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Health
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May 03, 2024
Colo. Justices' Med Mal Cap Ruling A Win For Patients
The Colorado Supreme Court's recent decision prohibiting trial courts from considering an injured patient's insurance liabilities before imposing the state's $1 million medical malpractice damages cap was the right call, experts say, and prevents an unfair windfall for negligent health care providers.
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May 03, 2024
Aetna To Pay $2M To End LGBTQ Fertility Coverage Suit
A group of Aetna policyholders said Friday that the insurance giant has agreed to pay $2 million and revise certain health insurance guidelines to settle a proposed class action alleging its definition of infertility made it difficult and expensive for LGBTQ couples to obtain coverage for fertility treatments.
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May 03, 2024
Law Firm Pans Photographer's IP Suit Over Website Image
The Schmidt Firm asked a Texas federal judge Friday to ax a professional photographer's allegations the Dallas-based firm illegally posted his copyrighted image of convicted sexual abuser and ex-Columbia University obstetrician-gynecologist Robert Hadden on its website without permission.
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May 03, 2024
Publix Can't Send Questions To Ga. Justices In Opioid Suit
A federal judge overseeing national opioid litigation has rejected Publix's bid to ask the Georgia Supreme Court "convoluted and confusing" questions about if the state's public nuisance law applied to allegations the supermarket chain overdistributed painkillers.
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May 03, 2024
Medical Testing Co. Not In Health Field For Taxes, IRS Says
A company that fills medical testing orders for its customers is nonetheless not a business involved in performing services in the health field for certain tax purposes, the Internal Revenue Service said in a private letter ruling released Friday.
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May 03, 2024
Conn. Dentists Settle Govt's Illegal Patient Recruiting Suit
Two Connecticut dental practices and their co-owners have settled a federal false claims lawsuit accusing them of making illegal payments to a patient recruiter to generate business through Medicaid, agreeing to fork over about $187,000 over five years, plus 4% interest.
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May 03, 2024
4th Circ. Preview: Hemp, Wells And A Withdrawal
The Fourth Circuit's second session of 2024 will have the court pondering the tension between Virginia's recent hemp restrictions and federal regulations, and how the Truth in Lending Act impacts a case accusing PNC Bank of an unauthorized account withdrawal.
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May 03, 2024
Ohio Statehouse Catch-Up: Trans, Abortion Laws Face Battles
Ohio lawmakers have shepherded controversial bills impacting healthcare, social media and other matters into law in recent months, prompting lawsuits and even a veto from Gov. Mike DeWine.
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May 03, 2024
6 States Strike $270M Opioid Deal With Amneal
The New York state attorney general on Friday said that a $270 million multistate deal had been reached with opioid manufacturer Amneal Pharmaceuticals for its role in the addiction epidemic over allegations that the company failed to report suspicious orders of the narcotics.
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May 03, 2024
HHS Finalizes Rule To Expand Health Coverage For Dreamers
Immigrants brought to the U.S. as children without authorization will no longer be excluded from federal health insurance programs, under a new regulation finalized Friday that will permit enrollment through Affordable Care Act exchanges.
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May 02, 2024
7th Circ. Mostly Backs Ill. Home Health Kickbacks Judgment
The Seventh Circuit on Thursday largely left intact an Illinois federal judge's $6 million ruling that a home health care company broke federal kickback laws, refusing to reverse the lower court's liability finding but directing it to ensure its damages award was calculated correctly.
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May 02, 2024
Endo Judge Hopes Criminal Sentence Warns Opioid Makers
A Michigan federal judge said Thursday she hoped Endo's criminal sentence for falsely advertising a pain medication as "abuse deterrent" would itself be a deterrent for other opioid makers, as she accepted the company's recent $200 million settlement deal with federal prosecutors.
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May 02, 2024
Walgreens Fights $1B Arb. Award Over COVID Test Contract
At-home lab test maker Everly Health urged a Delaware federal judge to affirm its nearly $1 billion arbitration award against Walgreens over claims the pharmacy chain deliberately misused the digital health platform's trademark while secretly diverting COVID-19 tests to its own pharmacists while Walgreens argued the arbitrator overstepped his authority in bestowing such an "egregious" award.
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May 02, 2024
Masimo Hit With Derivative Suit Over Audio Co. Acquisition
The top brass at medical device company Masimo Corp. has been hit with a shareholder derivative action claiming they harmed the company and "confused" investors by pushing through a $1 billion acquisition of an audio equipment company, allegedly causing a steep drop in stock prices and a $5.1 billion market capitalization loss.
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May 02, 2024
DaVita Says Nurses Trying Go Around Wage Rulings
Nationwide kidney care service provider DaVita Inc. has urged a Colorado federal judge to reject a bid by nurses and technicians to merge their wage class action with another suit, arguing Wednesday the plaintiffs are seeking to "circumvent" earlier rulings limiting the case's reach.
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May 02, 2024
Lawmaker Wants Antitrust Probe Of Health Insurance Data Co.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is calling for antitrust enforcers to investigate concerns that MultiPlan and other healthcare data companies are hurting competition by helping health insurers effectively collude when making pricing decisions.
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May 02, 2024
Investors Not Entitled To Info, Sequel Youth Tells Chancery
A once-thriving chain of youth treatment facilities that came under scrutiny after a private equity firm bought it in 2017 urged Delaware's Court of Chancery on Thursday to toss a lawsuit from two former executives who demanded financial information about their "eviscerated" investments, arguing that the company didn't have to provide it.
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May 02, 2024
State Legislators Urge Feds To Change Cannabis' Status
A coalition of state lawmakers on Thursday urged the heads of the U.S. Department of Justice and its drug enforcement agency to prioritize changing cannabis' status as a highly restricted drug.
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May 02, 2024
Colo. Panel Says COVID Can Trigger Workers' Compensation
A Colorado appellate court panel on Thursday ruled for the first time that COVID-19 can be considered an "occupational disease" under the state's workers' compensation law and affirmed the award of benefits to a woman whose husband died of the novel coronavirus while working at a skilled nursing facility.
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May 02, 2024
Recent BigLaw Moves Show Boston Is 'Clearly On The Map'
Three BigLaw firms' recent moves to build out physical footprints in Boston are a testament to the region's thriving technology, healthcare, life sciences and finance industries — a trend that shows no signs of slowing down, experts say.
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May 02, 2024
Calif. Hospitals Say BCBS Unit Left Them With $3.8M Bill
A pair of California health systems say that Pittsburgh-based Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield isn't honoring its obligations to pay them under a national Blue Cross insurance program, leaving their hospitals holding the bag for up to $3.8 million worth of treatment, according to two lawsuits filed in Pennsylvania state court.
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May 02, 2024
Plaintiff To Share 'Horrific' Story In First Zantac Cancer Trial
The first trial in sprawling state and federal litigation over whether a chemical in Zantac heartburn medication and its generic counterparts causes cancer began Thursday in a packed Chicago courtroom, with counsel for an 89-year-old Illinois woman telling jurors her colorectal cancer diagnosis and the suffering it's caused can be attributed to her 20-year use of the drug.
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May 02, 2024
Skin Care Drug Co. Gets OK For Ch. 11 Wind-Down Plan
A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Thursday said she would approve the unopposed and unanimously approved Chapter 11 wind-down plans of the company previously known as Timber Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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May 02, 2024
Freshfields-Led Novartis Inks $1.75B Cancer Drug Co. Buyout
Novartis AG said Thursday it has agreed to buy U.S. radiopharmaceutical company Mariana Oncology in a transaction worth up to $1.75 billion, as the Swiss pharmaceutical giant moves to bolster its precision nuclear medicine portfolio.
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May 02, 2024
Chiropractor Gets 6 Mos. For Defrauding NBA With 'Big Baby'
A Manhattan federal judge sentenced an Atlanta chiropractor Thursday to six months in prison for going along with former Boston Celtics forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis' fraudulent plan to bill the NBA for $112,000 of services that were never performed.
Expert Analysis
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A Cautionary Tale On Hospital-Physician Alignment Structures
A $345 million settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Community Health Network highlights how quickly hospital and physician alignment relationships can violate legal restrictions on such dealings, and the onerous financial penalties that can ensue, say Robert Threlkeld and Elliott Coward at Morris Manning.
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6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media
In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.
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Opinion
Biden Admin's March-In Plan Would Hurt Medical Innovation
The Biden administration's proposal to reinterpret the Bayh-Dole Act and allow the government to claw back patents when it determines that a commercialized product's price is too high would discourage private investment in important research and development, says Ken Thorpe at the Rollins School of Public Health.
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5 Lessons For SaaS Companies After Blackbaud Data Breach
Looking at the enforcement actions that software-as-a-service provider Blackbaud resolved with state attorneys general, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission in the past year can help SaaS companies manage these increasingly common forms of data breaches, say attorneys at Orrick.
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Why Biz Groups Disagree On Ending Chevron Deference
Two amicus briefs filed in advance of last month's U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo highlight contrasting views on whether the doctrine of Chevron deference promotes or undermines the stable regulatory environment that businesses require, say Wyatt Kendall and Sydney Brogden at Morris Manning.
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Opinion
Oregon Law Would Compromise Management Service Orgs
If passed, a proposed Oregon law would materially limit physician corporate practice of medicine structures, causing significant disruption to the provision of medicine and hindering professional corporations' ability to focus on the clinical components of their practice, say Christina Bergeron and William Shefelman at Ropes & Gray.
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A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise
After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.
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Preparing For DOJ's Data Analytics Push In FCPA Cases
After the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that it will leverage data analytics in Foreign Corrupt Practice Act investigations and prosecutions, companies will need to develop a compliance strategy that likewise implements data analytics to get ahead of enforcement risks, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.
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Reducing The Risk Of PFAS False Advertising Class Actions
A wave of class actions continues to pummel products that allegedly contain per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, with plaintiffs challenging advertising that they say misleads consumers by implying an absence of PFAS — but there are steps companies can take to minimize risk, say attorneys at Keller and Heckman.
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USCIS Fee Increases May Have Unintended Consequences
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ new fee schedule, intended to provide the agency with needed funds while minimizing the impact of higher fees on individual immigrants and their families, shifts too much of the burden onto employers, say Juan Steevens and William Coffman at Mintz.
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HR Antitrust Compliance Crucial Amid DOJ Scrutiny
The Justice Department's Antitrust Division recently announced a required human resources component for antitrust compliance programs, which means companies should evaluate their policies to prevent, detect and remediate potential violations as they add training for HR professionals, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Lessons From Rare Post-Verdict Healthcare Fraud Acquittal
A Maryland federal court recently overturned a jury verdict that found a doctor guilty of healthcare fraud related to billing levels for COVID-19 tests, providing defense attorneys with potential strategies for obtaining acquittals in similar prosecutions, says attorney Andrew Feldman.
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ChristianaCare Settlement Reveals FCA Pitfalls For Hospitals
ChristianaCare's False Claims Act settlement in December is the first one based on a hospital allegedly providing private physicians with free services in the form of hospital-employed clinicians and provides important compliance lessons as the government ramps up scrutiny of compensation arrangements, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Texas Ruling Clarifies That Bankruptcy Shields LLC Rights
A Texas bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in In re: Envision makes it clear that the Bankruptcy Code preempts a section of Delaware state law that terminates a member’s interest in an LLC upon a bankruptcy filing, clarifying conflicting case law, say Larry Halperin and Joon Hong at Chapman and Cutler.
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Series
Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.