Albertsons, Safeway Owe Wash. $900M Over Opioid Diversion

By Ben Adlin

Albertsons and its Safeway subsidiary must pay $900 million for helping fuel Washington state's overdose crisis by failing for years to prevent the diversion of opioid drugs, a Seattle judge ruled Thursday, finding that the pharmacy chains regularly failed to follow their own policies aimed at ensuring prescriptions were legitimate.

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Analysis

Racing Against Whistleblowers Could Cost Companies

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice's new cash rewards program for tips on criminal fraud threatens to ramp up the pressure on companies to hurry internal investigations and quickly report suspected misconduct to the government before whistleblowers do, which could backfire in some cases, according to experts.

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Judge Pauses Ban On New ACA Insurance Brokers

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday paused a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule barring new insurance agents and brokers from signing up to sell plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace for 2027, holding that HHS likely had to solicit public comment before issuing the rule.

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Anthem Seeks $160M For Alleged Autism Therapy Scheme

By Rae Ann Varona

Elevance Health and its Anthem-affiliated entities are seeking at least $160 million in damages from in-network autism-therapy provider Perfect Child, alleging in New York state court that Perfect Child fraudulently steered Anthem members toward out-of-network shell companies and "bullied" parents out of questioning the alleged bait-and-switch scheme.

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MVP: Sidley's Jaime Jones

By Mark Payne

Jaime L.M. Jones of Sidley Austin LLP helped Novo Nordisk land an unprecedented unanimous jury verdict in a $1 billion False Claims Act case over an alleged kickback scheme, earning her a spot as one of the 2026 Law360 Healthcare MVPs. 

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11th Circ. Backs Order Requiring Clearer Fla. Medicaid Notices

By Carolina Bolado

The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a lower court's ruling that Florida's notices to residents cutting their Medicaid coverage were so confusing that they violated the enrollees' due process rights by depriving them of a chance to challenge the decision.

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Federal Workers Seek To Halt Gender-Affirming Benefits Ban

By Patrick Hoff

Two federal employees urged a D.C. federal court to block President Donald Trump's administration from eliminating coverage for gender-affirming care from their 2027 health benefits, arguing thousands of people will be harmed unless the court steps in before open enrollment ends.

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HHS Seeks To End Suit Over Aid Recipient Data Sharing

By Yeji Jesse Lee

The Department of Health and Human Services is asking a New York federal judge to either rule in its favor or otherwise throw out a suit focused on whether HHS is allowed to share personal information with the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies.

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Aetna Loses Arb. Bid In Hospitals' Inpatient Pay Policy Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

Aetna Health Inc. can't force two hospital operators to arbitrate their challenge to its inpatient reimbursement policy, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, finding the suit seeks equitable relief and thus falls under an exemption in the insurer's arbitration agreements.

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Ex-Sales Leader Violated 'Secrecy' Pact, J&J Ortho Unit Says

By George Woolston

Johnson & Johnson's orthopedic device unit DePuy Synthes alleged in New Jersey federal court that a former national sales leader's move to a rival violates several of his employment agreements, asking the court to order expedited discovery and block him from contacting any of its customers.

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Invitae Privacy Suit Must Get OK From NJ Bankruptcy Judge

By Rick Archer

A New Jersey bankruptcy judge said Thursday he will need to see more evidence to resolve an "ambiguity" over whether class action privacy claims against genetic testing company Invitae Corp. belong in his court.

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Ill. Firm Accused Of Pushing Workers' Comp Deal On Client

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois woman who says she suffered permanent spinal injuries while working in healthcare has sued Chicago law firm Gordon Gordon & Centracchio, alleging it pressured her into accepting an inadequate workers' compensation settlement rather than pursuing permanent total disability benefits and failed to investigate potential medical malpractice claims.

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Brief

Wash. To Pay $73K In Fees Under Pretrial-Exam-Delay Deal

By Ganesh Setty

Washington state must pay plaintiffs' counsel roughly $73,000 in attorney fees and costs in a long-running case over its treatment of pretrial detainees in criminal proceedings, a Washington federal judge has ruled.

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Brief

$12.9M Deal Ends Anthem Mental Health Coverage Suit

By Grace Elletson

A New York federal judge gave his blessing Thursday to a $12.9 million deal Anthem struck to resolve a suit claiming the insurance company violated federal benefits law by denying coverage for residential behavioral health treatment it deemed medically unnecessary.

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Health Plan Sponsors Must Inspect 3rd-Party Admin Payments

A newly filed class action against Cigna spotlights issues surrounding how self-funded group health plan fiduciaries pay their third-party administrators, and the outcome could shape what plan sponsors are expected to know about such compensation structures, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

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Series

Open-Water Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Swimming long distances in open waters is not necessarily an escape from my intellectual property practice, but a complementary discipline that similarly rewards sustained attention, intellectual curiosity, resilience and the ability to pursue a distant objective without losing command of the immediate task, says Christina MacDougall at Morgan Lewis.

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Controversial DOJ Civil Rights Division Leader Steps Down

By Alison Knezevich

Harmeet K. Dhillon, a U.S. Department of Justice official who instituted dramatic changes as leader of the Civil Rights Division, has stepped down from her role.

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Sullivan & Cromwell Brings On Weil Capital Markets Leader

By Isaac Monterose

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP has hired the co-leader of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP's capital markets team for a capital markets partner role in its New York City office, the firm announced Thursday.

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Judge Albright's Do's And Don'ts For Patent Trials

By Dani Kass

Two months after former ​U.S. District Judge Alan Albright returned to private practice, he regaled a room of attorneys at the University of Texas School of Law on Thursday with lessons from his time on the bench.

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Trump's Hush Money Conviction Examined By Wary NY Panel

By Frank G. Runyeon

A New York State appellate court Thursday quizzed attorneys for President Donald Trump and state prosecutors over his hush-money conviction, exploring defense counsel's claims that the district attorney trespassed into federal jurisdiction by charging election violations and trampled on presidential immunity in a case "infected with multiple fatal errors."

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