The Ohio Supreme Court is deciding whether the insurance company for a drug distributor should be forced to provide a legal defense in the company’s fight against government lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic.

Justices on Wednesday heard arguments in a dispute between Hamilton County-based Masters Pharmaceutical and its insurer from 2010 to 2018, Wisconsin-based Acuity Insurance.

Beginning in 2012, West Virginia and local governments in Michigan and Nevada sued Masters and other opioid distributors, seeking compensation for the cost of increased public services incurred during communities’ battle against the painkiller epidemic. Those included necessary increases in policing, court cases, substance abuse treatment, emergency responses and medical services.

Masters argues it did nothing wrong. But it also says that under its contract with Acuity, the company must defend Masters against the allegations. Masters argues that previous court rulings have upheld the notion that insurance companies must provide a defense for businesses for plausible claims of alleged damages.

Acuity’s policy with Masters requires it to defend lawsuits alleging “damages because of bodily injury,” lawyers for the drug company argued in a court filing earlier this year.

Because governments are suing Masters for the cost of medical care and treatment for citizens allegedly harmed by the company’s distribution of opioids, Acuity must defend Masters against those lawsuits, the lawyers said.

Allegations against Masters include specific references to injuries, including the cost of 116 opioid-related hospitalizations in Saginaw County, Michigan; 24 hospitalizations in Mason County, Michigan; and 243 doses of the overdose antidote Narcan administered by the Lansing, Michigan, fire department, Masters attorney Paul Rose said during Wednesday’s hearing before the state Supreme Court.

The driver charged with manslaughter in the deaths of 39 people found in the back of his truck has made his first court appearance in Britain.

Maurice Robinson appeared in Chelmsford Magistrates Court via a video link from prison Monday but was not required to enter a plea.

The 25-year-old will be kept in custody until he appears at a higher court on Nov. 25, where he will be expected to enter a plea.

He is charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, two counts of conspiracy to facilitate human trafficking and other crimes.

China says it has asked British authorities to provide more information on the identity of 39 people who were found dead in a truck in southeastern England last week.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Monday that the U.K. has not confirmed the victims' nationalities. British police initially believed they were Chinese, but later acknowledged that the details were still evolving.

Former FIFA Council member Kwesi Nyantakyi will challenge his life ban from soccer for financial corruption at the Court of Arbitration for Sport next month.

The court says the hearing is on July 4. Verdicts typically follow within a few months.

Nyantakyi was filmed by a Ghanaian television program accepting $65,000 in cash from undercover reporters posing as businessmen seeking favors.

He resigned days before the 2018 World Cup as the senior vice president of African soccer's governing body and president of Ghana's soccer federation.

Nyantakyi also left FIFA's ruling committee, which paid an annual $250,000 stipend. He was one of Africa's elected delegates since 2016.

A federal judge ruled Friday that the family company once run by Jared Kushner isn't allowed to keep secret the identity of its business partners in several Maryland properties.

A U.S. district judge in the state rejected the argument that the privacy rights of the Kushner Cos. partners outweigh the public interest in obtaining judicial records in a lawsuit before the court. The decision means the company tied to President Donald Trump's son-in-law might be forced to provide a rare glimpse into how it finances its real estate ventures.

The ruling backed the argument by The Associated Press and other news organizations that the media has a "presumptive right" to see such court documents and the Kushner Cos. had not raised a "compelling government interest" needed by law to block access.

U.S. District Court Judge James K. Bredar ruled that Westminster Management, a Kushner Cos. subsidiary, must file an unsealed document with the identity of its partners by Feb. 9.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by tenants last year alleging Westminster charges excessive and illegal rent for apartments in the state. The lawsuit seeks class-action status for tenants in 17 apartment complexes owned by the company.

Westminster has said it has broken no laws and denies the charges.

In addition to its privacy argument, the Kushner subsidiary had said media reports of the Maryland dispute were "politically motivated" and marked by "unfair sensationalism." Disclosure of its partners' names would trigger even more coverage and hurt its chances of getting an impartial decision in the case, it had said.

In Friday's ruling, the judge said these are not "frivolous concerns," but the public's right to know is more important.

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We are trial lawyers based in Los Angeles and Austin. We focus on business litigation, including contract disputes, employment, intellectual property, and class action defense. We represent clients in courts and arbitrations throughout the United States.

Our partners graduated from top law schools. Before founding the Firm, they practiced at some of the country’s most prominent law firms—including Quinn Emanuel and Simpson Thacher—where they worked alongside with and were trained by the country’s best lawyers.

We have been successful at every stage of litigation. We handle cases from beginning to end and are also routinely engaged for pending cases, either to replace existing counsel or work alongside them.

Rosin Steinhagen Mendel is an adoption and foster care law firm committed to serving our clients in New York City, the counties surrounding the areas in southern New York State and in New Jersey.

Our New York and New Jersey foster care lawyers represent our clients in all areas of proceedings that include termination of parental rights, permanency hearings, custody hearings, guardianship, administrative proceedings, and adoption. Our foster care and adoption lawyers have the range of skills and experience necessary to provide our clients with the best possible representation for each individual case. We care about our clients and they can see it when we work closely on their individual cases, prepping properly and paying attention to all the details.

For over thirty years, our law firm has had the great opportunity of representing New York City Foster Care Agencies in all aspects of their Family Court and New York Administrative proceedings. We have appeared in Family Court, Supreme Court, Surrogate’s Court, Town Courts, the Appellate Divisions in New York, and the New York State Court of Appeals on their behalf. In addition, Rosin Steinhagen Mendal offers on-going legal counsel to their Adoption and Foster Care Agency clients on cases, legislative changes that affect their work, procedural changes in Family Court practice, or simply providing regular legal training to the Agency staff.  

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