FTC's Gender Care Policy Might Not Sink Probe, Judge Says

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge wondered Thursday whether it would set a bad precedent for future commissions to label the Federal Trade Commission's investigative demand to the American Academy of Pediatrics as "retaliatory" just because agency officials have issued a policy statement attacking gender-affirming care for minors.

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Ga. Panel Says Trial Court Wrongly Denied New Med Mal Trial

By Mike Curley

A Georgia appeals panel has sent a man's malpractice suit back to trial court, finding the lower court judge wrongly denied his motion for a new trial when he determined that the jury was required to decide whether gross negligence standards applied to the case.

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9th Circ. Told To Reject J&J Unit's $442M Antitrust Appeal

By Bryan Koenig

Cardiac catheter refurbisher Innovative Health urged the Ninth Circuit to reject the appeal from Johnson & Johnson's Biosense Webster unit seeking to upend its $442 million antitrust judgment, saying the lower court rightly found that Biosense forced hospitals to avoid refurbished catheters in favor of its own.

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Meta, Others Settle Bellwether School Case Set For June Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc., TikTok Inc. and YouTube have each agreed to settle a bellwether school district's claims in social media addiction multidistrict litigation that were set for a six-week California federal jury trial beginning June 12, according to the Kentucky school district's counsel.

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Legislative Update: Cannabis And Psychedelics Bill Roundup

By Sam Reisman

Virginia's governor vetoed legislation to establish adult-use marijuana sales, keeping the state in cannabis legal limbo; Illinois lawmakers introduced legislation to rein in hemp products, aligning state policy with an upcoming shift in federal law; and Louisiana lawmakers sent a bill to the governor that would allow terminally ill patients to access medical marijuana in healthcare facilities. Here are the major moves in cannabis and psychedelics legislation from the past week.

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Texas Panel Says Patient Fall Claim Is Med Mal, Tosses Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Texas appellate court said Thursday that allegations that a hospital negligently caused a woman's fall off an examination table can be considered a medical malpractice claim, and tossed the suit because the woman missed the deadline for filing a mandatory medical expert report.

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Immunity Bid Can't Stop Discovery In THC Abuse Registry Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

There's little chance that the Idaho state health director can ditch litigation by mothers challenging the automatic placement of women on the child abuse registry for prenatal THC use, a federal judge said after taking a "preliminary peek" at the state's pending motion to dismiss.

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Clark Hill Exits NJ Health Noncompete Dispute After DQ Bid

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey federal judge has signed off on a request from Clark Hill PLC to withdraw as counsel for a nursing home operator amid an adversary's disqualification motion in a noncompete dispute with a medical consulting company.

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AmeriHealth Unit, PBM Sued Over Prescription Claim Fees

By Matthew Santoni

Two Philadelphia pharmacies have filed a proposed class action against AmeriHealth Caritas Health Plan and its in-house pharmacy benefits manager, PerformRx LLC, claiming the companies violate Pennsylvania law by not disclosing "transmission fees" at the time a claim is run through the pharmacies' computers, according to a complaint removed to federal court.

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Medical Practice Calls $49M Missed Cancer Verdict 'Unjust'

By Aaron Keller

The Westchester Medical Group PC has asked a Connecticut state judge to find most of a $49 million jury verdict "excessive, unjust, and entirely disproportionate" to claims its staff repeatedly failed to diagnose cancer despite multiple warning signs, calling the award punitive and not supported by the evidence.

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PBM Swaps Cravath For WilmerHale In Price-Fixing Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

Pharmacy benefit manager Prime Therapeutics LLC has replaced counsel Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP with WilmerHale and another firm in an antitrust case in Michigan federal court brought by the state's attorney general.

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Barnes & Thornburg Adds Boston Litigator From Nutter

By Jack Rodgers

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has hired a longtime Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP partner in Boston who will focus on commercial litigation and product liability matters for healthcare, medical devices and manufacturing clients, the firm announced Thursday.

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DOJ Activity Indicates Rising Antitrust Risk For Hospitals

Two civil actions filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against New York-Presbyterian Hospital and OhioHealth, both alleging that the hospital systems used their market power to stifle competition, highlight the government's growing scrutiny of barriers to lower-cost insurance options, say attorneys at Freshfields.

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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons

In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four recent rulings from cases involving allegations of Title VII violations, the Employment Retirement Income Security Act, prison dental care violations and overcharging for PACER access.

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Series

NY Times Word Puzzles Make Me A Better Lawyer

Every morning I let The New York Times humble me with word games, which offer a chance to recalibrate my brain before the day's chaos arrives and remind me that a solution — whether to a puzzle or employment law issue — almost always exists once I find the right angle, says Amy Epstein Gluck at Pierson Ferdinand.

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Analysis

BigLaw Deals Scandal Puts Boston Back On White Collar Map

By Chris Villani

A sweeping insider trading case involving information stolen from BigLaw firms shows a return to bread-and-butter white collar enforcement for Boston federal prosecutors and provides a morale lift in an office that has seen shifting priorities and staff turnover since the signature "Varsity Blues" takedown in 2019, veteran prosecutors told Law360.

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Goldstein Taps Ex-SG Prelogar Before Sentence, Likely Appeal

By Jeff Overley

One of the nation's most accomplished oral advocates, Tom Goldstein, revealed Thursday he has retained another of the nation's most accomplished oral advocates, Elizabeth Prelogar, ahead of his sentencing and likely appeal in a criminal tax case that has captivated the appellate bar.

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Immigration Judges' 'Anxiety' Dialed Up Amid Mass Exodus

By Emma Cueto

Current and former immigration judges spoke on a web panel Thursday about threats to the independence of immigration judges and the strains on the immigration system, such as a massive backlog of cases at a time when many judges have been pushed out or fired.

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Analysis

How Exxon Attys Beat A 10-Year-Old Securities Class Action

By Spencer Brewer

This month, Exxon Mobil's defense team helped deliver a clean sweep victory for the energy giant when a federal jury in Texas found the company did not lie to investors about the profitability of some operations.

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Bush-Appointed Missouri Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge David Gregory Kays of the Western District of Missouri will take semi-retired status in May 2027, according to an update from the federal judiciary on Thursday.

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Feature

5 Podcasts To Keep IP Attys Entertained And Informed

By Theresa Schliep

Whether intellectual property attorneys are hitting the road for a family trip or kicking their feet up at home, podcasts about legal news can offer an easy way for them to stay in the know while (hopefully) not working this Memorial Day weekend.

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