Insurance Cos. Score Dismissal Of Zepbound Coverage Case

By Kellie Mejdrich

A D.C. federal judge Wednesday agreed to toss a proposed class action against CVS Caremark and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield from a worker who challenged coverage denials for Zepbound to treat sleep apnea, holding an exclusion in his employee health plan that the companies administered complied with federal benefits law.

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Houston Hospital System Settles Retirement Fee, Fund Fight

By Kellie Mejdrich

A Texas hospital system agreed to settle a proposed class action from ex-workers alleging the healthcare nonprofit failed to curb excessive recordkeeping fees and remove underperforming funds from its $2.8 billion employee retirement plan, after a magistrate judge recommended denying its motion to dismiss an amended complaint in May.

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Abbott Offered Faulty Health Plan Option, Ex-Worker Says

By Patrick Hoff

Abbott Laboratories violated federal benefits law by offering a health plan option with higher premiums and lower deductibles without disclosing that participants would always pay less if they chose a high-deductible plan, according to a proposed class action filed Wednesday in Illinois federal court.

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Transit Co. Can't Dodge $1.8M Pension Fund Bill

By Grace Elletson

A now-defunct transit company can't toss claims that it owes a Teamsters-affiliated pension fund $1.8 million in reallocation payments after the fund saw a mass withdrawal, a New York federal judge ruled, stating it's too early in the case to determine whether its insolvency blocks the bill.

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NY Judge Says Insurer Owes No Coverage In $1.6M Care Row

By Danielle Ferguson

A New York federal judge said an insurer does not have to defend or indemnify a nursing and rehabilitation facility in a hospital's lawsuit seeking to recover $1.6 million in medical expenses for a former worker, finding Tuesday that the underlying action isn't a covered claim.

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AmeriHealth Unit, PBM Look To Escape Pharmacy Fee Suit

By Matthew Santoni

The AmeriHealth Caritas Health Plan and its in-house pharmacy benefits manager asked a federal court to toss a proposed class action over "transmission fees," alleging the law that required disclosure of those fees, Pennsylvania's Human Services Code, doesn't let private parties sue.

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Union May Tap Surety For Unpaid Benefits, Mass. Court Says

By Julie Manganis

A labor union's benefits fund is entitled to pursue a claim against a general contractor's surety bond after two subcontractors failed to make contractually obligated contributions, the Massachusetts intermediate appellate court ruled Wednesday in reversing a lower court.

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Acadia Pharma Must Face Investors' Drug Approval Claims

By Emilie Ruscoe

Acadia Pharmaceuticals must face investors' class action claims it misstated the likelihood that it would get regulatory approval to market its psychosis drug pimavanserin for expanded use, a California federal judge determined, finding a key question about a regulator's directions should be decided by a jury.

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Susman Godfrey Beats, Seward & Kissel Matches Milbank Pay

By Tracey Read

At least four more firms have joined the associate pay raise bandwagon, with Seward & Kissel LLP matching the salary scale recently set by Milbank LLP, and Susman Godfrey LLP exceeding it.

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Judicial Noms Say Biden Won, But Critics Fault Their Caveats

By Courtney Bublé

Three district court nominees on Wednesday said President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, a departure from other judicial nominees in the second Trump administration, but court watchers on the left took issue with how they couched those statements.

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Camp Mystic Fights Sanctions Over 'Burn In Hell' Atty Remark

By Lynn LaRowe

Camp Mystic and parents of a girl killed in flooding there last summer faced off Wednesday over whether the camp should be sanctioned because its attorney said a plaintiff's lawyer would "burn in hell" and for other alleged misconduct in litigation over flooding deaths at the Texas camp.

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Ga. Federal Judge Faces 2nd Set Of Impeachment Articles

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia congressman has filed articles of impeachment against a federal judge who was reprimanded for having sex with a police officer in her Atlanta chambers within earshot of staff, the second lawmaker this week to do so. 

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Unions Rally As 5 Shops Approach Contract Deadline

By Andrea Keckley

Legal service providers across New York City gathered in City Hall Park on Wednesday afternoon as five unions represented by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys approach their deadlines for a new contract at the end of the month.

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'Anti-ICE Vigilantes': DOJ Says Law Clerks Aided Noncitzens

By Lauren Berg

Two state court clerks in Utah are facing criminal charges after federal prosecutors say they acted as "self-appointed anti-ICE vigilantes" by helping noncitizens leave the courthouse by a back door to evade arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the newly unsealed case.

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Morgan & Morgan Atty Again Blocked From Harvard Suit

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Massachusetts judge rebuffed a Morgan & Morgan PA attorney's second attempt to appear in a lawsuit over the theft of body parts from a Harvard Medical School morgue, saying he would not reconsider his earlier decision to bar the attorney over an incident in a separate court involving fake AI-generated case citations.

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