a result. The AOC's new form, announced Wednesday in Directive 08-09, specifically amends Question 17 of the plea form to ask non-U.S. citizen defendants, 'Do you understand that if your plea of guilty is to a crime considered an 'aggravated felony' under federal law you will be subject to deportation/removal?' "

PRO-BUSINESS RULING LIKELY IN CAMPAIGN FINANCE CASE
"A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared poised Wednesday to reverse or limit a line of precedents with roots ? some more than a century old ? that has allowed the government to ban corporate and union expenditures in election campaigns. After an extraordinary 90 minutes of oral argument in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, it seemed likely that the Court, swayed by arguments in favor of First Amendment rights for corporations, was ready to embark on a new course that critics say could unleash a flood of corporate wealth into elections that are already awash in more regulated kinds of campaign spending. Four justices ? Roberts, Alito, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy ? seemed ready to vote against the Federal Election Commission, which enforces the regulations."

POLICYHOLDERS FILING MORE SUSPICIOUS CLAIMS ? OR ARE THEY?
"Could be another sign of the economy: More Americans are filing suspicious insurance claims this year, making allegedly bogus efforts to collect on everything from broken glass to car fires, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. In a report released Sept. 9, the NICB, a trade group for the insurance industry that monitors fraud, said that roughly 41,600 "questionable claims" were reported by insurance companies in the first half of 2009, compared with 36,700 in the first half of 2008 ? a 13 percent increase. In particular, suspicious car fire claims were up 20 percent, suspicious auto glass claims shot up 76 percent and questionable product liability claims ballooned by 90 percent. The NICB, which represents 1,000 insurance companies, offers no definitive explanation for the rise in eyebrow-raising claims."

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