Health

  • September 26, 2024

    Winner Of $8.6M Suit Wants Mich. Justices' Take On Cap

    The estate of a patient who won an $8.6 million medical malpractice verdict earlier this year is asking a Michigan federal court to certify a question to the state's Supreme Court to determine whether a statutory cap on noneconomic damages is constitutional.

  • September 26, 2024

    Colo. Justices Pause Discovery In Hospital Lien Suit

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed discovery in a class action against hospital company Centura Health, as it decides whether to take up the plaintiff's challenge to a Denver judge's second attempt at deciding what documents the plaintiff must produce.

  • September 26, 2024

    Ex-University Head Says COVID Isolation Death Suit Is Late

    Former Seton Hall University President Joseph E. Nyre has asked a New Jersey federal judge to toss gross negligence and fraudulent concealment claims brought by the estate of a student who died from epilepsy in mandatory isolation in her dorm room after testing positive for COVID-19, arguing both claims are time-barred.

  • September 26, 2024

    Pa. Justices Say COVID Closures Aren't Covered Losses

    Pennsylvania's Supreme Court shut the door Thursday on COVID-19 pandemic loss insurance coverage for businesses closed by government mandate, ruling that requisite physical loss or damage required tangible alteration to property, reversing a lower court decision that stated loss of use was sufficient.

  • September 26, 2024

    Senate Patent Bill Markups Delayed Until After Election

    Congressional hearings scheduled for Thursday to mark up several bills related to patents, including measures dealing with patent eligibility, validity challenges and drug patents, have been postponed until after Election Day due to the Senate's adjournment.

  • September 26, 2024

    NY Lawmakers Beat ADA Suit Over Contentious Mask Ban

    A New York federal judge threw out a challenge to Nassau County's ban on face masks worn by people trying to hide their identities in public, noting in an order Wednesday the plaintiffs lack standing since the ban doesn't apply to coverings worn to protect the wearer's health and safety.

  • September 26, 2024

    Healthcare Atty Rejoins Polsinelli After Foley Hoag Stint

    Polsinelli PC announced on Wednesday that a doctor and former healthcare policy attorney who spent 11 years during a previous stint with the firm has returned to its Washington, D.C., office as a public policy shareholder.

  • September 26, 2024

    Behavioral Health Exec Pleads Guilty To Medical Billing Fraud

    The chief executive of a behavioral health company on Thursday admitted to directing employees to bill Medicare and Medicaid for extra psychotherapy sessions that never took place.

  • September 26, 2024

    Dallas VA Center Overpaid $3.7M For Wheelchair Services

    A Texas veterans medical center will have to recover $3.7 million it overpaid a contractor for wheelchair transportation services between 2022 and 2023, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General said Wednesday.

  • September 25, 2024

    11th Circ. Reverses DOJ Defeat In $400M Kickback Case

    The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday held that a lower court should've admitted prosecutors' evidence of alleged co-conspirators in a $400 million health insurance fraud case, finding that an exclusion to the hearsay rule was misapplied by the district court in the closely watched Anti-Kickback Statute litigation.

  • September 25, 2024

    Feds Urge Judge Not To Ax Novel Insider Trading Conviction

    Prosecutors have hit back at former Ontrak CEO Terren Peizer's bid to ax his first-of-its-kind insider trading conviction and score a new trial, telling a California federal judge that the jury had all the information it needed to find Peizer guilty in June.

  • September 25, 2024

    Novel Labor Clause Ruling May Beg Scrutiny In Court

    A controversial demand from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for prospective contractors to recognize union organizing may stretch the limits of the government's required neutrality in contactors' labor disputes, and a ruling supporting it is likely to attract close scrutiny from courts.

  • September 25, 2024

    Walgreens' TM Suit Can Proceed Against Founder's Relative

    Walgreen Co. can move forward with its trademark infringement suit against the great-grandson of the company's founder for operating Walgreen Health Solutions after an Illinois federal judge denied his motion to dismiss, finding the drugstore chain has shown a likelihood of confusion between the two brands.

  • September 25, 2024

    NY Judge Pauses Abortion 'Reversal' Case As AG Files Appeal

    A New York federal judge has ruled that two more anti-abortion pregnancy centers are free to promote abortion pill "reversal" while a legal clash continues over whether the First Amendment protects their right to market the treatment, which is doubted by major medical groups.

  • September 25, 2024

    Ascension Must Face Additional Suit Over Vaccine Mandate

    Ascension Health Alliance must face another proposed class action challenging its 2021 COVID-19 vaccination policy, an Indiana federal judge ruled Wednesday, holding that a group of workers who were suspended or fired after refusing the vaccine on religious grounds have a case against the Catholic healthcare system.

  • September 25, 2024

    Generics Group Names Ex-BIO, PhRMA Exec As New CEO

    The generic drug industry group the Association for Accessible Medicines on Wednesday announced it has appointed a new chief executive officer who brings over a decade of experience in the branded drug industry.

  • September 25, 2024

    3rd Circ. Backs Tossing MetLife Suit Over Drug Rebates

    The Third Circuit upheld MetLife's defeat of a lawsuit alleging it kept drug rebate profits for itself instead of lowering workers' health benefit plan costs, saying Wednesday the workers leading the suit hadn't shown they were harmed by missing out on speculative savings.

  • September 25, 2024

    Owner Tanked NC Captive Insurer, Directors Say

    Minority shareholders of a now-defunct North Carolina captive insurer providing liability coverage to nursing homes accused the captive's majority shareholder of refusing to pay over $5 million in premiums and stealing funds to pay off his personal legal debts, seeking damages in North Carolina's business court.

  • September 25, 2024

    NJ Pharmacy Execs Cop To $33M Kickback Scheme

    Two men who ran a New Jersey mail-order pharmacy admitted their roles in a $33 million medication kickback scheme, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced Wednesday.

  • September 25, 2024

    Doctor Says Accusers In $2M Fraud Case Hiding In Pakistan

    Counsel for a doctor accused of a $2.5 million fraud says that opposing counsel wants to hide his accuser in Pakistan until trial, telling a Dallas County judge during a Wednesday sanctions hearing that he's entitled to an in-person deposition from the man making the allegations.

  • September 25, 2024

    Ex-NBA Pro Who Admitted Benefits Fraud Can Play Overseas

    A New York federal judge Wednesday gave a former Philadelphia 76ers guard, who admitted to being part of a scheme to defraud the NBA's benefits plan, permission to travel to Uruguay so he can play professionally there.

  • September 25, 2024

    DACA Intervenors In ACA Suit Resist Stay Of Dismissal Bid

    Recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program seeking to defend their access to Affordable Care Act coverage pressed a North Dakota federal judge to decide if a lawsuit, filed by Republican states, should be dismissed or moved to Washington, D.C., saying their motion to intervene in the suit doesn't have to be decided first.

  • September 25, 2024

    Wash. Hospital System Misclassifies Workers, Nurse Says

    A Washington-based hospital operator misclassified its workers as independent contractors and underpaid them for their overtime as a result, a registered nurse said in a proposed class and collective action in Washington federal court.

  • September 25, 2024

    Cancer Detection Biz To Go Public Via $694M SPAC Merger

    Special purpose acquisition company Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp. on Wednesday announced that it has agreed to merge with and take public clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company YD Biopharma Ltd. in a deal that gives the combined company an estimated enterprise value of $694 million and was built by three firms.

  • September 24, 2024

    Google Can't Ditch Privacy Suit Over Period App Data Sharing

    A California federal judge has refused to release Google from a proposed class action alleging the company used a data analytics tool to wrongfully retrieve data from menstruation tracking app Flo, rejecting the tech giant's arguments that the plaintiffs lacked standing and had consented to the disclosures. 

Expert Analysis

  • A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence

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    The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.

  • To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef

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    To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?

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    Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • 'Food As Health' Serves Up Fresh Legal Considerations

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    The growth of food as medicine presents a significant opportunity for healthcare organizations and nontraditional healthcare players to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, though these innovative programs also bring compliance considerations that must be carefully navigated, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • DC Circ. Ruling Heightens HHS Contract Pharmacy Challenges

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    The D.C. Circuit's recent ruling that the Section 340B program does not bar manufacturers from restricting deliveries of discounted drugs to contract pharmacies represents a second strike against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' current contract pharmacy policy and raises the stakes surrounding an upcoming Seventh Circuit ruling on the same issue, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • FTC Theories Of Harm After Anesthesia Co. Ruling

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    As Federal Trade Commission litigation against U.S. Anesthesia Partners proceeds following a Texas federal court's recent decision to dismiss a private equity sponsor from the suit, the case attempts to incorporate and advance some of the commission's theories of competitive harm from the final 2023 Merger Guidelines, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • 9th Circ. COVID 'Cure' Case Shows Perks Of Puffery Defense

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    The Ninth Circuit's March decision in a case surrounding a company's statements about a potential COVID-19 cure may encourage defendants to assert puffery defenses in securities fraud cases, particularly in those involving optimistic statements about breakthrough drugs that are still untested, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • FTC Focus: Exploring The Meaning Of Orange Book Letters

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    The Federal Trade Commission recently announced an expansion of its campaign to promote competition by targeting pharmaceutical manufacturers' improper Orange Book patent listings, but there is a question of whether and how this helps generic entrants, say Colin Kass and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.

  • Investors Can Aid In The Acceptance Of Psychedelic Medicine

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    Psychedelic medicine is ready to have its breakthrough moment, and although it still faces political, legal and communications challenges, private equity investors can play a significant role in changing the public perception on psychedelics from taboo to acceptance, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell, Charlie Panfil at the Daschle Group and Ethan Lutz at FTI Consulting.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from automobile insurance to securities — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including circuit-specific ascertainability requirements and how to conduct a Daubert analysis prior to class certification.

  • Perspectives

    Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

  • 3rd Circ.'s Geico Ruling May Encourage Healthcare Arbitration

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    The Third Circuit's recent decision in Geico v. Mount Prospect, finding that claims under New Jersey's Insurance Fraud Prevention Act can be arbitrated, strengthens arbitration as a viable alternative to litigation, even though it is not necessarily always a more favorable forum, say Khaled Klele and Jessica Osterlof at McCarter & English.

  • Proposed Cannabis Reschedule Sidesteps State Law Effects

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent proposal to move cannabis to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act provides certain benefits, but its failure to address how the rescheduling would interact with existing state cannabis laws disappointed industry participants hoping for clarity on this crucial question, says Ian Stewart at Wilson Elser.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

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