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July 12, 2024
7 Gender-Affirming Care Cases To Watch In 2024's 2nd Half
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a constitutional challenge by the federal government to Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, while other appeals courts are weighing the constitutionality of states' and employers' restrictions on gender dysphoria treatment. Here are seven cases involving gender-affirming care access that attorneys will be tracking in the second half of the year.
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July 12, 2024
Biggest Colorado Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report
The U.S. Supreme Court's quick reversal of Colorado justices' decision removing former President Donald Trump from the state's ballots and a Boulder County judge's ruling clearing the way for landmark climate litigation about major oil companies rank among the most important decisions affecting Colorado so far this year.
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July 12, 2024
Biggest Washington Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report
The first half of 2024 in Washington courts was punctuated by a fizzled startup's $72 million trial win against The Boeing Co., and Monsanto Co.'s appellate reversal of a $185 million verdict in one of a series of high-profile PCB poisoning cases. Here is a closer look at some of the biggest decisions in Washington state and federal courts in the first half of 2024.
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July 12, 2024
Healthcare SPAC Launches $200M IPO To Pursue Acquisition
Launch One Acquisition Corp. began trading Friday after raising a $200 million initial public offering, represented by Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP and underwriters counsel King & Spalding LLP, joining an uptick in special-purpose acquisition companies targeting the healthcare sector.
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July 12, 2024
Ex-Ga. Insurance Chief Gets 3½ Years For Kickback Scheme
John Oxendine, the former four-term Georgia insurance commissioner who pled guilty this year to working with a doctor to run a multimillion-dollar medical testing kickback scheme, was hit with a 3½-year prison sentence by a Georgia federal judge Friday.
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July 12, 2024
FTC Says Abandoned Novant Deal Moots Lower Court Loss
The Federal Trade Commission is looking to unravel a North Carolina federal judge's order allowing Novant's planned $320 million hospital merger to advance after it subsequently abandoned the deal, telling the Fourth Circuit the appeal is moot and the order should be vacated.
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July 11, 2024
Wash. Justices Revive Proposed Class Suit Over Nurse Wages
The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday said a nurse's wage theft suit against a hospital can proceed even though his claims are the same as the ones lodged by his union in a tossed suit, finding it would be in the best interest of both efficiency and justice.
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July 11, 2024
Judge Won't Permit Florida's Trans Care Ban Pending Appeal
A federal judge denied Florida's request Thursday to pause a court order blocking a state law that bans or restricts gender-affirming care for transgender minors and adults while it challenges the ruling at the Eleventh Circuit, finding the state hasn't shown it would be harmed by the law's stagnation.
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July 11, 2024
Senate Clears Patent Bill Aiming To Lower Drug Prices
The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would pump the brakes on the ability of pharmaceutical companies to steer patients away from generic versions of a drug, a measure that lawmakers said would lower drug costs.
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July 11, 2024
Panel Says Kansas BCBS Unit Can't Face Rehab Suit In Colo.
A Kansas Blue Cross Blue Shield unit can't be sued in Colorado for terminating the coverage of a patient who was receiving treatment for an autoimmune syndrome, a state appellate panel ruled Thursday.
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July 11, 2024
Cigna Objects To Ch. 11 Nursing Home Asset Sale Proposal
Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. asked a Pennsylvania bankruptcy judge to reject a sale process proposed by some of the debtors in a Pittsburgh-area nursing home network's consolidated Chapter 11 case, saying it gave the debtors too much leeway to change what contracts they will maintain.
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July 11, 2024
Social Media Arbitration Row Not For La. Court, 5th Circ. Told
A coalition of researchers told the Fifth Circuit that a Louisiana court was wrong to rule that a proposed class of plaintiffs who claim the group was behind social media censorship in 2020 did not have to arbitrate their claims, arguing that the court should have weighed whether it could even hear the case before considering arbitration.
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July 11, 2024
NJ Justices Back Expert Report In Mother's Suit Over Death
The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday reinstated a lawsuit against a Garden State hospital by the mother of a diabetic patient who died, saying the trial court erred in dismissing the case on grounds that an affidavit of merit was insufficient.
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July 11, 2024
Signify, Merger Partner Clash In Chancery Over $50M Earnout
An attorney for former Caravan Health Inc. stockholder representatives told a Delaware vice chancellor on Thursday that acquirer Signify Health Inc. sabotaged Caravan's business in order to scuttle an obligation to add as much as $50 million in performance-based "earnouts" to the $250 million merger price.
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July 11, 2024
4 Big Gender-Affirming Care Decisions From 2024's 1st Half
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed an Idaho law banning gender-affirming care for minors to become effective, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a trial court win for a transgender public safety employee in a healthcare discrimination suit and a Florida federal judge blocked as unconstitutional a state law restricting gender-affirming care for minors and adults.
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July 11, 2024
9th Circ. Signals Dr.'s Vax-Refusal Case Deserves New Chance
Ninth Circuit judges signaled Thursday that they were likely to revive a doctor's case claiming he was wrongfully fired from his Washington State University residency for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination, with two judges questioning if the school went far enough to accommodate his religious beliefs.
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July 11, 2024
Staffing Claim Against Kaiser Will Go To Trial, Judge Says
A United Food and Commercial Workers local can continue litigating its claim that Kaiser Permanente affiliates violated provisions in labor contracts guaranteeing adequate staffing, a Colorado federal judge ruled, saying there are outstanding issues to be resolved at trial.
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July 11, 2024
Calif.'s Insulin Cost Suit Belongs In Fed. Court, 9th Circ. Told
Express Scripts and Caremark PCSHealth urged the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to reverse a lower court's order sending California's antitrust suit over skyrocketing insulin prices back to state court, with both appellants' counsel arguing the state's claims involve disputes over federal contracts and regulations that must be resolved in federal court.
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July 11, 2024
Rite Aid Gets OK To Sell Interests In Its Loan To MedImpact
A New Jersey bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved Rite Aid's sale of most of its interests in a $567 million loan that it made, the proceeds of which it will distribute to creditors under its Chapter 11 reorganization plan.
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July 11, 2024
$435M Yale Hospital Merger Case Set For December Jury Trial
A lawsuit claiming that Yale New Haven Health Corp. is trying to back out of a $435 million deal to buy three Connecticut hospitals will go to a bench trial in December after a state court judge approved the parties' proposed schedule.
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July 11, 2024
Opiate MDL Judge Flags Evidence Preservation Shortfall
An Ohio federal judge has said "at least some" of the plaintiff local government entities in four chosen bellwether cases against pharmacy benefit managers for the multidistrict litigation over the opioid epidemic failed to preserve documents and evidence for trial, warning the parties he may replace those cases.
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July 11, 2024
Chancery Fast-Tracks Blue Cross Data Co. Suit, Denies TRO
An independent licensee of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association that accused a customer of sharing confidential data with industry competitor Cigna Corp. got its Delaware Chancery Court lawsuit fast-tracked Thursday but failed to get immediate injunctive relief because the harms it alleged were too "speculative."
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July 11, 2024
Trans Worker Seeks Facial Hair Removal In ERISA Suit
A transgender woman said her employer's health benefit plan administered by UnitedHealthcare refused to cover facial hair removal as part of her gender-affirming care in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, according to a complaint filed in Washington federal court.
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July 11, 2024
Foley & Lardner Adds 6-Atty Corporate Team From K&L Gates
Foley & Lardner LLP announced Thursday that it has boosted its corporate and healthcare offerings with three partners and three associates from K&L Gates LLP who will practice from the firm's existing locations in Dallas and Miami and a new shop in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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July 11, 2024
Sens. Say Medical Debt Acute 'Symptom' Of Chronic Issues
A Senate health committee panel said that medical debt is a "symptom" of high costs in the healthcare system in a hearing on Thursday, with lawmakers and federal agencies proposing solutions to stabilize the issue that impacts consumers and providers.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
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The Road Ahead For Florida's Drug Importation Program
Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Florida's drug importation program in January, a series of hurdles — including requisite buy-in from Canada — and potential legal challenges must be addressed before importation can begin, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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What Attorneys Need To Know About H-1B Lottery Changes
The newly revamped H-1B lottery process opened Wednesday and promises to bring more fairness to securing highly competitive slots, giving more companies a chance to access highly skilled workers, say Renée Mueller Steinle and Elizabeth Chatham at Stinson.
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Assessing CDC's Revised Guideline On Opioid Prescriptions
Kenneth Weinstein, Nicholas Van Niel and Kate Uthe at Analysis Group look at newly available data to evaluate the impact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's revised opioid monitoring guideline have had on prescription trends in recent years, highlighting both specific and overall decreases.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Conflict, Latent Ambiguity, Cost Realism
In this month's bid protest roundup, Markus Speidel at MoFo examines a trio of U.S. Government Accountability Office decisions with takeaways about the consequences of a teaming partner's organizational conflict of interest, a solicitation's latent ambiguity and an unreasonable agency cost adjustment.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Valeant Ruling May Pave Way For Patent-Based FCA Suits
The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Silbersher v. Valeant marks a significant development in False Claims Act jurisprudence, opens new avenues for litigation and potentially raises the stakes for patent applicants who intend to do business with the government, say Joshua Robbins and Rick Taché at Buchalter.
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What's New In FDA's Updated Data Monitoring Guidance
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new guidance on the use of data monitoring committees in clinical trials is set to replace the agency's 2006 guidance on the topic, with notable updates including stronger language indicating a more stringent stance against financial conflicts of interest and adaptation to recent changes in DMC structure, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.
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Opinion
Suits Against Insulin Pricing Are Driven By Rebate Addiction
A growing wave of lawsuits filed by states, cities and counties against insulin manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers improperly allocate the blame for rising insulin costs, when in actuality the plaintiffs are partially responsible, says Dan Leonard at Granite Capitol Consulting.
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Conn. Data Privacy Enforcement Takeaways For Cos.
In light of the Connecticut attorney general's recently released report on its enforcement of the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, which focuses on companies' privacy policies, protections of sensitive data and more, businesses can expect increased enforcement scrutiny — especially in areas that are the subject of consumer complaints, say Paul Pittman and Abdul Hafiz at White & Case.
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Lessons For D&O Policyholders From Pharma Co. Ruling
A California federal court's recent decision in AmTrust v. 180 Life Sciences, requiring insurers to advance defense costs for a potentially covered claim, provides a valuable road map for directors and officers insurance policyholders, rebutting the common presumption that a D&O insurer's duty to advance costs is more limited than under other policies, say attorneys at Pasich.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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When Physician Retirement Arrangements May Be Legal
A recent advisory opinion from the Office of Inspector General regarding physician retirement arrangements sheds light on key considerations and mitigating factors that may be useful when attempting to balance healthcare operational needs with statutory conformity, says Magda Rodriguez at Day Pitney.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.