ON LEGAL

March 2023

I work in pet insurance – I’ve seen some of the weirdest animal names from Carseatfrenchfry to Cardi P

A WOMAN who works in pet insurance has shared some of the weirdest animal names she’s come across in her line of work.

Figo Pet Insurance launched a series on TikTok sharing the best pet names they’ve discovered.

A pet insurance company has shared the weirdest pet names they've seen

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A pet insurance company has shared the weirdest pet names they’ve seenCredit: Getty Images – Getty

The series – which includes five parts so far on the TikTok account @figopet – has captured the hearts of animal lovers around the world.

In the first installment in January, some of the featured names included Albus Dumbledog, Big Dave, and Yogurt.

The second installment saw names like Car Seat French Fry, Bong, Dad, and Scissor Bill.

Mr Ugly was also a featured name in the part two video, along with Lotion.

Some of the part three names included Little Daddy, Triangle, Gratuity ‘Tip’ Tucci, Dweeb!, and Pig pen John.

The fourth video was posted towards the end of February.

That video featured names like Potatodog, Aunt Bethany, Soup, Leonardo DogVinci, and Dog Muscles.

Part five was posted just a few days ago.

Some of the featured names in that video include Mr Business, Uncle Baby, Fax Machine, and Meatsack.

Collectively, the series has been viewed over 1.5million times.

The comments section of each video is filled with pet owners chiming in with their own odd names.

“My husbands cat is named Helmet,” one person wrote.

“My cat’s name is Mr. Business!!! Awwww,” wrote another.

“Yesterday I had a claim for a dog named Somebody Feed Phyllis,” another said.

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March 31, 2023 by INSURANCE

No charges in the fatal death of 19-year-old Buffalo State freshman

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — District Attorney John Flynn announced no charges in the fatal death of 19-year-old Buffalo State freshman, Tyler Lewis, Friday afternoon.

This comes days after his mother, Roquishia Lewis, held her own news conference.

The DA is saying the murder of Tyler Lewis is closed, but there was no arrests made when Tyler was killed.

“I put every piece of evidence in the grand jury,” he says. “I put enough evidence in the grand jury to give a proper picture of what happened here and the grand jury no billed it.”

Tyler’s mom, Roquishia Lewis, says she believes the DA only held the news conference because she sent an email to his office pledging to hold Flynn and investigators accountable with the evidence her private investigator gathered.

“Basically I called them out on it,” the mother says. “ I let them know that I know exactly all the information and evidence I have and their only concern was how I got the information and it’s sad.”

District Attorney John Flynn replies to the mother’s actions.

“The mother of the victim sent an email basically admitting she taped recorded conversations in our office,” Flynn says. “So my instincts are usually right not to get in the weeds with the family was for a good reason.”

The Buff State freshman that majored in business administration was stabbed on October 14th on the grounds of the University at Buffalo’s North Campus.

He went to UB with what he thought were his friends that night.

DA John Flynn says Tyler and the others had a drug deal that went wrong.

The suspect who is said to be a White man between the age of 19 and 22 stabbed Tyler in the chest, in a car.

Flynn says this happened after Tyler

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March 30, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Fannie Mae looks at possibly bypassing title insurance

Fannie Mae is looking into a program that would forgo title insurance and attorney opinion letters, according to Housing Wire.

The program would waive the title insurance requirements for some mortgage lenders on loans sold to Fannie Mae, the outlet said.

The government-run company, which backs trillions of dollars of U.S. residential mortgages, would roll out the program in the spring, according to Housing Wire.

Fannie Mae didn’t confirm the report, however.

“We know that closing costs continue to be a barrier for homebuyers — especially among underserved populations and first-time homebuyers,” a Fannie Mae spokesperson said, according to the outlet. “We continue to research options that would lead to cost reductions in a safe and sound manner and help borrowers save money as part of our Equitable Housing Finance Plan. As we’re still in the research phase, we don’t currently have any additional details to share at this time.”

Reports of the plan have drawn opposition from the American Land Title Association.

“We are extremely concerned about the reported Fannie Mae pilot program to waive title insurance requirements for certain transactions. It appears Fannie Mae is moving beyond its charter and mission directly into the title insurance business. It should raise significant alarm bells,” the trade group wrote in an email to Housing Wire. “If the 2008 financial crisis taught us anything, it is that shortcuts to well-established processes pose great risks to our sound, dependable, and trustworthy real estate system, homeowners, and taxpayers. FHFA should halt this activity.”

The report comes on the heels of Fannie Mae announcing last year that, in limited cases, it would accept attorney opinion letters instead of title insurance.

— Ted Glanzer

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March 30, 2023 by INSURANCE

Proud Boys trial disrupted after defense says its witness was paid FBI informant

Washington — Prosecutors in the trial of the Proud Boys conceded Thursday that a witness to be called by the defense had previously been paid by the FBI as a confidential informant in the months before five members of the far-right group were to be tried for seditious conspiracy.  

According to court documents filed late Wednesday by defendant Zachary Rehl, between April 2022 and January 2023, the unnamed female FBI informant was “in contact via telephone, text messaging and other electronic means, with one or more of the counsel for the defense and at least one defendant.” 

Prosecutors say the FBI ended its relationship with the informant upon learning in January that she might be called as a defense witness, in order to ensure she did not provide information about the case to government and violate any defendant’s attorney-client privilege. Confidential human sources are a tool used by federal investigators to obtain information and their identities are usually protected. 

Rehl and four members of the Proud Boys — including leader Enrique Tarrio — are currently on trial for attempting to use force to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. All of them have pleaded not guilty. 

In court on Thursday, attorneys for Tarrio revealed they intended to call the anonymous witness, but they grew concerned after prosecutors told them she had previously acted as a confidential human source for federal investigators. 

Court papers revealed the informant had allegedly attended prayer meetings with “one or more” of the defendants’ families. 

“The government disclosed this information for the first time on the day before the witness was scheduled to appear,” Rehl’s attorney alleged in court documents. 

Prosecutors said in court on Thursday they had only

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March 30, 2023 by LAW

Missouri attorney general subpoenas case dismissal list as part of Kim Gardner probe

ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Attorney General’s Office issued a wide-ranging subpoena to the St. Louis courts on Wednesday seeking a trove of records as part of a suit to remove Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner from office.

The subpoena offers a further glimpse into the case Attorney General Andrew Bailey is building against Gardner, who Bailey argues has been neglectful of her duty as the city’s top prosecutor.

Bailey’s document asks for, among other things, a list of cases dismissed by Gardner’s office and the average length of time cases are pending — two data points that could be key as Bailey’s office tries to illustrate that Gardner has failed to prosecute some cases while allowing others to languish for years. Those same issues have been repeated targets of criticism of the office in recent years.

In an effort to oust Gardner, Bailey filed a “quo warranto” petition late last month amid a firestorm over prosecutors’ handling of a pending robbery case that left a man free despite violating his bond dozens of times. Police said the man, Daniel Riley, caused a crash that pinned a 17-year-old volleyball player from Tennessee between two cars and resulted in both her legs being amputated.

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Along with the case dismissals, Bailey argued that Gardner’s office has failed to keep victims informed and has failed to review or act upon thousands of cases submitted by St. Louis police.

The attorney general’s office immediately issued a 34-point subpoena to the circuit attorney’s office, seeking records including victim complaints, copies of Gardner’s personnel file and copies of warrant applications considered and refused.

Officials then notified Gardner and her top aides they would be deposed. They also asked for documents from Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green.

The courts

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March 29, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Christine Cupitt wants to reframe the life insurance sector as Council of Australian Life Insurers chief

Life insurers also took “important steps” during the pandemic that were “worth revisiting”, Mr Cupitt said, pointing to commitments that COVID-19 vaccines would not affect policy terms and conditions.

But she admitted the story of life insurance’s social role had not been well-articulated in the past – a common complaint among the industry executives who led the establishment of a standalone lobby group.

She said the sector had been focused on complying with a raft of new rules and regulations, after the royal commission made 15 recommendations relating to insurance, including a ban on so-called “hawking” of insurance products and reclassification of “claims handling” as a financial service.

It had also been distracted by significant consolidation, including TAL’s acquisition of Westpac’s BT Life business and Zurich’s purchase of ANZ’s OnePath life insurance business as the major banks quit the sector.

Recruitment drive

“We’ve now got to a point where those regulatory reforms are embedded, the code [of conduct] is being implemented, a lot of M&A activity has settled down,” she said. “We have the opportunity now to work with a new government to explain the role and value of life insurance.”

To achieve that, the CALI board – co-chaired by TAL chief Brett Clark and AIA Australia chief Damien Mu – has been on a spending spree, recruiting Ms Cupitt last year and Keely O’Brien, a former adviser to former prime minister Julia Gillard, as general manager of corporate affairs.

The Australian Financial Review has confirmed former Westpac head of government affairs Michael Johnston and Financial Planning Association policy chief Ben Marshan are also joining CALI in key roles.

Ms Cupitt said her priority was to make sure Australians had sufficient insurance cover in place, after research suggested this was not the case.

She said she wanted to

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March 29, 2023 by INSURANCE

Trump lawyer must turn over documents on classified records, court rules

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court in a sealed order Wednesday directed a lawyer for Donald Trump to turn over to prosecutors documents in the investigation into the former president’s retention of classified records at his Florida estate.

The ruling is a significant win for the Justice Department, which has focused for months not only on the hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, but also on why Trump and his representatives resisted demands to return them to the government. It suggests the court has sided with prosecutors who have argued behind closed doors that Trump was using his legal representation to further a crime.

The order was reflected in a brief online notice by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The case is sealed and none of the parties in the dispute is mentioned by name.

But the details appear to correspond with a secret fight before a lower-court judge over whether Trump lawyer M. Evan Corcoran could be forced to provide documents or give grand jury testimony in the Justice Department special counsel probe into whether Trump mishandled top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago.

Corcoran is regarded as relevant to the investigation in part because last year he drafted a statement to the Justice Department asserting that a “diligent search” for classified documents had been conducted at Mar-a-Lago in response to a subpoena. That claim proved untrue as FBI agents weeks later searched the home with a warrant and found roughly 100 additional documents with classified markings.

Another Trump lawyer, Christina Bobb, told investigators last fall that Corcoran had drafted the letter and asked her to sign it in her role as a designated custodian of Trump’s records.

A Justice Department investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith and his team of

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March 29, 2023 by LAW

Man stripped, beaten after DUI arrest later died by suicide due to abuse

Attorney: Man beaten, stripped naked after DUI arrest died by suicide days later because of deputies’ abuse

The family of a man arrested for drunk driving say he was beaten by police and as a result, later took his own life. His loved ones have filed a lawsuit demanding justice.

FOX 2 (WJBK) – The family of a man arrested for drunk driving and allegedly beaten by police officers later took his own life. His loved ones have filed a lawsuit demanding justice.

“This is not something a civilized – even an uncivilized society can tolerate,” said attorney Ari Kresch.

Milton was dragged through the Oakland County Jail after being taken there August of last year – after being arrested in Auburn Hills.

“They booked him, and they don’t have the facilities for him to dry out,” said Kresch. “So they transfer him over to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.”

FOX 2: “Did the sheriffs at any time beat or hit Milton?”

“No,” said Curtis Childs, undersheriff Oakland County. “No sir.”

Milton Adelson, 59 years old, is a veteran, held a steady job at the same company for 30 years. But he was drunk driving, and he may have made suicidal statements to the arresting officer.

“He was cooperative, he was respectful, he never had any involvement with the law,” said the family attorney.

In police video deputies ask him if he wants to keep his earplugs.

“I do. I want them to come back with me please,” he said. “But they’re not expensive I don’t care.”

“You didn’t pay for them either, they give them to you at work,” a deputy said.

Milton was placed in the “uncuff” cell at the Oakland County Jail.  Moments later another inmate was placed in the same cell.

But as the electric cell

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March 28, 2023 by ATTORNEY

M&A deals to boost non-life insurance industry | Business
M&A deals to boost non-life insurance industry hinh anh 1(Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – The non-life insurance sector has seen a flurry of
merger and acquisition (M&A) deals over the past two years, partly
reflecting the attractiveness and keen competition of the market, which still
has room for growth.

DB Insurance, which is one of the Republic of Korea’s leading non-life
insurance companies, has just completed another step of its purchase strategy
to take control of Vietnam National Aviation Insurance Company (VNI).

Expectations of fresh momentum from foreign capital inflows helped VNI’s stock
prices soar last week.

The transfer value is determined by the two parties’ agreement, but it is
estimated to be worth about a trillion dong at the current market price.

VNI has a charter capital of 1 trillion VND (42.2 million USD), which is the
largest charter capital in M&A deals over the past two years. Three
noteworthy M&A transactions in the insurance sector occurred during this
time, but the parties involved were not experts in the non-life sector.

In particular, VPBank increased its shareholding of OPES Insurance from 6.05
million units to 53.9 million units last November, or 98% of charter capital,
by purchasing an additional 47.85 million shares of the company.

Additionally, in the fourth quarter of 2022, Tasco spent more than 402 billion VND
to acquire Groupama Vietnam’s entire share capital, changing the company’s name
to Tasco Insurance. The plan calls for Tasco to invest an additional 612
billion VND in this business.

Previously, in September 2021, BCG invested a total of 316.5 billion VND to
acquire a controlling interest in AAA Insurance.

Vietnam was one of the insurance marketplaces with the highest growth rates in
the world prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics for 2011–2019 showed that
the country’s annual growth rate in insurance premium revenue was 20% while the
global average

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March 28, 2023 by INSURANCE

Gwyneth Paltrow’s lawyer asks about missing GoPro video

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Gwyneth Paltrow’s attorneys asked the daughter of a man suing the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer over a 2016 ski collision about missing GoPro camera footage that they called “the most important piece of evidence” at trial Thursday.

Steve Owens, Paltrow’s attorney, asked one of the man’s daughters, Polly Grasham, about emails exchanged with her father about the mysterious footage and the possibility that the lawsuit was filed against Paltrow because she was famous.

The GoPro footage has not been found or included as evidence for the trial.

“I’m famous … At what cost?” Terry Sanderson, the 76-year-old retired optometrist suing Paltrow, wrote in the subject line of an email to his family after the crash.

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Sanderson is suing Paltrow for more than $300,000 in damages, claiming that she skied recklessly into him on a beginner run at Deer Valley Resort seven years ago, breaking his ribs and leaving him with a concussion. Paltrow has claimed Sanderson caused the crash and countersued for $1 and attorney fees.

The trial took on an increasingly personal note on the third day of proceedings when Sanderson’s daughter and a neuropsychologist testified about his declining health.

Sanderson’s attorneys tried to persuade jurors that the collision had changed the course of their client’s life, leaving him brain-impaired and damaging his relationships with loved ones.

Paltrow’s attorneys questioned whether Grasham and neuropsychologist Dr. Alina Fong could say with certainty that Sanderson’s downturn wasn’t a result of aging or documented, pre-crash conditions. They questioned Grasham about her father’s anger problems, divorces and estranged relationship with another of his daughters, who is not testifying at trial.

Paltrow has previously called the lawsuit an attempt to exploit her fame and celebrity. On Thursday, Owens, her lead

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March 28, 2023 by LAW
March 2023
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