In California, all non-exempt employees are generally allowed to take an uninterrupted thirty minute meal period and two rest periods during an eight hour shift. If an employee is unable to take a compliant meal or rest period, then California law requires the employer to pay the employee a premium of one hour’s wages at the “regular rate of compensation”. 

On October 3, the Washington State Supreme Court issued a narrow victory to insurers with its 5-4 decision in In Keodalah v. Allstate Ins. Co. and Tracey Smith, 95867-0 (Wn. App. 2018), holding that employee claims adjusters cannot be held individually liable for bad faith or violations of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act.

If a company is merely a leasing service for any type of vehicle, it typically cannot be held personally liable for accidents caused by the renters of such vehicles. This is because, on August 10, 2005, President Bush signed into law the “Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005,” colloquially referred to as the Graves Amendment.

A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals recently held that Illinois Facebook users may bring claims for privacy violations under state law for the use and storage of biometric information on the company’s platforms and servers. Patel v. Facebook, 18-15982, (9th Cir. Aug. 8, 2019). Three Illinois residents allege that “face templates” of them were created and used by Facebook without sufficient notice, agreement, and protection under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), 740 ILCS 14/15.

In Steadfast Ins. Co. v. Greenwich Ins. Co., 2019 WI 6, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reduced the recovery obtained by an insurer that defended its insured from another insurer that breached its duty to defend – requiring the plaintiff insurer to pay its pro rata share of the risk.

In Britt v. Otto, 2019 Mo. App. LEXIS 397 (Mar. 26, 2019), the Missouri Court of Appeals opened the door to an argument that an insurer’s statutory right to intervene in a liability lawsuit after a 537 notice may not apply as to an arbitration conducted to determine liability and damages. The Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling denying the insurer the right to intervene in the action to confirm the arbitration award of $5,998,027.

In Metal Pro Roofing, LLC and Cornett Restoration, LLC, v. The Cincinnati Insurance Company, 18A-PL-2205, 2019 Ind. App. Lexis 355 (Ind. Ct. App. August 9, 2019), the court affirmed a trial court decision that a policy clearly did not cover a hacking loss, but reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings on a claim that the quote for the policy was misleading.