23 States Win Order Halting Billions In HHS Public Health Cuts

By Dan McKay

A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday barred the Trump administration from cutting off billions of dollars in funding to state public health programs, determining the abrupt grant terminations likely violated congressional authority over spending.

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HHS Says Pain Clinic's Delay Hurts $11M Bill Challenge

By Hayley Fowler

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday fought a pain clinic's bid in North Carolina federal court for a pretrial win in the clinic's suit challenging $11 million in overpayments for urine drug screening tests, saying the clinic waited too long to bring evidence that the testing was justified.

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Judge Questions Federal Jurisdiction In Boies Schiller Case

By Madison Arnold

Boies Schiller Flexner LLP and other defendants have pulled into Florida federal court a malpractice action alleging they distributed confidential information related to a law firm, but a federal judge said Thursday she is "unconvinced" that the matter belongs in federal court.

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Feds Want Ex-McKinsey Exec To Serve Time For Obstruction

By Dorothy Atkins

Prosecutors urged a Virginia federal judge Thursday to sentence a disbarred, former senior McKinsey & Co. partner to one year in prison for obstructing an investigation into the consulting giant's work with opioid-manufacturer Purdue Pharma, while defense counsel pushed for probation so that he can return to his home in Thailand.

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Fla. Gov. Says He Will Veto Bill To Expand Death Damages

By Y. Peter Kang

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he will veto a bill recently passed by Florida lawmakers to repeal a statute limiting pain-and-suffering damages in fatal medical malpractice cases, saying a veto will prevent a flood of lawsuits against healthcare providers.

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J&J Unit Hit With $147M Verdict In Catheter Antitrust Suit

By Gina Kim

A California federal jury found Friday that Johnson & Johnson's medical technology unit Biosense Webster violated federal and state antitrust laws by withholding clinical support to hospitals using third-party reprocessed catheters, awarding plaintiff Innovative Health more than $147 million in damages.

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Patent Owner Urges Justices To Take Telemedicine Case

By Adam Lidgett

The owner of a pair of invalidated patents covering medical machinery pushed the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its fight over the patents' eligibility since the government said it planned to argue the patents shouldn't have been invalidated as abstract if the company's petition was granted.

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Trump Admin Settles Vaccine Contract Info Suit For $10K

By Elaine Briseño

The Trump administration has reached a $10,000 settlement with a consumer advocacy group over allegedly withholding information about the government's billion-dollar contracts with companies that developed and manufactured the COVID-19 vaccine, including Pfizer and Moderna.

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Surgical Center Operator Inks $15M Deal Over Data Breach

By Brian Dowling

Shields Health Group Inc., which runs dozens of MRI and surgical centers around New England, has agreed to pay around $15 million to resolve claims in a proposed class action stemming from a data breach that compromised the personal information of over 2 million people.

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Biotech Co. Hit With Investor Suits Over Cancer Drug Launch

By Sydney Price

Cancer treatment company Iovance Biotherapeutics has been hit with two proposed shareholder class actions accusing the company of misleading the public about the success of its commercial rollout of an FDA-approved skin cancer treatment.

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Ala. Medical Pot Co. Claims Regulator Retaliation Over Suits

By Sam Reisman

A prospective Alabama medical cannabis business has filed a federal lawsuit against state medical marijuana regulators, alleging that officials violated the company's First Amendment rights by refusing to award it a license after it raised the alarm about irregularities and delays.

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Seton Hall Asks NJ Judge To Toss Hoopsters' Injury Claims

By David Steele

The head athletic trainers at Seton Hall University did not misdiagnose, mistreat or mishandle injuries sustained by two basketball players now suing them for gross negligence, the university told a New Jersey federal judge in its attempt to dismiss the case.

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Analysis

IPO Pipeline Restarts As Tariff-Related Volatility Eases

By Tom Zanki

Initial public offerings are showing life again after a tariff-induced slumber, buoyed by strong debuts and a growing pipeline as more venture-backed technology startups are lining up public listings before Memorial Day and into June.

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Cooley, Goodwin Build BioMarin's $270M Inozyme Buy

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Biotechnology company BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., advised by Cooley LLP, on Friday announced plans to buy clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Inozyme Pharma Inc., led by Goodwin Procter LLP, in a $270 million all-cash deal.

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Rite Aid Announces Deals To Transfer Pharmacy Assets

By Emlyn Cameron

Rite Aid Corp. has entered into sale and transition agreements subject to approval from a New Jersey bankruptcy judge that would see pharmacy assets and services transition to new operators, according to an announcement from the company.

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Del. Bill Reflects Nat'l Tug-Of-War Between Cannabis, Alcohol

As Delaware's bill targeting hemp-derived THC beverages and ingestible products moves through the general assembly, it reads like a local regulatory fix — but in reality, it's a microcosm of a national power struggle playing out state-by-state across the cannabis frontier, says attorney Peter Murphy.

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Bid Protest Spotlight: Size, Supply Schedules, SINs

In this month's bid protest roundup, Alissandra McCann at MoFo examines three recent decisions, two of which offer helpful reminders for U.S. General Services Administration schedule holders drafting blanket purchase agreement proposals, and one for small-business joint ventures to avoid running afoul of the U.S. Small Business Administration's two-year rule.

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$38M Law Firm Settlement Highlights 'Unworthy Client' Perils

A recent settlement of claims against law firm Eckert Seamans for allegedly abetting a Ponzi scheme underscores the continuing threat of clients who seek to exploit their lawyers in perpetrating fraud, and the critical importance of preemptive measures to avoid these clients, say attorneys at Lockton Companies.

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Feds To Use FCA To Go After Antisemitism, DEI Policies

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it will use the False Claims Act to go after any recipients of federal funds that the agency determines promote diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and allow antisemitism to thrive.

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Posner Wins Ex-Staffer's $170K Wage Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A former executive at retired Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner's short-lived pro bono legal services organization lost his bid for $170,000 in back pay he claimed to be owed on Monday when an Indiana federal court found claims to be untimely.

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Goldstein Assails 'Radical' DOJ Case, Probe Of 'Sexual Habits'

By Jeff Overley

In his most forceful attack on tax evasion charges that have roiled the U.S. Supreme Court bar, indicted appellate icon Thomas C. Goldstein is accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of embracing "breathtaking" legal theories and revealing prurient information about him "to bias the grand jury."

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Ex-Litigator Settles Disability Bias Suit Against Wilson Elser

By Emily Sawicki

A former Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP litigator on Monday agreed to permanently drop his federal disability bias suit against the firm, after the sides came to a confidential resolution.

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Avenatti Rips 'Draconian' Bid To Add 13 Years To Sentence

By Elliot Weld

Former high-profile attorney Michael Avenatti asked a California federal judge to reject the government's request to tack on more than 13 years to his prison term, saying such a "draconian" result would conflict with a Ninth Circuit ruling wiping out a previous sentence in the fraud case.

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Justices Allow End Of Temporary Protections For Venezuelans

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration may rescind temporary protected status for Venezuelans, lifting a California federal judge's order requiring the government to keep Biden-era removal protections and work authorizations in place during a legal battle over a policy change.

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Split DC Circ. Pauses Halt On Trump's Union Rights Order

By Beverly Banks

A divided D.C. Circuit panel greenlighted President Donald Trump's request to pause a lower court decision that blocked the implementation of an executive order aimed at ending collective bargaining rights for federal employees, concluding the injunction ruling "ties the government's hands."

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Kirkland Guides Blackstone's $11.5B Deal For TXNM Energy

By Al Barbarino

Blackstone Infrastructure has agreed to acquire regulated utility holding company TXNM Energy in an all-cash transaction valued at $11.5 billion, including net debt and preferred stock, TXNM said in a Monday announcement.

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