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Judiciary

Insurance case is ‘but a speck in the recesses of interstellar space,’ high-profile appeals judge writes

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 28, 2025, 3:07 pm CDT

In a span of less than a week, a conservative federal appeals judge has written two opinions that are getting attention—for taking a tough stand against the mistaken deportation of an immigrant in one case and for waxing philosophical in another case.

In an April 17 opinion, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III took the Trump administration to task for “asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process.”

Wilkinson wrote the “blistering” opinion for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia, in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia of Maryland, according to the New York Times.

Abrego Garcia was deported to a prison in El Salvador in Central America because of an “administrative error.” The case is Abrego Garcia v. Noem.

Now, Wilkinson is getting attention once again for an April 23 opinion in an insurance dispute involving a man on a lawn mower struck and killed by an underinsured motorist, according to Above the Law and the Judicial Notice newsletter at Original Jurisdiction.

The 4th Circuit held that the man’s estate was entitled to $150,000 under the plain terms of the man’s underinsured motorist coverage—and nothing more.

Wilkinson engaged in “existential, metaphysical musings” at the end of his opinion, according to Judicial Notice.

Here is what Wilkinson wrote: “What after all does it matter? A single, seemingly ordinary, rather technical insurance case. One among the many hundreds of rulings judges make each year.

“What does it matter? A case but a speck in the recesses of interstellar space and in the four-plus billion years since our solar system’s birth. What does it matter, this case deserted by both space and time?

“To be human is to live in the here and now. This small case extracts courageous meaning from the vast impersonality in which it resides. Its immediacy confounds infinity; its passions light the dark. We have given it our best; the litigants have given it their best. The trial court has done the same. We do not overlook for a moment the tragic passing of the insured but neither can we ignore the contract under South Carolina law that defines the insurer’s obligation.”

The insurance case is Owners Insurance Co. v. Walsh.

Wilkinson, 80, was appointed to the 4th Circuit by former President Ronald Reagan, the New York Times reports in a story about his background. He is the “son of a patrician Virginia banker,” an Army veteran and a law grad of the University of Virginia.

He delayed his legal education after one year to unsuccessfully run for Congress in 1970 as a Republican. After law school, he worked as a law professor and in the U.S. Department of Justice.

On the bench, the New York Times reports, Wilkinson has “a long track record of conservative rulings under his belt, having criticized rulings establishing abortion rights while writing approvingly of a broad conception of presidential power.”

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Florida prosecutors dropped a felony charge against a woman who allegedly threatened her health insurance company after being denied a claim and invoked the now-infamous phrase “Delay, Deny, Depose.”

Records show that prosecutors dropped the threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism earlier this month against 42-year-old Briana Boston. Prosecutors did not say why they dropped the case but it likely was tied at least in part to Boston’s lack of criminal history and her that she had no desire to actually carry out the alleged threat.

More from Law&Crime: Man accused of threatening Elon Musk on X had rifle, ammunition and bulletproof vest stashed inside home: Cops

“My client is 42, married mother of three,” her attorney Jim Headley said during her first appearance, according to NewsNation. “Never had any criminal charges or convictions.”

Boston had been out on bond since mid-December and was allowed to go to her children’s medical appointments and school, per an order filed with the court.

As Law&Crime previously reported, Boston’s comments came on the heels of the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

The FBI notified the Lakeland Police Department on Dec. 10 about a local woman who threatened an employee of BlueCross BlueShield during a recorded phone call. A probable cause arrest affidavit said Boston had called about a recent medical insurance claim that was denied. At the end of the call, Boston allegedly said “Deny, Delay, Depose. You people are next.”

Investigators reportedly found the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” handwritten on the shell casings from the bullets that killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City. Luigi Mangione, the alleged shooter who was arrested after a massive manhunt, wrote a manifesto railing against health care companies.

Lakeland cops went to Boston’s home to interview her. She reportedly admitted to threatening the person on the other line. Boston said she was sorry, doesn’t have any firearms and is not a danger to anyone.

“Boston further stated the healthcare companies played games and deserved karma from the world because they are evil,” cops wrote.

Following Thompson’s killing insurance companies have taken safety measures such as taking down online biographies about executives and hiring personal security.

Video released this week by California‘s Department of Insurance allegedly shows a group of Los Angeles residents committing fake bear attacks on their own luxury cars — including a Rolls-Royce Ghost and Mercedes-Benz “G-Wagon” — using a bear suit and meat shredders, according to officials.

“It was clearly a human in a bear suit,” the department said in a press release on Wednesday after handing down charges to Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39.

The group is accused of using a bear costume to fake at least three attacks on a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350. The original price tags for all three vehicles, combined, is over $350,000 — with a base sedan for the Ghost, alone, coming in at $245,000.

Four arrested after videos show fake bear attacks for insurance payouts.

Operation Bear Claw reveals suspects allegedly wore bear costume to commit insurance fraud. pic.twitter.com/9mzfvaq2B3

— CA Dept of Insurance (@CDInews) November 13, 2024

State investigators say an insurance company came forward earlier this year after receiving a report about one of the “bear” attacks, which seemed suspicious. The company had gotten a claim about an incident in Lake Arrowhead on Jan. 28, which left a Rolls-Royce — the Ghost — with interior damage, according to officials.

A surveillance video provided by the suspects showed what they claimed was a bear having its way with their vehicle, opening a front door and making its way to the back for some grub before exiting, the suspects told the insurance company. Photos released by CDI show damage and scratches to the car’s interior.

“Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume,” CDI officials said Wednesday. “Detectives found two additional insurance claims with two different insurance companies, for the suspects with the same date of loss and at the same location.” Additional video had also been submitted.

After launching an investigation, the department was able to piece everything together using some canny techniques of its own.

“To further ensure it was not actually a bear in the video, the Department had a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife review the three alleged bear videos and they also opined it was clearly a human in a bear suit,” CDI officials said. “After executing a search warrant, detectives found the bear costume in the suspects’ home.”

In total, the insurance companies involved were allegedly defrauded of $141,839, according to CDI. The department was assisted by Glendale Police and California Highway Patrol. San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office is handling the case.

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3. Quinn Emanuel disclosure order highlights…

Law Firms

Quinn Emanuel disclosure order highlights relatively new product: judgment preservation insurance

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 31, 2024, 3:39 pm CST

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan must disclose terms of judgment preservation insurance that it allegedly bought before distributing a $185 million fee award to partners, according to a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge.

In a Jan. 30 opinion, U.S. Federal Claims Judge Kathryn C. Davis ordered Quinn Emanuel to disclose the policy document but denied a request for an accounting and safekeeping of the funds, report Reuters and Bloomberg Law.

A group of health insurers that objected to the legal fee had sought the information.

Davis ruled after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated the $185 million award because she failed to properly conduct a “lodestar cross-check” that considers hours worked, billing rates and a risk multiplier to compensate for the risk of no or reduced recovery. The appeals court said the fee award had an implicit multiplier that was “outside the mainstream” and ordered Davis to reassess the amount.

The award translated to an hourly fee of about $18,500, according to previous coverage of the case.

Bloomberg Law called judgment preservation insurance “a relatively new area of litigation finance” that is becoming more popular. Typically, it is used to preserve some portion of large awards from being overturned on appeal, but details of such polices are mostly under wraps.

A Bloomberg Law article written by an outside contributor described judgment preservation insurance, known as JPL, as “appellate risk insurance.” The insurance can be obtained by a party or a litigation funder, and it kicks in after a judgment is final with no further possibility for appeal.

“It may insure all of the judgment, or it may be targeted at a specific legal issue that is challenged on appeal, such as attorneys’ fees or statutory damages,” the contributed article reports.

Davis said she was ordering the policy disclosure in the interest of transparency. She also said the policy terms would be relevant on remand “if the policy provisions are inconsistent with the court’s objective ‘to ensure an overall fee that is fair for counsel and equitable within the class.’”

Quinn Emanuel received the $185 million fee award in its representation of two classes of health plan insurers in litigation under the Affordable Care Act. The insurers said the federal government did not abide by its promise to pay them for losses incurred for the first three years of participation in the law’s insurance marketplace. The litigation settled for $3.7 billion, and the $185 million represented 5% of the award.

The case is Health Republic Insurance Co. v. United States.