9th Circ. Judge 'Frustrated' At DOJ Position On Anti-Trans EOs

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit judge said Thursday he's "very frustrated" with the Trump administration's argument that a district court judge acted prematurely by partly blocking executive orders to end funding for gender-affirming care, saying it's "pretty clear" the government was poised to do exactly that.

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Ind. Justices Reverse Providers' Loss In COVID Immunity Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

Indiana's highest court ruled that over 80 healthcare providers are immune from a medical malpractice suit by the estate of a man who died after developing a bedsore while he was hospitalized for COVID-19, vacating a decision by a lower court of appeals.

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Doctor Can't Fight Records Order Tied To WWE Accuser's Suit

By Brian Steele

Connecticut's intermediate-level appeals court has turned away a celebrity doctor's challenge to an order that he and his Greenwich practice hand over payment records to a former patient who is suing World Wrestling Entertainment and co-founder Vince McMahon for alleged sex trafficking and abuse.

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Analysis

A Look At Four States' Tort Reform Legislation Fights

By Y. Peter Kang

There are currently four states debating whether to install business-friendly tort reform legislation or medical malpractice guardrails. The issues include a potentially brutal showdown in California over auto collision litigation and efforts in Florida to expand wrongful death liability for healthcare providers.

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GAO Denies Protest Of $325M CDC Contract

By Elaine Briseño

The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied a protest over the awarding of a $325 million Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contract, finding the agency's extra round of discussions with the winning bidder did not result in an unequal process.

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Minn. Man Gets 5 Years For Jury Rigging In Fraud Case

By Parker Quinlan

A Minneapolis man has been sentenced to almost five years in prison for his role in a scheme to bribe a juror during the trial of Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which was accused of stealing $250 million in COVID-19 relief funds earmarked to provide lunches to schoolchildren.

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9th Circ. Denies Bail Pending Nurse Wage-Fixing Appeal

By Bryan Koenig

A Ninth Circuit panel summarily refused to allow a Las Vegas home nursing executive to avoid prison while appealing the U.S. Department of Justice's first-ever criminal wage-fixing conviction.

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Brief

Fla. Lab Pays $980K To Settle Kickback Allegations

By Elaine Briseño

A laboratory in Florida agreed to pay $980,000 to resolve allegations that it provided kickbacks to marketers for referring Medicare beneficiaries to use its services, according to a Thursday statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

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BCBS Can't Nix NC Plan Member From Cancer Treatment Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

A North Carolina federal judge ruled a Blue Cross Blue Shield unit must face proposed class action claims over its administration of a state employee health plan from a participant alleging it arbitrarily characterized a proton beam cancer radiation treatment as experimental to deny coverage.

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5th Circ. Upholds $919K Fee Award In Overtime Suit

By Benjamin Morse

The Fifth Circuit upheld an award of $919,000 in attorney fees to hospital employees who won an overtime pay dispute with Texas health providers, ruling Thursday that the lower court reasonably reduced a request for more than $3 million in fees.

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Telehealth Co. Swaps In Gordon Rees In Novo's GLP-1 Fight

By Ben Adlin

A telehealth platform facing allegations from Novo Nordisk that it falsely advertised Ozempic alternatives has picked new counsel in the dispute, withdrawing attorneys from Foley & Lardner LLP and Miller Nash LLP and substituting in two lawyers from Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP.

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Progenity Investors' $1M Billing Fraud Suit Deal Gets Final OK

By Sydney Price

Genetic test distributor Progenity Inc., now known as Biora Therapeutics Inc., has received final approval of a $1 million settlement with investors, resolving claims that it made misleading statements ahead of its June 2020 initial public offering about its practice of overbilling the government.

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Insurer Seeks Win In $6.3M Coverage Row With Pot Tester

By Mike Curley

James River Insurance Co. is asking a Mississippi federal court to grant it a win in its suit to deny coverage of a $6.3 million default judgment against a cannabis testing company, saying the company breached its policy by not cooperating with the insurer.

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Ex-Conn. Hospital Worker Drops Suit Over Post-Assault Firing

By Brian Steele

A former hospital maintenance worker injured in a workplace attack has ended his federal lawsuit against Stamford Health Inc. after the parties told a Connecticut federal judge they had reached an "agreement in principle" that needed approval from the state Workers' Compensation Commission.

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Roundup

ERISA Recap: 6 Developments To Remember From Feb.

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Second Circuit refused to boot a former Luxottica worker's proposed class claims into solo arbitration, a Texas federal judge declined to snuff out a tobacco fee suit against 7-Eleven and a healthcare company inked a $43 million deal to wrap a case over how it handled 401(k) plan forfeitures. Here's a look back at six noteworthy moves in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases from last month.

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ApolloMD Reaches $4M Deal To End Data Breach Claims

By Chart Riggall

Medical staffing company ApolloMD has reached a $4 million-plus settlement to end a lawsuit alleging the company's cybersecurity protocols led to the release of 662,000 people's personal information during a data breach last year.

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Senior Living, Nursing Platform Sage Raises $65M In Series C

By Nate Beck

Senior living and skilled nursing platform company Sage on Thursday said it has raised $65 million in a Series C equity round to help roll out new artificial intelligence-based resident safety tools, among other improvements.

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Polsinelli Brings On McDermott Healthcare M&A Pro In Florida

By Emily Johnson

Polsinelli PC has brought on a McDermott Will & Schulte partner in its Fort Lauderdale, Florida, office, strengthening its healthcare mergers and acquisitions practice.

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Unique Issues Facing Brand-Compounder Patent Litigation

Recent litigation and potential enforcement action against Hims & Hers Health raise questions about how compounders and branded pharmaceuticals companies would be positioned in patent litigation as compared to generics companies, which would require strategies different from those that would be used in traditional Hatch-Waxman Act litigation, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Why Mukherji Won't End USCIS' EB-1A Two-Step

A Nebraska federal court's recent decision in Mukherji v. Miller seemed to vindicate longstanding complaints about the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' controversial two-step adjudication process, declaring the framework unlawful — but Mukherji is unlikely to be the death blow that immigration practitioners have hoped for, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

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Series

Volunteering With Scouts Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Serving as an assistant scoutmaster for my son’s troop reaffirmed several skills and principles crucial to lawyering — from the importance of disconnecting to the value of morality, says Michael Warren at McManis Faulkner.

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DOJ Forges Ahead With Law Firm EO Appeals At DC Circ.

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday moved ahead with filing appeals at the D.C. Circuit to defend executive orders issued by President Donald Trump targeting four law firms, just three days after the agency backtracked on its decision to drop the fight.

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Legal Jobs Up 19th Straight Month In 'Goldilocks' Economy

By Tracey Read

The legal sector continued its lengthy upward streak in February, with 2,600 more people employed in lawyer, paralegal and other law-related professional roles last month than in January, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Ex-Girardi Keese Atty Pleads Guilty For Role In Client Scandal

By Dorothy Atkins

Former Girardi Keese attorney Keith Griffin pled guilty to criminal contempt in Illinois federal court on Thursday for his role in the firm's failure to pay millions ​in client settlement funds to relatives of victims killed in the crash of Lion Air Flight 610.

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Louisiana Atty Sanctioned Over AI Hallucinations In Filing

By Matt Perez

A Louisiana attorney was fined $1,000 Thursday for his use of artificial intelligence in drafting an error-riddled brief, while three co-counsel were spared penalty.

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Investors Accuse Alston & Bird Of Aiding $328M Crypto Fraud

By David Minsky

Several investors have brought a Florida federal proposed class action alleging legal malpractice against Alston & Bird LLP, accusing the law firm of drafting joint venture agreements that were used to aid a $328 million cryptocurrency scam. 

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Constantine Cannon Defends Handling Of Sutter $75M Fee

By Dorothy Atkins

Constantine Cannon LLP pushed back Thursday against Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's allegations it unfairly reduced Schneider Wallace's share of a $75.4 million fee award in Sutter Health's $228.5 million antitrust deal, arguing in California federal court that the firm "sat on the sidelines" for most of the decadelong fight and isn't entitled to a bigger cut.

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NJ Talc Suit Will Proceed Amid Beasley Allen DQ Appeal

By Emily Sawicki

The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to stay multicounty litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder brought by hundreds of women who allege their ovarian cancer was linked to the product, while Beasley Allen appeals its removal as plaintiff's counsel over a firm partner's collaboration with the pharmaceutical giant's former outside counsel.

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Florida Bar Rescinds Claim Agency Is Investigating Halligan

By Jack Karp

The Florida Bar said Friday that it is not investigating controversial former interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan, walking back a previous assertion it had made in a letter to a nonprofit that it was probing Halligan's actions.

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Courts Aren't Ignoring Justices' TPS Orders, Ex-Judges Say

By Ganesh Setty

Over 175 former federal and state judges have slammed the Trump administration's claim that lower courts "flouted" interim orders from the U.S. Supreme Court in litigation involving the administration's revocation of foreign nationals' temporary protected status, saying they weren't binding.

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Dems Again Push For Independent Immigration Courts

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats have again introduced a bill that would shift the immigration courts from the executive branch to an independent judiciary, following concerns that the Trump administration has "weaponized" the system.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen British American Tobacco sued by more than 100 investors, the government bring a claim against a COVID-19 supplier of personal protective equipment, Annington Funding sue its new corporate trustees on the Financial List, and Piers Morgan hit with a defamation claim from a pro-Israel barrister he interviewed on his YouTube channel. 

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Anthropic, the developer of Claude AI, says it will take the Pentagon to court over being designated a national security risk because it wants to impose ethical guardrails on Claude's use. And the Mideast war is making in-house legal teams across the country work long hours to protect employees trapped by the violence and to keep businesses running despite broken supply chains. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Winston & Strawn LLP, Sullivan Papain Block McManus Coffinas & Cannavo PC, Stanford's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and attorney Olivia Gabriel lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New Jersey cannot shield its public transit system from personal injury lawsuits by out-of-state plaintiffs under sovereign immunity.

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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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