More Healthcare Coverage
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June 06, 2024
Drugmakers Escape Cancer Drug Antitrust Claims For Now
A New Jersey federal judge granted drugmakers Celgene and Bristol-Myers Squibb an out from consolidated antitrust litigation accusing them of delaying generic competition to their blockbuster cancer treatments, saying the conduct alleged by a group of insurer plaintiffs fails to amount to anti-competitive conduct.
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June 06, 2024
Wash. Judge Suggests Insurer Dragged Out IP Dispute
A Washington federal judge appeared unconvinced Thursday by a dental health insurer's argument that it acted honestly in pushing forward with trade secret claims even after the accused ex-employee returned her company-issued laptop that purportedly held sensitive information.
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June 06, 2024
Insurer Off The Hook For $3.4M Nursing Home Death Verdict
A Berkshire Hathaway unit needn't cover a $3.4 million default judgment entered against its insured in a wrongful death suit, an Illinois federal judge determined, finding that the insured nursing home "did not meet its own reporting and cooperation obligations under the policy."
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June 06, 2024
8th Circ. Affirms Cigna Noncompete Applies To CVS Hire
The Eighth Circuit has backed a lower court finding that blocked a healthcare industry executive from making a move to CVS, handing a win to Cigna in a case over trade secrets.
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June 06, 2024
9th Circ. Tells Insurer To Cover Teen's Treatment Center Stay
The Ninth Circuit has upheld a Massachusetts mother's win in her fight to get her insurer to cover behavioral health treatment for her son, ruling Thursday that a Washington federal judge was correct to order the insurer to cover her son's 14-month stay in a residential treatment center.
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June 05, 2024
Medtronic Can't Pause FCA Claims For 1st Circ. Detour
A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday declined to pause a long-pending False Claims Act and whistleblower retaliation case against medical device maker Medtronic so it can appeal a recent ruling, saying the court and the parties need to "get it moving."
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June 04, 2024
Biotech RenovaCare Can't Beat Investors' Stock Promo Suit
A New Jersey federal judge has ruled that investors in biotechnology company RenovaCare Inc. failed to prove their case against firms they accused of profiting from a scheme to pump up the company's shares, but otherwise allowed their claims to proceed against the maker of skin burn treatments and a few of its executives.
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June 04, 2024
Pharma Cos. Tell Justices Feds Support Remanding Terror Suit
Pharmaceutical companies urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to heed the federal government's suggestion to throw out a D.C. Circuit ruling holding them potentially liable for allegedly financing terror attacks against U.S. servicemembers through contracts with the Iraqi government.
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June 04, 2024
Nurse Staffing Exec Wants Antitrust, Fraud Charges Separated
An indicted home health care staffing executive asked a Nevada federal court to separate the antitrust charge against him for allegedly fixing nurses wages from claims that he concealed the conspiracy and government probe when selling the business for more than $10 million.
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June 04, 2024
Fox Rothschild Partner Can't Testify In NJ Fraud Retrial
Fox Rothschild LLP partner Ernest E. Badway can't serve as an expert witness for a businessman facing retrial on securities fraud claims, a New Jersey federal judge ruled Tuesday, siding with the government's contention that the testimony would be irrelevant.
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June 03, 2024
Humana Hit With Investor Suit Over Post-COVID Costs
Health insurer Humana and two executives were hit with an investor class action on Monday, claiming they misled shareholders about the cost of pent-up demand for medical treatments once the COVID-19 pandemic subsided.
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May 31, 2024
9th Circ. Affirms Toss Of Health Center's $8M Cigna Row
The Ninth Circuit on Friday declined to revive a suit from a holding company for a drug and alcohol treatment center claiming Cigna forced it into bankruptcy by not paying more than $8 million in authorized claims, finding the health insurer did not abuse its discretion in denying the payments.
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May 31, 2024
Co. Renews Dispute Over $1B CMS IT Deal At Claims Court
An information technology services firm has protested the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' corrective action on a $1 billion IT deal, saying the agency didn't meaningfully reevaluate proposals, seeking only to shore up its previous awards.
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May 31, 2024
COVID Test Contract Suit 'Cries Out' For Jury, NC Judge Says
A fight between two companies over a doomed distribution deal for COVID-19 tests has gone from "ships passing in the night" to not even "sailing in the same ocean," a North Carolina Business Court judge said, paring the case for trial.
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May 31, 2024
Ex-Penn State Football Team Doc Wins $5.25M Retaliation Suit
A Pennsylvania jury awarded $5.25 million to a former doctor for the Pennsylvania State University football team who claimed he was fired for reporting that head coach James Franklin pressured him to push student-athletes back onto the field before they were ready, according to a verdict sheet made public Friday.
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May 30, 2024
Full 9th Circ. Won't Rehear Immigration Attys' Privacy Row
The full Ninth Circuit on Thursday declined a request from a filmmaker and two immigration attorneys to rehear a panel decision finding that a purportedly covert government surveillance program tracking journalists and advocates tied to a migrant caravan didn't harm them.
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May 30, 2024
Slapping Groping Patient Isn't Protected Action, 4th Circ. Says
A former certified nursing assistant at a nursing home operator didn't show that smacking the hand of a patient whom she alleged groped her constituted protected activity under West Virginia law, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, affirming the company's win in a lower court.
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May 29, 2024
5th Circ. Sends Hain Toxic Baby Food Suit To State Court
Grocery store chain Whole Foods Market Inc. and international food company Hain Celestial Group Inc. can't escape a lawsuit seeking to hold them liable for the mental and physical decline of a toddler, allegedly caused by tainted baby food they sold, the Fifth Circuit ruled, saying the case was improperly removed to federal court.
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May 29, 2024
Conn. Hospital Settles Exonerated Doctor's Race Bias Suit
A Connecticut hospital and a doctor of Nigerian heritage have settled a race and gender discrimination lawsuit that followed a supervisor's assertion during a sexual harassment and assault probe that Nigeria was home to a "typically misogynistic and chauvinistic" culture, according to a Wednesday dismissal order.
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May 29, 2024
May Roundup: 11 Wage Rulings on Class, Collective Actions
The month of May brought plenty of rulings in cases with one or two workers trying to assert claims on behalf of others. Whether it's collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act or class actions under state law where the bar to clear is higher, here are 11 rulings on group wage and hour litigation to know from May.
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May 28, 2024
HIV Drug Buyers Fight Bid To Combine 9th Circ. Appeal Briefs
Drug buyers that allege Gilead Sciences Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals delayed generic versions of HIV medications told the Ninth Circuit it would be unfair to grant the companies' call for a single brief addressing the 17 appeals filed after a jury rejected the claims last year.
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May 28, 2024
Workplace Civil Rights Suit Gets Full Mich. High Court Hearing
The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to again consider whether employers can use contracts to limit the ability of aggrieved workers to sue, after hearing mini oral arguments last year, though two justices said they would not have advanced the case.
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May 24, 2024
Petition Watch: Forum Shopping, Monopolies & Gun Safety
Law360 looks at four U.S. Supreme Court petitions filed in the past two weeks, including the FDA's request that the justices curb an increase in forum shopping at the Fifth Circuit, and two veterinarians who want the justices to allow plaintiffs to pursue antitrust claims for actions allegedly leading to the creation of a monopoly.
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May 23, 2024
Charges Tossed For Army Doc, Wife In Russia Data Leak Case
A Maryland federal judge dismissed all charges against a U.S. Army physician and her wife who were accused of trying to leak military patients' medical information to Russia, finding the government violated the Speedy Trial Act and bungled the defense's request for access to classified information.
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May 23, 2024
Conn. Marketing Co., Competitor Settle Exec Poaching Suit
The Connecticut-based healthcare marketing firm Primacy LLC has reached a settlement with a competitor it accused of poaching a top executive, weeks after bringing a trade secrets lawsuit in federal court.
Expert Analysis
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How Biden's AI Order Stacks Up Against Calif. And G7 Activity
Evaluating the federal AI executive order alongside the California AI executive order and the G7's Hiroshima AI Code of Conduct can offer a more robust picture of key risks and concerns companies should proactively work to mitigate as they build or integrate artificial intelligence tools into their products and services, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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ITC Ban On Apple Watch Could Still Be Reversed
The U.S. International Trade Commission's recent final decision that the Apple Watch infringed two patents owned by Masimo Corp. was a rare instance of a popular consumer product being hit with an absolute importation ban, but it's possible that President Joe Biden could assert his power to reverse the ITC decision, says Benjamin Horton at Marshall Gerstein.
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Class Action Defense: Don't Give Up On Bristol-Myers Squibb
Federal appellate court decisions in the six years since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Bristol-Myers Squibb show that it's anyone's ballgame in class action jurisdictional arguments, so defendants are encouraged to consider carefully whether, where and when arguing lack of specific personal jurisdiction may be advantageous, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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State Regs Sow Discord Between Cannabis, Hemp Industries
Connecticut, Maryland and Washington are the latest states choosing to require intoxicating hemp products to comply with the states' recreational marijuana laws, resulting in a widening rift between cannabis and hemp as Congress works on crafting new hemp legislation within the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill, say attorneys at Wilson Elser.
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Questions Linger After FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Proposal
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently proposed rule regarding its plan to regulate lab-developed tests is light on details, leaving many fundamental questions about the agency's authority and ability to execute its plans, say attorneys at Covington.
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Lessons For Biosimilar And Biologic Antitrust Litigation
Aaron Marks at Cohen Milstein considers emerging ways in which biosimilar markets differ from traditional small-molecule drug markets, and recommends how pharmaceutical antitrust litigators can account for these market dynamics in biosimilar-delay cases.
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Balancing Justice And Accountability In Opioid Bankruptcies
As Rite Aid joins other pharmaceutical companies in pursuing bankruptcy following the onslaught of state and federal litigation related to the opioid epidemic, courts and the country will have to reconcile the ideals of economic justice and accountability against the U.S. Constitution’s promise of a fresh start through bankruptcy, says Monique Hayes at DGIM Law.
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Louisiana's Toxic Tort Barrier May Be Weakening
Louisiana's short prescriptive period to bring a survival action has long served as an important barrier against toxic tort claims, but the plaintiffs bar will likely rely on the recent Fifth Circuit decision in Jack v. Evonik to argue that anyone who arguably suffered injury based on exposure to some toxic substance may have a claim, say attorneys at Kirkland.
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When And How Companies Should Build An AI Strategy
Once a company has decided to engage with artificial intelligence, there are myriad steps that need to be taken, beginning with the creation of an AI leadership team that has deep knowledge about the company's business risks and is highly respected by senior management, say Judith Rinearson and Corey Bieber at K&L Gates.
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5th Circ. Ruling Shows Need For Proffer Terms Negotiation
The Fifth Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Shah decision, holding that a defendant breached his proffer agreement, illustrates why defense attorneys should insist on negotiating the terms of such agreements with prosecutors to protect their clients at trial, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
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Data Furnishers Should Watch CFPB Plans For Class Actions
Companies should follow the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rulemaking process as it considers allowing class actions against data brokers that provide incorrect consumer information to credit reporting agencies, a move that could rewrite the legal risks of participating in the consumer reporting ecosystem, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Justices Could Use Purdue To Resolve Related Circuit Split
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear Harrington v. Purdue Pharma to determine the validity of nonconsensual third-party releases in bankruptcy, but justices should also take the opportunity to resolve a related circuit split over the constitutional authority of bankruptcy judges to issue final rulings on such releases, says Benjamin Feder at Kelley Drye.
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2nd Circ. OT Ruling Guides On Pay For Off-The-Clock Work
While the Second Circuit’s recent holding in Perry v. City of New York reiterated that the Fair Labor Standards Act obligates employers to pay overtime for off-the-clock work, it recognized circumstances, such as an employee’s failure to report, that allow an employer to disclaim the knowledge element that triggers this obligation, say Robert Whitman and Kyle Winnick at Seyfarth.