DOJ Deal Bars OhioHealth From Blocking Patient Steering

By Bryan Koenig

OhioHealth swore off contract language inhibiting the ability of insurers to steer patients to cheaper healthcare providers, in a settlement resolving one of two U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuits targeting alleged hospital network efforts to force insurers to cover their hospitals in all plans.

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Visa, Mastercard Say 'Old' Deal Bars 'New' Merchant Suit

By Bryan Koenig

Visa and Mastercard asked a New York federal court to shut down a new proposed class action from merchants seeking to get around the future claims release in the credit card companies' $5.6 billion transaction fees antitrust settlement, arguing the new merchants are clearly bound by the old deal.

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Google, Apple Call CEO Depo Bids 'Harassment' At 9th Circ.

By Dorothy Atkins

Apple and Google urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to reject consumers' request to depose their respective CEOs, Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, and other executives in antitrust litigation accusing Google of shutting out rival search engines, arguing that the appeal is unwarranted and the repeated deposition demands are unjustified "harassment."

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CoStar, Brokers Accused Of Sharing Data To Fix Rents

By Isaac Monterose

A proposed class of commercial tenants has alleged CoStar Group Inc., Colliers International Group Inc., Colliers International USA LLC, Cushman & Wakefield and others ran a rent-fixing scheme that involved real estate companies using CoStar's platform to share confidential lease transaction information in order to avoid undercutting each other.

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Sen. Committee Clears Drug Disclosure, Biosimilar Bills

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Wednesday cleared two bills for full Senate review, tackling the gap between health and patent oversight agencies, and the need for more interchangeable biosimilars.

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Visa Sued By H&M, Eurostar In Latest Swipe Fees Case

By William Janes

More than 30 major businesses and institutions including H&M, Heineken and a university have sued Visa at a London court, alleging that the payment card company's fees and rules restricted competition and drove up prices.

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Nasdaq Private Market Says Rival Poached Staff And Secrets

By Katryna Perera

A Nasdaq marketplace for pre-IPO stock has filed suit against a competitor, alleging that it has poached employees and clients, stolen trade secrets and other confidential information, and infringed its patented technology in an effort to acquire what Nasdaq has built without fairly competing.

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Sanctioned IP Atty Tells Fed. Circ. 'Integrity' On The Line

By Elliot Weld

An attorney who was sanctioned in a trade dress infringement case due to what a judge said were his repeated misrepresentations has asked the Federal Circuit to lift the penalties against him and his client, saying his "professional and personal integrity, and my family, depends on it."

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Brief

No Deal Reached In Cheer Competition Antitrust Mediation

By Ganesh Setty

A mediator told a Texas federal court on Wednesday that cheerleading competition organizers and national cheer governing body U.S. All Star Federation Inc. were unable to reach a settlement this month of the organizers' antitrust lawsuit.

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FTC Claims Trans Health Org. Lied About Medical Consensus

By Spencer Brewer

The Federal Trade Commission and several Republican-led states sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health on Wednesday, telling a Texas federal court that the organization falsely touted a "medical consensus" while advocating for transgender healthcare for children.

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Opinion

Rule Of Law Requires Gov't Engagement With Bar, Not Retreat

A federal agency's absence from national and local bar conferences, most recently illustrated by the U.S. Department of Justice's withdrawal from a New York City Bar Association white collar conference, disserves the bar, the government lawyers themselves and, ultimately, the administration of justice, says Muhammad Faridi at Linklaters.

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Full Fed. Circ. To Hear Immigration Judges' Firing Challenge

By Ganesh Setty

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday agreed to conduct en banc review over the firing of two immigration judges, after the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that they constituted inferior officers who are subject to at-will removal by the president.

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No Discipline For DOJ Atty's 'Lapse Of Judgment' In ICE Case

By Emily Sawicki

A Rhode Island federal prosecutor who knowingly withheld information about a detainee's criminal history at the behest of immigration enforcement, leading to an "unfounded attack" against a federal judge by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the detainee's release, violated his duty of candor but will not face discipline, the district's chief judge determined.

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Trump Halts Clayton Director Hearing Over Blue-Slip Dispute

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump directed Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, not to appear for his confirmation hearing Wednesday on his nomination to be director of national intelligence, in part over a blue-slip issue.

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Maya Kowalski Sues Ex-Atty Over Fees, Funding Loan

By Carolina Bolado

Maya Kowalski, the subject of the Netflix documentary "Take Care of Maya," filed a malpractice suit against her former attorney on Wednesday, accusing him of charging excessive fees and improperly orchestrating an advance funding loan after winning a $213 million judgment.

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Bosch Receives First DOJ Declination Under New Policy

By Sarah Jarvis

German technology company Bosch on Wednesday became the first company to avoid criminal prosecution under a new U.S. Department of Justice enforcement policy after it cooperated with the federal government and agreed to pay $36 million to settle allegations it improperly exported technology products to sanctioned Chinese company Huawei.

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DOJ's Pot Shift Leaves Key Questions For Cannabis Industry

By Sam Reisman

The Trump administration's recent moves to relax federal restrictions on marijuana through the administrative process will have unclear ramifications for all industry players unless Congress steps in to rewrite cannabis law, attorneys heard Wednesday.

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