High Court Allows Trump Admin To Cancel $783M In NIH Grants

By Dan McKay

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to resume the mass termination of scientific grants, overturning rulings by lower courts that had kept the funds flowing to universities and other recipients. 

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Analysis

Employer Plans In Limbo As Courts Grapple With Trans Care

By Kellie Mejdrich

Despite appellate courts' apparent willingness to allow states to ban gender-affirming care for minors, employers are still waiting for clarity on whether federal anti-discrimination laws require health plans to cover transgender healthcare access, experts say.

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GTCR Deal A 'Smokescreen' For Coatings Merger, FTC Says

By Lauraann Wood

GTCR BC Holdings LLC's $627 million bid to buy the nation's largest medical device coatings company is a blatant attempt to overwhelmingly dominate an already highly concentrated market, and the "smokescreen" of a partial divestiture shouldn't convince anyone otherwise, the Federal Trade Commission told an Illinois federal judge Thursday.

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Healthcare Co. Modivcare Hits Ch. 11 To Cut $1.1B Of Debt

By Vince Sullivan

Technology-enabled healthcare services company Modivcare Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection in Texas bankruptcy court with plans to recapitalize its balance sheet and cut $1.1 billion of debt.

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HHS Wants Out Of Unions' Suit Over Layoffs, Agency Cuts

By Beverly Banks

The Department of Health and Human Services fought back against amended claims from several unions over layoff notices and the alleged dismantling of an agency focused on worker safety, telling a D.C. federal judge that the unions are pursuing "judicial overreach" in their suit.

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Nursing Home Wins Appeal In Criminal Case Over COVID Deaths

By Y. Peter Kang

Criminal charges against a Southern California nursing home in connection with the COVID-19 deaths of 14 people were properly dismissed, a California appeals court has ruled, finding that the prosecution improperly relied on evidence that was inadmissible under the Fifth Amendment.

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Feds Claim Fla. Billing Co. Aided $15M Medicare Fraud

By David Minsky

The U.S. government urged a Florida federal judge to deny an outsourcing company's motion to toss a $15 million False Claims Act lawsuit, saying the business aided a Miami-based laboratory to fraudulently bill Medicare for genetic tests that weren't used to treat patients. 

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CVS, Drugmakers Illegally Inflated Insulin Prices, City Claims

By Aaron Keller

Drugmakers Eli Lilly and Co., Novo Nordisk Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis US LLC, pharmacy benefit managers CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and Optum Rx, and others have been hit with civil racketeering and state unfair trade practices law claims by the city of Torrington, Connecticut, over an alleged scheme to inflate insulin prices.

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Seton Hall Gets COVID-19 Death Suit Tossed For Good

By Jack McLoone

A New Jersey federal judge wasn't swayed by new arguments brought by parents of a Seton Hall University sophomore who died during a COVID-19 isolation period, saying their contract-related claims failed to establish one existed at all.

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Trump Urges DC Circ. Not To Review Its Foreign Aid Decision

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration is urging the D.C. Circuit to leave its panel's split decision that nonprofits can't force the government to release foreign aid in place, arguing that full en banc review is unnecessary and that private enforcement of the Impoundment Control Act would run afoul of the law.

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Ex-Player Says Chicago Bears Mishandled His Knee Injury

By Celeste Bott

A former player for the Chicago Bears has sued the NFL team and its medical staff, claiming they discouraged surgery after he injured his knee in a preseason game despite MRI results showing significant cartilage damage, delaying adequate treatment and derailing his professional football career.

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Del. Judge Outlines Misconduct Behind Amgen's $50M Relief

By Dani Kass

A Delaware federal judge overruled German biotech company Lindis's $50 million patent infringement win against Amgen, finding an inventor purposefully withheld harmful information from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to an opinion made public Wednesday.

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Fertility Co. Says Deception Suit 'Mischaracterizes' Test

By Benjamin Morse

A fertility clinic chain is urging a Colorado federal judge to toss a proposed class action accusing it of deceptively marketing genetic tests of embryos, saying the claims are time-barred, lack required expert backing and specificity, and don't identify any actionable misstatements.

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Pa. Biz Groups, Providers, Uber Want Fault Loophole Closed

By Y. Peter Kang

Uber and a coalition of organizations often targeted by injury lawsuits urged a Pennsylvania appeals court to close a legal loophole that they claim largely undermines the purpose of the Fair Share Act, which limits a defendant's liability to their portion of fault.

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Minnesota Tax Court Cuts Abbott Labs Property Value By $7M

By Maria Koklanaris

A property owned by Abbott Laboratories Inc. was overvalued, and its 2022 assessment should be reduced by about $7 million, the Minnesota Tax Court found.

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Cantor Equity Partners IV Begins Trading After $400M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Special purpose acquisition company Cantor Equity Partners IV Inc., sponsored by private equity giant Cantor Fitzgerald, hit the public markets Thursday after pricing its $400 million initial public offering the day prior.

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Breaking Down The Proposed Hemp Bill

A proposed bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, recently approved by the House Appropriations Committee, contains a rider that would significantly change the definition of hemp and dramatically reshape the current hemp-derived product market, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

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Mitigating Employer Liability Risk Under Sex Assault Rule

The American Law Institute's newly approved rule expands vicarious liability to employers for certain sexual assaults that employees commit, which could materially increase employers' exposure unless they strengthen safeguards around high-risk roles, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Series

Quilting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Turning intricate patterns of fabric and thread into quilts has taught me that craftsmanship, creative problem-solving and dedication to incremental progress are essential to creating something lasting that will help another person — just like in law, says Veronica McMillan at Kramon & Graham.

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Trump Admin To Appeal Susman Godfrey Exec Order Ruling

By Adrian Cruz

The Trump administration announced Friday its intention to appeal a June ruling that struck down as unconstitutional an executive order targeting Susman Godfrey LLP, after the court said the order was issued in retaliation for its representation of clients and causes the president opposes.

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State Solicitors General Become A Trump Judge Pipeline

By Courtney Bublé

Seven months into his presidency, more than a third of President Donald Trump's judicial nominees hailed from a pool not tapped nearly as much as his predecessors: state solicitors general.

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Analysis

Habba Ruling Could Put Tighter Limits On 'Acting' Officials

By Matthew Santoni

A Pennsylvania federal judge's ruling disqualifying Alina Habba from acting as the U.S. attorney for New Jersey has the potential to end a long-standing means of filling government posts without going through the U.S. Senate.

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Trump Names 4 Nominees For North Carolina Bench

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Friday night four judicial nominees in North Carolina.

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DOJ Investigation Of NY AG Condemned By AGs Of 21 States

By Bonnie Eslinger

A coalition of 21 attorneys general Friday issued an open letter saying the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating New York Attorney General Letitia James and condemning the probe as political payback for the financial fraud claims she pursued against President Donald Trump and his New York-based businesses.

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Ex-Calif. Judge Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Court Staffer

By Jack Karp

A former California Superior Court judge has been charged with sexually assaulting a court employee and seeking to cover up that purported incident and another alleged assault, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

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Newman Given Potential Lifeline In Suspension Appeal Loss

By Ryan Davis

While the D.C. Circuit on Friday declined to revive Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's lawsuit challenging her suspension, experts said the court provided an opening for her to seek further review, by suggesting that the precedent limiting the arguments available to her may be flawed.

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Under Trump, White Collar Crypto Defense Gets New Playbook

By Phillip Bantz

White collar lawyers are crafting new blueprints for crypto-related civil and criminal defense amid the Trump administration's embrace of the industry and the financial world’s growing acceptance of cryptocurrency as a legitimate asset.

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Ex-Mother-In-Law Painted As Mastermind In FSU Prof's Death

By David Minsky

A Florida prosecutor on Friday described the former mother-in-law of a Florida State University law professor killed by hired assassins in 2014 as the mastermind behind his murder, telling jurors that she was motivated by the desire to have her grandchildren closer to Miami after her daughter's divorce. 

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Ohio Panel Says Med Mal Damages Cap Is Unconstitutional

By Y. Peter Kang

An Ohio appeals court has declared that the state's statutory limit on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases is unconstitutional because it violated the right to due process to a patient who suffered a severe brain disorder.

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Ex-Morgan & Morgan Client Says Arbitration Ruling Was Error

By Emily Sawicki

A former Morgan & Morgan client is pushing back on an order sending his proposed class action malpractice claims into arbitration and denying a motion to remand the suit to state court, arguing that a Savannah, Georgia, federal judge erred in her ruling by misapplying the law and failing to take all facts into account.

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Probation Granted In Chandra Levy Prosecutor's Ethics Case

By Alison Knezevich

A D.C. Court of Appeals panel has sanctioned the lead prosecutor in the Chandra Levy murder case for failing to disclose evidence, but said she should not be suspended because "her misconduct was the result of a seemingly honest mistake."

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Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Weil, Fried Frank

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, private equity firm Thoma Bravo buys human resources software provider Dayforce Inc. in a take-private deal, Lowe's buys Foundation Building Materials, Nexstar Media Group Inc. acquires fellow media company Tegna Inc., and Soho House & Co. Inc. inks a take-private deal with hotel operator MCR.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen football manager Bruno Lage sue the owner of Olympique Lyonnais and Botafogo football clubs, luxury fashion brand Christian Dior Couture target a jewelry business trading under the same name, and a Russian motorsports promoter take action against Formula One after it canceled its Russian Grand Prix in 2022.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Large-company general counsel in a survey picked lawyers at Littler, Greenberg Traurig and McGuireWoods at the top of their all-star list for exceptional service. While talks continue, the EU and U.S. have agreed to new trade agreement terms that end EU tariffs on industrial products from the U.S.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP and Jackson Lewis PC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Fifth Circuit upheld injunctions barring the National Labor Relations Board from prosecuting unfair labor practice cases against SpaceX and two other companies.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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