Trump's $100K H-1B Fee Is Unauthorized Tax, Judge Rules

By Britain Eakin

A Massachusetts federal judge ruled Monday that President Donald Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa payment constitutes a tax that Congress did not authorize the president to impose, declaring the fee unlawful and vacating it in its entirety.

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Cleveland Clinic Deal With DOJ Bars Trans Care For Minors

By Gianna Ferrarin

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation will pay over $2.3 million under agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Ohio attorney general to prohibit the provision of puberty blockers and other forms of medical care for minors going through gender transition.

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Kaiser Member Seeks Class Cert. In Microsoft Site Tracker Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Kaiser Permanente member has called on a federal judge in Seattle to greenlight a series of national classes and California subclasses in her privacy lawsuit accusing Microsoft and Qualtrics of secretly intercepting millions of patients' private health information through tracking technologies embedded in the healthcare system's website.

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NC Doctor Avoids Prison For Role In $11M Medicaid Fraud

By Hayley Fowler

A North Carolina doctor received five years of probation with eight months of house arrest for making false statements in an $11 million Medicaid fraud scheme, after a federal judge said he was struggling to balance the need to deter others with unwarranted sentencing disparities.

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AIPLA, NAM Rally Behind Moderna's Fight Over Vax Patents

By Theresa Schliep

The American Intellectual Property Law Association, National Association of Manufacturers and others urged the Federal Circuit to undo a lower court's ruling that Moderna, and not the government, must face a multibillion-dollar patent infringement suit over its COVID-19 vaccine.

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Liability Insurer Owes $1M On $13M Botched Surgery Verdict

By Danielle Ferguson

A medical professional liability insurer will pay its $1 million policy limit toward a $13 million verdict against a Washington state doctor in a botched cosmetic surgery case, a federal judge has ruled.

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Class Attys Want $11.6M In Fees From $35M Teva Inhaler Deal

By Bryan Koenig

Berman Tabacco, Sperling Kenny Nachwalter LLC, Hilliard Shadowen LLP and five other firms have asked a Massachusetts federal judge for $11.55 million in attorney fees from a $35 million antitrust settlement resolving claims that Teva abused patent protections to delay generic competition for its QVAR asthma inhalers.

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Ex-Dietary Aide Says Harassment Report Led To Demotion

By Susan Smiley

A onetime dietary aide at a rehabilitation facility is suing her former employer in Michigan federal court, claiming she was repeatedly sexually harassed by a kitchen worker, then demoted when she complained to management.

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Sleep Aid Buyers Say 'Non-Habit' Pills Can Cause Dependence

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of sleep-aid buyers is suing the makers and sellers of Unisom, saying that despite being marketed with a prominent "non-habit forming" claim, its main ingredient has been known to lead to dependence with frequent use.

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Eli Lilly Conspiracy Claim In Compound Drug Row Challenged

By Gianna Ferrarin

A California federal court should toss part of Eli Lilly's third attempt at allegations that a telehealth company, provider group and a now-shuttered pharmacy conspired to falsely advertise compounded versions of its weight loss drugs, the companies argued in a recent motion.

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Goodwin, Fenwick Guide Incyte-Vega Deal Worth Up To $2B

By Al Barbarino

The biotechnology company Incyte said Monday it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Vega Therapeutics Inc. from Star Therapeutics for up to $2 billion, with Goodwin Procter LLP advising Incyte and Fenwick & West LLP representing Star Therapeutics. 

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Brief

Johnson & Johnson Paying $1B For Oncology Startup Firefly

By Al Barbarino

Johnson & Johnson said Monday it has agreed to acquire Firefly Bio Inc. for $1 billion in cash, adding a proprietary technology that targets hard-to-treat tumors. 

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Insurance Brokerage GoHealth Hits Ch. 11 With Prepack Plan

By Rick Archer

Health insurance broker GoHealth has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware with $772 million in debt and a prepack equity-swap plan, saying medical costs are outpacing government reimbursement and that it is facing litigation alleging its involvement in a kickback scheme.

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Green Card Memo Warps Long-Standing Adjustment Process

A recent policy memorandum that treats a nonimmigrant visa holder’s decision to seek adjustment of status in the U.S., rather than at a U.S. consulate, as an adverse factor reinterprets existing discretionary frameworks, compounds risks for applicants required to apply abroad and changes practitioner approaches to application preparation, says attorney Jack Jrada.

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Gibson Dunn, PE Firm Pay Charity $1M For Knicks VIP Seats

By Dorothy Atkins

Gibson Dunn and private equity firm Veritas Capital split the $1 million winning bid for two "Celebrity Row" seats in a Knicks fundraiser ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, the team's parent company announced Monday.

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Groom Law Joins Firms Matching New Milbank Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

Washington, D.C.-based Groom Law Group is the latest firm to match a new pay scale for associates that was set earlier this month by Milbank LLP, according to media reports Monday.

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9th Circ. Judge Faces Inquiry, Charges After Idaho Altercation

By Lauren Berg

The Ninth Circuit on Monday identified a judicial misconduct complaint against U.S. Circuit Judge Ryan D. Nelson after he was charged with misdemeanor battery stemming from an argument in an Idaho Falls parking lot that ended with him allegedly stomping a man's eyeglasses on the asphalt.

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Analysis

How A Texas Pastor Beat Mark Zuckerberg In Landmark Trial

By Craig Clough

Jurors who reached a landmark $6 million verdict in March finding Meta Platforms Inc. and Google liable for harming a teen's mental health didn't find Mark Zuckerberg credible, an impression that the plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier credited to putting the well-prepared executive off his guard.

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King & Spalding May Be Sanctioned In $300M Fraud Lawsuit

By Aaron Keller

Two King & Spalding LLP partners face a sanctions hearing in a $300 million fraud lawsuit to determine whether they violated a rule requiring candor to the tribunal by falsely claiming attorneys for other parties were copied on letters to two Connecticut jurists, according to two state court orders.

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Another Lawmaker Joins Impeachment Push For Ga. Judge

By Courtney Bublé

A Republican House member on Monday introduced articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross of the Northern District of Georgia after she was reprimanded for having sex with a police officer in her chambers within earshot of staff.

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Colorado Gov. Signs Bill Banning Fee Sharing With Non-Attys

By Emma Cueto

Colorado has enacted a ban on lawyers sharing fees with nonlawyer-owned firms, such as alternative businesses in Arizona, as well as a prohibition on deals with managed services organizations that involve paying a percentage of firm income.

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Brief

Todd Blanche Officially Nominated To Be AG

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump on Monday officially nominated Todd Blanche to be attorney general.

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Trump Taps DC Appeals Court Picks To Fill Final Vacancies

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has announced two picks for the D.C. Court of Appeals, which will fill the remaining vacancies on the District of Columbia's top court.

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Mich. Dems Back Trump Judicial Pick After Blue-Slip Review

By Courtney Bublé

Michigan's Democratic U.S. senators, Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, announced on Monday they've returned their blue slips for the nomination of Michael Martin, a veteran career prosecutor, to be a judge in the Eastern District of Michigan.

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Chapman Law School Dean Says He Was Fired For Being Gay

By Hailey Konnath

The former dean of Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law says the university unlawfully fired him because he's gay and married to a man, according to a complaint filed in California state court.

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NJ Senators Advance Litigation Funding Disclosure Bill

By Carla Baranauckas

New Jersey state senators on Monday advanced legislation that would require disclosure of third-party litigation funding agreements over the objections of trial lawyers and litigation finance representatives, who warned that the bill could discourage funding for plaintiffs involved in costly cases.

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Law Student's Kirk Comment Discipline Stays During Appeal

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge on Monday kept intact a reprimand against a law student who allegedly celebrated following the death of Charlie Kirk during an appeal, saying that the student "again seeks the wrong remedy" in her request.

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100+ Ex-Prosecutors Question Chicago US Atty's Leadership

By Celeste Bott

More than 100 former Illinois federal prosecutors issued a statement Monday saying there's been a "failure of leadership" in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago and that "once-forbidden political considerations are infecting prosecutorial decisions" in the wake of an Illinois federal judge accusing the office of mishandling grand jury proceedings in a case against six immigration activists.

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SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein's Sentencing Delayed To July

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge has agreed to push SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein's sentencing to July, after federal prosecutors speculated that his defense attorneys might come to the previously scheduled June hearing and declare that they aren't ready to proceed.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Elizabeth Cabraser

By Emily Field

When Elizabeth Cabraser began working with Robert Lieff as a clerk at his small practice in Northern California in the late 1970s, fresh out of law school, her job was to help him dispose of his remaining cases so he could retire early and become a winemaker.

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