Mass. Judge Vacates ACA Gender-Affirming Care Restriction

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Massachusetts federal judge handed a coalition of 21 states a win on their claim that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unlawfully issued Affordable Care Act reforms barring marketplace plans from requiring coverage for medical procedures used in gender-affirming care.

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Mangione's NY State Trial Postponed After Federal Guilty Plea

By Frank G. Runyeon

A New York state judge Monday delayed Luigi Mangione's September trial on second-degree murder charges after he pled guilty Friday in federal court to fatally stalking UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

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Mead Johnson Pushed Formula Knowing Risks, Jury Told

By Celeste Bott

Mead Johnson knew its infant formula posed an increased risk of a devastating gut disease to premature babies but "muddied the waters" instead of sounding a clear warning, leaving doctors without crucial information while caring for an infant who ultimately died from the illness, his mother's attorney told an Illinois federal jury Monday.

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AIG Exclusion Doesn't Bar Multiplied Damages, Judge Says

By Danielle Ferguson

A California federal judge in a narrow ruling declared that a portion of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan's insurance policy does not automatically bar coverage for a portion of a $581 million False Claims Act settlement attributable to multiplied damages, but will decide later whether the agreement actually included such damages. 

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Colo. Judge Cuts $15M Punitive Award In Nurse Bias Case

By Benjamin Morse

A Colorado federal judge has slashed a former ICU nurse's $15 million punitive damages verdict against a hospital to $2.5 million, while preserving a $5 million compensatory award and the jury's findings that the hospital racially discriminated and retaliated against her.

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Moderna, Arbutus Clash On Gov't Venue For Vax IP Claims

By Dani Kass

Moderna Inc. has accused Arbutus Biopharma Corp. of turning a government contractor indemnification law "upside down" by arguing the COVID-19 vaccine supplier must face infringement litigation, while Arbutus says the government is wielding that relationship to dodge liability in two separate courts.

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Rising Star: Crowell & Moring's Alex Lucas

By Dan McKay

Alex Lucas of Crowell & Moring LLP launched an innovative legal campaign to combat manipulation of the No Surprises Act arbitration system and secured the influential dismissal of a suit seeking health coverage for GLP-1 weight-loss medications, earning her a spot among the healthcare law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

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UnitedHealth Says IRS Seeking Transfer Pricing Adjustments

By Kevin Pinner

The Internal Revenue Service has proposed transfer pricing adjustments for UnitedHealth Group Inc. that the company is disputing, according to a quarterly report.

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Latest Squires Patent Review Order Grants 1, Denies 3

By Theresa Schliep

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires granted one petition for an America Invents Act patent review and rejected three others in his latest order on institution decisions.

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Albertsons Judge Hears $44B Opioid Abatement Plan In Wash.

By Ben Adlin

Addressing harm caused by prescription opioid abuse in Washington would cost nearly $44.4 billion, an expert testified Monday during a bench trial in the state's case accusing Albertsons and its Safeway subsidiary of exacerbating Washington's overdose crisis by failing to curb the flow of controlled substances.

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7th Circ. Reverses Alcoa Union Retirees' Lifetime Benefits Win

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Seventh Circuit reversed an Indiana federal court's decision holding that certain union retirees of aluminum giant Alcoa and their beneficiaries had a vested right to health benefits for life, finding error with the lower court's judicial estoppel analysis that formed the basis for its judgment on liability.

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Biotech Asks 1st Circ. To Undo Red Cross Antitrust Immunity

By Bryan Koenig

A biotech firm asked the First Circuit on Friday to undo a district court decision granting the American Red Cross immunity from antitrust allegations, arguing the blood donation giant was wrongly deemed an "instrumentality" of the U.S. government even though it functions as an independent corporation.

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Doctor Seeks Almost $10M Fees After NJ Copyright Win

By Adrian Cruz

Following a Third Circuit ruling in his favor earlier this year, a Puerto Rican doctor is seeking nearly $10 million in attorney fees from the American Board of Internal Medicine, which first sued him in 2014 in New Jersey federal court over copyright infringement claims.

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Hartford HealthCare Told To Double-Check Privilege Claims

By Aaron Keller

Hartford HealthCare has agreed to re-review 113 documents over which the hospital operator asserted attorney-client privilege in an antitrust lawsuit by a Teamsters health plan and a local Connecticut transit district, following a federal magistrate judge's concerns about a nearly 1,000-page privilege log.

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ComEd Sues Chicago Hospital Over Unpaid $6.2M Electric Bill

By Joyce Hanson

Commonwealth Edison Co. has sued a Chicago hospital in Illinois state court, claiming the medical center located on the city's northwest side is in breach of contract for failure to pay its electric bills totaling more than $6.2 million.

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Hospital Employees Seek Class Cert. In Retirement Funds Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

Employees of a faith-based nonprofit Colorado hospital urged a federal judge to grant class certification in their lawsuit alleging the hospital mismanaged employees' retirement funds and ultimately cost participants tens of millions of dollars.

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Blue States Say FTC Can't Regulate Trans Youth Health

By Spencer Brewer

A group of left-leaning states, including Massachusetts and California, asked a Texas federal court to toss a Federal Trade Commission suit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, saying Monday that the FTC's suit constitutes a "federal attack on state-regulated transgender healthcare."

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COVID Test-Maker Inks $6.5M Investor Deal Over Sales Slump

By Jessica Corso

Co-Diagnostics Inc. has agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle an investor lawsuit accusing it of overstating the demand for its COVID-19 testing kits two years after the pandemic began.

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Home Sauna Kit Burned Consumer, Suit Says

By Emily Field

A New Jersey woman said in a suit filed Friday in Garden State federal court that the water tank in a personal steam sauna suddenly exploded while she was using it, which caused severe and painful burns.

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How Calif. Ruling Defines Drug Cos.' R&D Responsibilities

The California Supreme Court's recent ruling in the Gilead Tenofovir Cases, which held that drugmakers have no duty to bring allegedly safer alternatives to market more quickly, is a win for pharmaceutical companies — but not a grant of blanket immunity for all early-stage drug development decisions, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

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7th Circ. Ruling May Reduce Litigation Risk For Text Marketers

The recent Seventh Circuit holding in Steidinger v. Blackstone Medical Services that unwanted marketing text messages are not telephone calls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act may strengthen companies' responses to presuit demand letters and early-stage litigation claims premised on do-not-call text theories, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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Calif. Justices' Ruling Reshapes Midcase Appeal Strategy

The California Supreme Court's recent decision in Maniago v. Desert Cardiology Consultants holds that voluntary dismissal cannot be used as a shortcut to appellate review of interlocutory orders, resolving a long-running appellate split and pushing litigants to use alternative procedural tools, says Josh Patashnik at Ashurst Perkins Coie.

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How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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White House Aims To Shield Advisers Behind Law Firm EOs

By Emily Sawicki

The Trump administration and Justice Department "strongly object" to an Aug. 3 discovery order requiring them to name individuals involved in drafting and approving executive orders targeting law firms, amid their repeated refusal to hand over certain communications in a suit brought by the American Bar Association.

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Ex-DOJ Atty Says Trump's University Probes Were Political

By Hailey Konnath

Trump administration officials forged ahead with investigations into Harvard, Columbia and other universities despite its own lawyers raising legal concerns and, in some cases, finding "little to no factual predicate justifying opening them," according to a whistleblower disclosure from a former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer made public Tuesday.

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Troutman Sidelined Associate After Heart Attack, Suit Says

By Patrick Hoff

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP derailed an associate's career because he took medical leave to recover from a heart attack and spoke up about senior attorneys' fraudulent billing practices, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in New Jersey federal court.

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Trump Names 9 Judicial Picks Across 6 States

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced nine nominees Tuesday for judicial spots in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Alaska. 

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Bot Errors Doom Expert's Credibility In Tainted-Supplement Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge Tuesday disposed of a U.S. Army nurse's lawsuit claiming supplement maker Thesis Nootropics sold products tainted with amphetamines, concluding that a key expert destroyed his credibility by submitting a report containing bot-generated false citations — much like errors for which the plaintiffs' counsel was recently sanctioned.

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Big Tech, PTAB Attys Urge Justices To Fix USPTO Power Grab

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit's refusal to curb the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director's power over instituting Patent Trial and Appeal Board challenges has allowed leaders to "wreak havoc" without accountability, top tech companies have warned the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Quill & Arrow Says Ford Can't Rehash Lemon Law Fee Fights

By Linda Chiem

Quill & Arrow LLP has asked a California federal judge to dump a "retaliatory" lawsuit alleging the personal injury firm saddled Ford Motor Co. with high-priced legal bills for work purportedly handled by virtual assistants overseas or nonlawyers, saying the automaker is trying to chill product liability litigation.

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​​​​​​​Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week tackled disputes involving multibillion-dollar mergers, corporate oversight, founder control, SPAC litigation, commercial contracts and attorney fees.

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