Ala. County Must Face Inmate Death Claim, 11th Circ. Rules

By Mark Payne

An Eleventh Circuit panel ruled Thursday that no Alabama state law prevents a county from facing liability for an incarcerated person's death after substandard healthcare from a third-party medical provider the county hired. 

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10th Circ. Weighs Colo. Law On Healthcare Sharing Plans

By Rachel Konieczny

A Tenth Circuit panel grappled Thursday with how the court should interpret a Colorado law requiring entities not authorized to offer insurance in the state to report certain information about their healthcare sharing plans, in an appeal by a religious trade group challenging the law's constitutionality.

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5th Circ. Seeks Interpretation Of Miss. Health Decisions Law

By Dan McKay

A Fifth Circuit panel asked the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday to clarify an "ambiguous" state law that sets out which family members can act as surrogates and make healthcare decisions for relatives without the capacity to decide for themselves.

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Pharma Cos. Seek Early Win In States' Price-Fixing Lawsuit

By Aaron Keller

A collection of states failed to prove an overarching conspiracy among 25 separate pharmaceutical companies to fix the prices of generic drugs, most of them dermatology formulations, the drugmakers argued Wednesday in support of a bid for an early win on one element of dozens of antitrust claims.

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NC Judge Halts Medicaid Cuts For Autism Services

By Abigail Harrison

A North Carolina state court judge blocked the state's Health and Human Services Department from implementing a 10% cut to Medicaid reimbursement rates for autism therapy after finding children who benefit from that therapy would be irreparably harmed.

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Analysis

Where Apple And Masimo's Watch Patent Fight Stands Now

By Theresa Schliep

The high-octane fight between Apple and Masimo over smartwatch patents escalated again last week, when a California federal jury hit Apple with a $634 million infringement verdict and the U.S. International Trade Commission agreed to assess whether its redesigned products infringe Masimo's patents.

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Trump Pardons Nursing Home Owner In $39M Tax Fraud

By Asha Glover

President Donald Trump granted clemency to a nursing home operator who had been sentenced to three years in prison for a $39 million employment tax fraud scheme involving care centers he owned across the country.

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Texas Sues Bristol-Myers For Alleged Drug Misrepresentations

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas Office of the Attorney General sued pharmaceutical companies Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi in Texas state court, claiming Thursday the companies failed to disclose that a lucrative blood thinner used to prevent heart attacks and strokes does not work as well on certain minority patients.

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Pharmacist, Brother Sentenced To Prison In $15M Fraud Case

By Danielle Ferguson

A Michigan pharmacist and his brother were sentenced Thursday to spend years in prison and pay $15 million in restitution for their roles in a nine-year conspiracy to defraud Medicare and Medicaid, with a federal judge saying the prison time was warranted as a deterrent to healthcare fraud activity.

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Ute 'Healer' Convicted Of Sexual Abuse Over 12 Years

By Crystal Owens

A Colorado tribal member has been convicted of sexually assaulting four women and a child over the past dozen years, the U.S. Department of Justice says, after he allegedly established himself as a traditional Indigenous healer to exploit his victims.

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Claims Firms Barred From Misleading Plaintiffs In Pharma MDL

By James Boyle

On the same day that a Philadelphia federal judge approved $58 million in settlements as part of an ongoing generic-drug price-fixing multidistrict litigation, she also ordered several claims recovery firms to correct allegedly false and misleading ads used to attract potential clients seeking to make claims on the settlements.

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Blue Shield Of California, Magellan Sued Over 'Ghost Network'

By Gina Kim

Blue Shield of California and Magellan Health maintain a "ghost network" directory of mental health providers who don't exist or don't accept new patients, leading customers to hit a dead end or desperately resort to expensive out-of-network providers, according to a proposed class action filed Wednesday in California federal court. 

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Invisalign Buyers Get OK On Sweetened $32M Antitrust Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge who previously rejected Invisalign-maker Align Technologies' $27.5 million antitrust deal with buyers because it included a coupon program said Thursday he will approve a revised deal, which provides for an all-cash $31.75 million payout.

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NY Medical Cannabis Cos. Say State Flubbed Enforcement

By Sam Reisman

The large, vertically integrated companies that make up New York's medical cannabis trade have accused New York's marijuana regulators in state court of failing to halt the flow of illicit pot products into the state's regulated marketplace.

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Hospital's Challenge To EEOC Disability Bias Suit Falls Short

By Patrick Hoff

A Michigan hospital can't escape a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming it unlawfully refused to transfer a nurse with a metabolic disorder to a less demanding position, with a federal judge saying the hospital hadn't shown the court erred when it sent the case to a jury.

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Teva, Cooper Cos. Argue FDA Approval Barred IUD Update

By Chart Riggall

Teva Pharmaceuticals on Thursday urged a Georgia federal judge to hand it a summary judgment win ahead of a bellwether trial in multidistrict litigation over an IUD's alleged propensity for breakage, arguing a U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval blocks claims over the product's design and warning labels.

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DocGo Investors Get First OK For $12.5M Settlement

By Sydney Price

Investors of mobile medical provider DocGo have received preliminary approval of their $12.5 million settlement of claims that the company deceived stockholders before a $432 million contract with New York City to provide emergency migrant housing came under public scrutiny.

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11th Circ. Upholds Pregnancy Center Vandalism Conviction

By David Minsky

The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday upheld a 120-day prison sentence for a Florida woman convicted of vandalizing crisis pregnancy centers across the state, disagreeing that she cannot be prosecuted under a conspiracy statute for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

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2 Firms Guide Abbott's $23B Deal With Cologuard Maker

By Al Barbarino

Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP are steering Abbott's planned $23 billion acquisition of Exact Sciences, in a deal announced Thursday that will give the medical device maker an immediate foothold in fast-growing U.S. cancer screening markets.

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IP Ownership Risk Grows In Booming Cancer Drug Market

The ownership of intellectual property has become strategically decisive in deals involving valuable cancer therapeutics known as ADCs, as highlighted by the recent Takeda-Innovent deal, with the commercial value of a license resting on the integrity and defensibility of the underlying technology, say attorneys at Loeb & Loeb.

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Rule Amendments Pave Path For A Privilege Claim 'Offensive'

Litigators should consider leveraging forthcoming amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which will require early negotiations of privilege-related discovery claims, by taking an offensive posture toward privilege logs at the outset of discovery, says David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law.

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Series

My Miniature Livestock Farm Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Raising miniature livestock on my farm, where I am fully present with the animals, is an almost meditative time that allows me to return to work invigorated, ready to juggle numerous responsibilities and motivated to tackle hard issues in new ways, says Ted Kobus at BakerHostetler.

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Bonus Spotlight

Law Firms Begin Upping The Ante For Associate Bonuses

By Tracey Read

Trial boutique Wilkinson Stekloff LLP is exceeding the year-end associate bonus scale set by Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, announcing bonuses late Wednesday that are 150% of market.

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CFPB Will Shift Remaining Lawsuits Over To DOJ

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be handing off its enforcement lawsuits and other litigation to the U.S. Department of Justice as the Trump administration prepares for the consumer agency to run out of money, Law360 has learned.

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Analysis

Trump's Epstein Directive Puts SDNY Prosecutor In A 'Pickle'

By Phillip Bantz

Manhattan chief federal prosecutor Jay Clayton appears to have been backed into a "horrible" corner with a "no-win" outcome as a result of a directive from President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's ties to prominent Democrats, experts say.

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Comey Says DOJ's Conduct 'Shocks The Conscience'

By Hailey Konnath

James Comey on Thursday reiterated his request that the U.S. Department of Justice be forced to disclose all grand jury materials related to his indictment, noting the government has conceded that the grand jury never saw the operative indictment and saying the purported misconduct "shocks the conscience."

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NJ Panel Expands Scope Of Ex-Reed Smith Atty's Bias Claims

By Rose Krebs

A New Jersey appellate panel on Thursday ruled that a former Reed Smith LLP attorney is entitled to pursue more damages and obtain expanded wage data in her gender discrimination suit against the firm, saying a trial court incorrectly applied certain statutes when it limited the damages and data she could seek.

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X Corp. Ends $90M Fee Suit Against Wachtell

By James Mills

X Corp. has ended its California state lawsuit against Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz over $90 million in legal fees tied to the fight over Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, according to a court filing.

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Analysis

Meta Loss Shows Time Not On Enforcers' Side In Tech Cases

By Bryan Koenig

Meta's triumph over a Federal Trade Commission antitrust case Tuesday hinged on a D.C. federal judge's finding that the company lacks a monopoly in the present day, highlighting some of the challenges of using slow-moving litigation to challenge fast-moving markets.

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Senate Panel OKs Miss. Judge, US Atty Nominees After Delay

By Courtney Bublé

After weeks of holdup, nominees for Mississippi federal courts and U.S. attorneys were voted out of committee on Thursday, following an impasse between Republican senators.

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Brief

Senate Passes Bill To Protect State Judges From Threats

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to beef up security for state and local judges.

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DOJ Antitrust Chief Says Agriculture A 'Top Priority'

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice's top antitrust official said enforcers have already opened several investigations in the agriculture sector, including into meatpackers at the direction of President Donald Trump, and called the industry a "top priority" for the agency.

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