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March 21, 2024
Schumer Urges Texas District To Adopt Judge-Shopping Rule
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday urged the chief judge of the Northern District of Texas to quickly implement the Judicial Conference of the United States' updated policy that looks to prevent litigants from judge shopping, arguing that the district's current practices are "dangerous."
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March 21, 2024
Ill. Judge Leaves Outcome Health Execs' Convictions Intact
An Illinois federal judge said Thursday that he wouldn't disturb three former Outcome Health executives' convictions for carrying out a massive billion-dollar fraud scheme to grow their health advertising business, saying the jury heard enough evidence to support its verdict.
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March 21, 2024
MDL Claims Over Merck's Gardasil Vax Get Trimmed
Pharmaceutical giant Merck need not face many of the claims by patients who allege their autoimmune conditions were caused by its HPV vaccine, a North Carolina federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation ruled, saying the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act bars most claims made in the first two bellwethers.
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March 21, 2024
Wash. Judge Says Debt Collector Owes $827K For Violations
A Washington state judge has ordered a medical debt collector to pay more than $827,000 in penalties for failing to include certain debtor's rights information in collection notices sent to tens of thousands of Washingtonians for outstanding balances tied to Providence Health & Services hospitals.
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March 21, 2024
Cigna Slams Suit's Claims Of Algorithm-Led Coverage Denials
Insurance giant Cigna Group wants a Connecticut federal court to toss a proposed class action alleging that an algorithm unlawfully rejected hundreds of thousands of claims en masse and without a proper review, arguing the suit is based on a "misleading" news article and shows a misunderstanding of the health insurer's claim denial process.
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March 21, 2024
UpHealth Claims $110M Win In Glocal Control Fight
Global digital health company UpHealth Inc. says an arbitral panel has awarded it more than $110 million following a dispute that arose out of its subsidiary's acquisition of Glocal Healthcare Systems in 2020 — even as Glocal decried the award as "one-sided and perverse."
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March 21, 2024
Tribe's Opioid Suit Can Head To State Court, Okla. Judge Says
An Oklahoma federal magistrate judge has granted the Cherokee Nation's bid to move to state court its suit accusing pharmaceuticals distributor Morris & Dickson of flooding the tribe's communities with opioids, saying the company only fulfilled one of four prongs necessary for establishing federal jurisdiction.
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March 21, 2024
Va. Court Affirms Doctor's Win, Refuses 'Empty Chair' Appeal
An emergency physician will keep his trial win in a malpractice case involving a patient's fatal aneurysm, a Virginia state appeals court has ruled, rejecting arguments that the trial judge flubbed by refusing to explicitly forbid the jury from considering the possibility that anyone else contributed to her death.
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March 21, 2024
CymaBay Investor Sues For Books On $4.3B Gilead Merger
A shareholder of liver disease-focused biopharmaceutical company CymaBay Therapeutics Inc. sued the company in Delaware Chancery Court to extract more information over a proposed $4.3 billion merger with Gilead Sciences Inc., saying CymaBay has refused to hand over previously requested documents regarding the valuation analyses without a legitimate excuse.
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March 21, 2024
Healthcare Co. Beats Suit Over TDF Funds' Performance
A California federal judge granted a win to a healthcare company and its investment adviser in a class action challenging what former workers claim are shoddy target-date-funds included in the company's 401(k) plan, saying the funds at issue performed better than comparable investments.
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March 21, 2024
VA May Have Acted In Bad Faith On $30M Debt Collection Deal
The U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals refused to toss a $29.6 million appeal accusing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of hampering a contractor's efforts to collect funds from outside insurers, saying the VA may have acted in bad faith.
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March 21, 2024
Gun Rights Org., Pa. DA Seek To Block Pot Patients' Gun Ban
A Pennsylvania prosecutor and a gun rights organization have asked a federal judge to block enforcement of policies that prohibit licensed medical marijuana patients from owning firearms, saying the ban violates the patients' Second Amendment rights.
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March 21, 2024
Business Coalition Rebuffs Biden Plan To Seize Drug Patents
The Biden administration's proposal to exercise so-called march-in rights to seize drug patents would harm innovation in the U.S., according to an assemblage of business-focused groups.
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March 21, 2024
Home Health Cos. Stiffed Workers On OT Pay, Suit Claims
The operators of several Ohio-based home care staffing agencies have been failing to pay their employees for all the overtime hours they worked, according to a recent proposed class and collective action.
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March 21, 2024
Woman Lost Independence Due To Strattice Mesh, Jurors Told
A Kentucky woman told New Jersey state jurors on Thursday that LifeCell skipped important safety steps while designing its Strattice surgical mesh, and that those skipped steps caused a hernia to reoccur and ultimately resulted in the loss of her independence.
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March 21, 2024
Nursing Home Woes, Cyberattack Sparked Petersen's Ch. 11
Rising costs after the COVID-19 pandemic, cyberattacks and a general shift away from nursing homes led senior-living company Petersen Health Care to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week with about $296 million in debt, according to a declaration filed Thursday by the company's top restructuring official.
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March 21, 2024
3rd Circ. Agrees Investors Have No Case Against Vax Maker
The Third Circuit on Thursday upheld a Pennsylvania federal judge's ruling that a putative class of investors alleging biopharmaceutical company Ocugen Inc. made misleading statements about its ability to quickly produce a COVID-19 vaccine failed to state a claim against the company.
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March 21, 2024
6th Circ. Doubtful Of Hospital Workers' Vax Exemption Claim
A Sixth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Thursday of an argument from a class of former employees of Ohio Children's Hospital that their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion were violated under the hospital's COVID-19 employee vaccination policy.
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March 21, 2024
Hospital Operator Alecto Healthcare Gets OK For Ch. 11 Plan
A Delaware bankruptcy judge agreed to give hospital operator Alecto Healthcare Services LLC the all-clear on the company's Chapter 11 reorganization plan, saying the scheme was fair, achievable and made appropriate provisions for disposable income.
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March 21, 2024
EBSA Gets Level Funding Of $191.1M In Spending Deal
Spending leaders in the House and Senate agreed Thursday to provide $191.1 million in fiscal year 2024 for the U.S. Department of Labor's sub-agency overseeing employee benefits, a level that's identical to what lawmakers agreed to last fiscal year.
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March 21, 2024
6th Circ. Revives 2 Workers' Claims In Religious Vax Bias Suit
The Sixth Circuit revived a case alleging an Ohio hospital discriminated against workers by requiring the COVID-19 vaccine despite their religious objections, but only for two of the 46 workers behind the suit, finding they were the only ones who showed they may have been harmed.
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March 21, 2024
Greenberg Traurig Adds Jackson Walker FDA Pro In Houston
Greenberg Traurig LLP's most recent Houston addition is a shareholder who came aboard from Jackson Walker LLP, where he established and led its U.S. Food and Drug Administration practice.
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March 20, 2024
Trans Kids' Attys May Face Sanctions Over Ala. Judges' Probe
Eleven attorneys, including lawyers from Cooley LLP, Lightfoot Franklin & White LLC and prominent LGBTQ rights organizations, have been ordered to show why they should not be sanctioned after a judicial report concluded they engaged in judge-shopping when challenging an Alabama law banning certain medical procedures for transgender youth, according to a newly unsealed order.
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March 20, 2024
Petersen Health Care Files Ch. 11 Amid Suits Over HUD Loans
Assisted living facility operator Petersen Health Care Inc. and more than 100 affiliates filed for Chapter 11 protection Wednesday in Delaware as the company faces claims it has failed to pay millions of dollars in federal housing loans.
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March 20, 2024
4th Circ. Backs Rockefeller Group in Guatemalans' Syphilis Suit
A group of Guatemalans who sued The Rockefeller Foundation over venereal disease experiments conducted on prisoners and psychiatric patients in the 1940s did not show an American doctor involved in the gruesome activities acted on behalf of the organization, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Navigating ACA Reporting Nuances As Deadlines Loom
Stephanie Lowe at Liebert Cassidy walks employers through need-to-know elements of Affordable Care Act reporting, including two quickly approaching deadlines, the updated affordability threshold, strategies for choosing an affordability safe harbor, and common coding pitfalls.
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Inside The PTAB's Seagen Cancer Drug Patent Decision
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's recent finding that Seagen's claims for antibody-drug conjugate technology were unpatentable — for lack of enablement, lack of written description and anticipation — mark the latest chapter in the complex patent dispute as the case heads for director review, says Ryan Hagglund at Loeb & Loeb.
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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.