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Health
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January 08, 2025
Captive Insurer Says Reinsurer Must Cover Legionnaires' Row
The captive insurer of a Michigan healthcare system asked a federal court Wednesday to find that its reinsurer couldn't sell off coverage responsibilities and owes payment for underlying suits alleging various patients contracted Legionnaires' disease.
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January 08, 2025
Colo. Judge Certifies National Class Of Senior Care Investors
A Colorado federal judge on Wednesday certified a nationwide class of stockholders in a securities suit alleging a senior health care company made misleading statements in an initial public offering that later caused stock prices to tank after a government audit exposed the falsehoods.
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January 08, 2025
UnitedHealth Wants $3.3B Amedisys Deal Challenge Tossed
UnitedHealth Group and Amedisys Inc. asked a Maryland federal court Wednesday to toss a challenge of their planned $3.3 billion merger, contending that federal and state enforcers are refusing to say what "local" home health and hospice service markets would be hurt by the deal.
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January 08, 2025
Patent Board Knocks Out Most Of Apple Patent
Two rulings out of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board have wiped out several claims in a patent Apple is asserting against a medical software company that was initially first to assert patents against Apple over health-related programming in the Apple Watch.
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January 08, 2025
USTR Warns Of Risks Posed By Counterfeit Pharmacies
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Wednesday released its latest list of overseas "notorious markets" selling illicit and counterfeit goods, pointing in particular to a boom in counterfeit online pharmacies selling knock-off medications that pose a risk both to public health and businesses' intellectual property interests.
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January 08, 2025
Telligen's TM Suit Against IT Co. Can Move Forward
A California federal judge is letting a trademark lawsuit from health data company Telligen proceed against information technology company Telligens, ruling that he was not yet convinced that the suit was filed 10 years too late.
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January 08, 2025
CFPB Hit With Industry Suit Over Medical Debt Reporting Rule
A top trade group for the credit reporting industry has moved to challenge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new rule that would take billions of dollars in medical debt off credit reports, accusing the agency of overreach in a lawsuit filed in Texas federal court.
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January 08, 2025
3 Firms Steer Galapagos' Plan To Spin Off New Drug Company
Belgian biotechnology firm Galapagos NV said Wednesday that it will spin off certain operations into a second company focused on developing innovative medicines with about €2.45 billion ($2.5 billion) in cash to start, while Galapagos in turn focuses on cell therapies, through a deal guided by three law firms.
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January 08, 2025
Indiana Lawmakers File Medical Pot, Decriminalization Bills
Indiana lawmakers this week filed bills to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and to legalize medical marijuana and create a regulatory regime to oversee its cultivation and sale.
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January 08, 2025
Ariz. Tribe Sues Social Media Giants Over Youth Mental Health
An Apache tribe has hit all the social media giants with a suit in California federal court claiming the companies' platforms are designed to addict young people but have a particularly bad effect on Native American youth, who already face a high risk of depression, addiction and suicide.
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January 08, 2025
2nd Circ. Backs NYC Hospital In Retirement Plan Fee Suit
The Second Circuit refused Wednesday to reopen a proposed class action claiming Montefiore Medical Center allowed its employee retirement plan to be saddled with excessive recordkeeping fees, saying the workers leading the suit failed to show the plan paid too much for the services it received.
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January 08, 2025
Buchanan Ingersoll Adds Frier Levitt Pharmacy Atty In NJ
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC added a shareholder this week in its Newark, New Jersey, office from Frier Levitt who specializes in representing various kinds of pharmacies in transactions, litigation, investigations and other matters.
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January 08, 2025
Wilson Sonsini, Cooley Lead $621M Take-Private Of Accolade
Private equity-backed healthcare company Transcarent, advised by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC, and personalized healthcare company Accolade, led by Cooley LLP, on Wednesday announced plans to merge in a $621 million deal that will result in Accolade becoming a private company.
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January 07, 2025
DOJ Watchdog Criticizes Trump Officials For COVID Leaks
The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General has found that senior Justice Department officials under the first Trump administration improperly leaked information about investigations into COVID-19 deaths in states run by Democrats shortly before the 2020 presidential election, according to a report posted Tuesday.
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January 07, 2025
HHS Fines Mass. Health Firm $80K Over Ransomware Attack
Elgon Information Systems, which provides digital medical record and billing support services, will pay $80,000 over alleged healthcare data protection rule violations following a ransomware attack on its systems in March 2023 that impacted roughly 31,248 customers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday.
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January 07, 2025
Alcohol Warnings Unlikely To Bring Same Fate Tobacco Faced
The U.S. surgeon general on Friday recommended that alcohol carry warnings about cancer risks, and attorneys say that while warning labels might be warranted, alcohol is unlikely to become the next tobacco.
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January 07, 2025
Feds Defend FCA Whistleblower Constitutionality At 11th Circ.
The federal government has called on the Eleventh Circuit to uphold the constitutionality of the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions, saying a Florida district court ruling otherwise is an "outlier" that goes against U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
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January 07, 2025
Surgeon Says Unprovided Report Should Nix Transplant Suit
A lawsuit from the families of three patients who died on a Texas hospital's liver transplant waiting list should have been tossed because the families failed to provide an expert report to a surgeon accused of tampering with their data, the surgeon argued to a state appeals court Monday.
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January 07, 2025
Conn. AG, Feds Reach 3rd Dentist Kickback Settlement
A joint investigation by state and federal law enforcement has netted its third settlement with a Connecticut dentist accused of using illegal patient recruiting tactics to rip off Medicaid.
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January 07, 2025
Cannabis Reformers Move To Oust DEA From Pot Hearings
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has worked behind the scenes to undermine an administrative process that will determine whether federal restrictions on marijuana are relaxed, a group of reformers alleged in a new filing submitted to an agency tribunal.
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January 07, 2025
Seton Hall COVID Isolation Death Suit Was Too Late, Judge Says
A New Jersey federal judge on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit brought by the parents of a Seton Hall University sophomore who died during a COVID-19 isolation period in 2021, ruling their claims are time-barred and they failed to show bad faith.
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January 07, 2025
5 Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Check Out In Jan.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear from Cornell University workers looking to revive a retirement plan mismanagement suit and a former firefighter who says federal disability bias law protects post-employment benefits, while circuit courts will weigh gender-affirming care restrictions and a battle over pension annuity payments. Here, Law360 looks at five arguments that benefits attorneys ought to keep an eye on this month.
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January 07, 2025
6th Circ. Declines To Send Publix Questions To Ga. High Court
The Sixth Circuit won't certify a set of questions about Georgia state nuisance law to the state's Supreme Court, after ruling that Publix Super Markets Inc. hasn't shown the appeals court needs to step in before a bellwether trial in the national opioid multidistrict litigation.
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January 07, 2025
Judge OKs Dig Into Yale, Fertility Doctor's Decade Of Files
A Connecticut state trial court judge will allow two women to dig through a decade of records spanning 1974 to 1984 to support their assertions that a Yale-connected fertility doctor used his own sperm to impregnate them in the mid-1980s.
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January 07, 2025
4th Circ. Revives Christian Vax Refuser's Religious Bias Suit
The Fourth Circuit reinstated Tuesday a lawsuit from a Christian nurse who claimed she was unlawfully fired for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, ruling a trial court jumped the gun when it tossed her case.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.
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Avoiding Merger Disputes Via Careful LLC Agreement Drafting
The Delaware Court of Chancery recently upheld a merger in a dispute over the process of amending the target's limited liability company agreement, underscoring the importance of understanding the Delaware LLC Act default rules and careful drafting to allow for contractual modifications, says Jane Trueper at Lathrop.
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Next Steps For FCA Defendants After Fla. Qui Tam Ruling
Because a Florida federal court's recent decision in Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates could eventually prove to be a watershed event for False Claims Act suits, defendants should consider potential next steps to ensure that their litigation benefits from the court's reasoning and further developments, says Scott Gallisdorfer at Bass Berry.
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Compliance Pointers For Amended Pa. Data Breach Law
Recent updates to the Pennsylvania Breach of Personal Information Notification Act include a requirement that organizations alert the state's attorney general of certain consumer data breach notifications, and several incident response and cybersecurity considerations will be necessary to ensure compliance, say Matthew Meade and Laura Decker at Eckert Seamans.
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Patent Lessons From 7 Federal Circuit Reversals In August
The Federal Circuit’s seven vacated or reversed cases from August provide helpful clarity on obviousness-type double patenting, written description and indefiniteness, and suggest improved practices for petitioners and patent owners in inter partes review, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.
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Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys
Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.
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Opinion
Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code
As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan
Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.
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Opinion
To Shrink Jury Awards, Address Preventable Medical Errors
While some health industry leaders complain about large malpractice awards — like the recent $45 million verdict in Hernandez v. Temple University Hospital — these payouts are only a symptom of the underlying problem: an epidemic of preventable medical errors, says Eric Weitz at The Weitz Firm.
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A Look At Calif.'s New AI Law For Health Insurers
A newly enacted California law prohibits artificial intelligence tools from making medical necessity determinations for healthcare service plans or disability insurers, addressing core questions that have arisen around AI's role in coverage decisions, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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New HHS Research Misconduct Rules Bring Seismic Changes
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new rule regarding research misconduct investigations brings significant changes that focus on remediation, appeals and confidentiality, while other changes could result in institutions causing undue harm to scientists accused of such misconduct, say attorneys at Cohen Seglias.
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Fla. Ruling May Undermine FCA Whistleblowers' Authority
A Florida federal court's decision in Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates last month will deprive relators of their ability to bring suits under the False Claims Act, limiting their capability to expose and rectify wrongdoings and potentially affecting billions in FCA recoveries, say Matthew Nielsen and Lily Johnson at Bracewell.
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State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape
Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.
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11th Circ. Kickback Ruling May Widen Hearsay Exception
In a $400 million fraud case, U.S. v. Holland, the Eleventh Circuit recently held that a conspiracy need not have an unlawful object to introduce co-conspirator statements under federal evidence rules, potentially broadening the application of the so-called co-conspirator hearsay exception, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
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8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney
A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.