More Healthcare Coverage
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August 23, 2024
Matthew Perry Death Suit Could Blow Past Calif. Damage Cap
The federal indictment recently unsealed accusing two doctors and others of peddling the ketamine that caused Matthew Perry's death will serve as prime fodder for any wrongful death suit by the actor's estate, experts say, and California's medical malpractice damages cap may not even be a factor.
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August 22, 2024
Philly Hospital Fights $45M Verdict For Teen Gunshot Patient
Temple University Hospital Inc. wants to undo a $45 million jury verdict, arguing in a posttrial brief that the jury made contradictory findings — that the hospital was responsible for a plaintiff's injuries, and that he'd been eating pieces of chicken against medical advice.
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August 22, 2024
2nd Circ. Says Feds Can't Forcibly Drug Man Facing Removal
The Second Circuit ruled Thursday that the Bureau of Prisons can't yet forcibly administer antipsychotic medication to render a Sierra Leone native competent to stand trial on charges of assaulting officers at a prison where he was being detained pending deportation.
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August 21, 2024
2nd Circ. Partly Revives Life Insurance Suit Against AXA
The Second Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of an investment firm founder's claims alleging AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. caused the founder to miss a payment that led to the termination of his life insurance policies, but revived his claim that AXA wrongly denied his request to reinstate the policies.
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August 21, 2024
Spine Implant Caused Patient's TB, Suit Says
A North Carolina couple on Tuesday hit biologic technology company Elutia Inc. with a complaint in federal court alleging that the husband contracted tuberculosis from a bone cell product that was implanted into his spine during surgery.
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August 21, 2024
Hillrom Says Funding Docs 'Plainly' Relevant In Antitrust Suit
Hospital-bed maker Hill-Rom Holdings, doing business as Hillrom, defended its request for litigation funding documents in rival Linet's suit targeting allegedly anticompetitive supply agreements, arguing they will help support its defenses and combat a "David and Goliath" characterization of the case.
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August 21, 2024
Judge Rules Lack Of Expert Dooms Families' Tylenol MDL
Families trying to show that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes ADHD cannot rely on the "cherry-picked statements" of a defense expert to keep their claims alive, a New York federal judge ruled, delivering yet another blow to plaintiffs in the sprawling multidistrict litigation.
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August 19, 2024
4th Circ. Cuts Liberty Loose In Medicare Reimbursement Row
A North Carolina widow can't revive a proposed class action accusing Liberty Mutual of failing to reimburse Medicare for her deceased husband's medical costs, the Fourth Circuit said Monday, finding she wasn't injured and therefore lacked standing to sue.
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August 16, 2024
Ex-CEO Wants Verdict In COVID Test Kit Fraud Case Tossed
A former healthcare software executive found guilty of securities fraud for publicly touting a $670 million COVID test kit deal that ultimately collapsed wants his conviction thrown out, telling a New Jersey federal judge the government failed to establish every element of the crime.
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August 16, 2024
Ortho Center Seeks Lit Funding Details After Scuttled Verdict
A Minnesota-based orthopedic center wants a former patient to disclose information regarding his litigation financing agreement with Bench Walk Advisors following a $110 million malpractice verdict, which a judge later decided was "astronomical" and largely scrapped.
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August 15, 2024
NIH Accused Of Wrongly Eliminating Cos. From $50B IT Deal
Two companies have disputed their exclusion from the National Institutes of Health's pending $50 billion CIO-SP4 information technology procurement, saying they were qualified for the contract and the NIH hasn't explained its decisions.
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August 15, 2024
Matthew Perry's Assistant And 2 Drs. Charged In Actor's Death
The former personal assistant for actor Matthew Perry and two doctors have been criminally charged in connection with the "Friends" star's death last year from an overdose of ketamine, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday in California federal court.
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August 15, 2024
Pharmacy Can't Dodge Novo Nordisk's Diabetes Drug Suit
A Tennessee federal judge on Thursday declined to throw out a suit by Novo Nordisk Inc. alleging that DCA Pharmacy is selling drugs with the same active ingredient as its Ozempic diabetes medicine without U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization.
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August 15, 2024
Calif. Justices Find Hospital System Exempt From Labor Code
A hospital system a California county created is a public entity that is not required to follow the California Labor Code's meal and rest break requirements, the state's high court ruled Thursday, nixing an appellate panel's ruling against the entity.
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August 15, 2024
NC Small Biz Challenges VA Bid Process For Prostate Drug
A service-disabled veteran-owned small business in North Carolina is challenging the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' bid process for prostate medication, saying the terms unfairly favor foreign manufacturers despite purporting to prioritize American-made products.
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August 14, 2024
ICE Faces Trimmed Suit Over Detainee's COVID-19 Death
A California federal court on Tuesday again allowed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to trim a lawsuit alleging it failed to protect a man who died in detention but kept claims alleging ICE failed to oversee its facilities or protect the man from COVID-19.
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August 14, 2024
Doctor Loses Challenge To Nursing Home's Vax Policy
A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday tossed a CareOne doctor's challenge to the nursing home operator's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, saying she did not pass the Third Circuit's test for an exemption for failing to exhaust her administrative remedies.
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August 14, 2024
GSA Hit With Protest Over $985M Migrant Kid Transport Deal
Trailboss Enterprises Inc. is protesting the General Services Administration's decision to award a $985.4 million transportation and logistics contract for unaccompanied children in federal custody to a competitor, saying it lost the contract because of a flawed selection process.
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August 14, 2024
Nursing Co. Exec Can't Split Up Fraud, Wage-Fixing Charges
A Nevada federal magistrate judge has struck two blows against a home healthcare staffing executive facing criminal charges of fixing nurses' wages and hiding that probe when selling the business for $12.5 million, as the judge refused to break up the allegations and recommended against dismissing the fraud counts.
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August 14, 2024
K&L Gates Hires 340B Health Counsel In DC
K&L Gates LLP's newest healthcare counsel, Amanda Smith, has never worked at a private practice law firm until now.
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August 13, 2024
Judge Urged To Toss Novel Insider Trading Conviction
Former Ontrak CEO Terren Peizer has moved to rid himself of a first-of-its-kind insider trading conviction, arguing that the government's case "watered down" the standard it had to prove by failing to demonstrate that he believed Ontrak was about to lose its biggest customer at the time he shed $20 million in stock.
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August 13, 2024
Entresto Release Delayed As Novartis Goes To Fed. Circ.
A Delaware federal judge said Monday that Novartis is unlikely to prove that it's entitled to an injunction that would block MSN Pharmaceuticals from launching a generic version of its top-selling drug Entresto, but stayed the generic release briefly so Novartis could appeal to the Federal Circuit.
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August 13, 2024
Ga. Justices To Weigh Arbitrator's Closed-Door Discussions
The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to weigh if an arbitrator's ex parte communications with BioTek Services LLC in an allergy testing payment dispute warranted vacating BioTek's $1.7 million arbitration award over compensation for its testing of patients from Docs of CT LLC.
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August 12, 2024
GAO Says VA Deal Awardee Wasn't Missing Key Staff Member
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected Booz Allen Hamilton's protest over a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs agreement for healthcare market assessments, saying there was no evidence that a key worker for the awardee wasn't available to work on the deal.
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August 12, 2024
Atrium, NC Textile Family Settle Fight Over $17M Inheritance
Half of a $17 million trust from a prominent North Carolina textile family will go to a new beneficiary as part of a settlement in which the family and Atrium Health agreed to change the terms of the matriarch's will after months of "differing contentions" about the rightful recipient.
Expert Analysis
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How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act
In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Gilead Drug Ruling Creates Corporate Governance Dilemma
If upheld, a California state appellate court's decision — finding that Gilead is liable for delaying commercialization of a safer HIV drug to maximize profits on another drug — threatens to undermine long-standing rules of corporate law and exposes companies to liability for decisions based on sound business judgment, says Shireen Barday at Pallas.
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3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture
Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents
Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Lawyers Can Take Action To Honor The Voting Rights Act
As the Voting Rights Act reaches its 59th anniversary Tuesday, it must urgently be reinforced against recent efforts to dismantle voter protections, and lawyers can pitch in immediately by volunteering and taking on pro bono work to directly help safeguard the right to vote, says Anna Chu at We The Action.
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3rd Circ. Ruling Shows Benefits Of IP Licenses In Bankruptcy
The Third Circuit’s recent ruling in Mallinckrodt’s Chapter 11 filing, which held that Mallinckrodt could sever its obligations to pay Sanofi royalties on sales of an autoimmune disease drug, highlights the advantages of structuring transactions as nonexclusive licenses for developers of intellectual property, say Gregory Hesse and Kaleb Bailey at Hunton.
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After Chevron: ERISA Challenges To Watch
The end of Chevron deference makes the outcome of Employee Retirement Income Security Act regulatory challenges more uncertain as courts become final arbiters of pending lawsuits about ESG investments, the definition of a fiduciary, unallocated pension forfeitures and discrimination in healthcare plans, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.
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Justices' Intent Witness Ruling May Be Useful For Defense Bar
At first glance, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Diaz v. U.S. decision, allowing experts to testify to the mental state of criminal defendants in federal court, gives prosecutors a new tool, but creative white collar defense counsel may be able to use the same tool to their own advantage, say Jack Sharman and Rachel Bragg at Lightfoot Franklin.
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Contract Disputes Recap: Preserving Payment Rights
Stephanie Magnell and Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth examine three recent decisions that together illustrate the importance of keeping accurate records and adhering to contractual procedures to avoid inadvertently waiving contractual rights to cost reimbursements or nonroutine payments.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step
From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Weight-Loss Drugs May Spur Next Major Mass Tort
With lawsuits concerning Ozempic and similar weight-loss drugs potentially becoming the next major mass tort in the U.S., companies should consider key defense strategies ranging from alternate dispute resolution to enhanced drug safety, say Dino Haloulos and Jarif Khan at Foley & Mansfield.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Standing, Prejudice, Conflicts
In this month's bid protest roundup, Caitlin Crujido at MoFo examines three recent decisions from the U.S. Government Accountability Office concerning whether a would-be protestor was an interested party with standing, whether an agency adequately investigated potential procurement violations and whether a proposed firewall sufficiently addressed an impaired objectivity organizational conflict of interest.