Anti-Abortion Group Renews Bid To Block NJ's Info Demand

By Carla Baranauckas

An anti‑abortion pregnancy center urged a federal judge to block New Jersey's attorney general from enforcing a subpoena seeking financial donor information, arguing in a renewed bid for a preliminary injunction that the demand is retaliatory and persists despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the group to challenge the investigation.

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Academic Group Fights Feds' Bid For Lawsuit Funding Info

By Carolyn Muyskens

The Association of American Universities told a Massachusetts federal court on Monday it should not be required to open its books to prove it's eligible to recover attorney fees for successfully defeating the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' caps on indirect research costs last year.

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Healthcare In Court

Md. Judge Continues Health Case Law Streak With ACA Ruling

By Mark Payne

U.S. District Judge Brendan Abell Hurson in Baltimore has been on the bench for less than three years. He's already building an impressive list of healthcare rulings.

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J&J Fails To Undo $65.5M Verdict In Minn. Talc Cancer Case

By Emily Field

A Minnesota state judge on Monday upheld a $65.5 million verdict awarded to a mother of three children who had claimed that Johnson & Johnson's talc products exposed her to asbestos and contributed to her cancer, saying that the jury's decision was supported by the evidence at trial.

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FCC Urged To Revise Test Rule Language

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A trade group representing commercial, scientific and testing laboratories in the U.S. has asked the Federal Communications Commission to narrowly tailor the language of a planned rule that would restrict accreditation for labs that test communications equipment.

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Feds Say NY Health Officials Aided Fraud In Medicaid Program

By Lauren Berg

New York health officials rigged the bidding process for managing the state's $10 billion Medicaid homecare program, and the state-chosen steward didn't deliver on its promises, which has harmed patients and caregivers and cost American taxpayers millions of dollars, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit Tuesday.

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Wash. Judge Won't Revisit Order On Ed. Dept. School Grants

By Joyce Hanson

A federal judge in Seattle will not reconsider her decision declining to enforce an earlier order barring the U.S. Department of Education from ceasing school mental health grants, saying Washington and other plaintiff states have not shown that the court erred.

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Cigna Loses Privilege Bid Due To 'Inaccurate, Redundant' Log

By Brian Steele

Cigna "improperly asserted privilege" over hundreds of documents that three laboratories sought as part of the discovery process in federal payment litigation in Connecticut, according to a special master appointed by the judge in the consolidated cases.

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Ga. Justices Uphold $42M Verdict In Hospital Death Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Supreme Court refused to grant a new trial or lower a $42 million jury verdict in a wrongful death case filed by the fiance and estate of a woman who died in the hospital after giving birth to her daughter by cesarean section.

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Remote Workers Tell 6th Circ. Boot-Up Time Compensable

By MJ Koo

Remote call center workers handling inbound patient calls from home have argued before a Sixth Circuit panel that their employer failed to pay them in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act for pre-shift computer startup work integral to their jobs.

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Sanofi Sued Over Qunol CoQ10 'Superior Absorption' Claims

By Gina Kim

Sanofi-Aventis US deceives customers into believing its Qunol liquid CoQ10 supplements have "superior absorption" advantages compared to regular CoQ10 products despite scientific testing that shows otherwise and prior legal action that barred it from making similar efficacy claims, alleges a proposed class action filed Monday in New Jersey federal court.

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Pfizer Agrees To Deal To End Depo-Provera MDL

By Carolina Bolado

The plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation accusing Pfizer of failing to warn consumers of a link between brain tumors and the hormonal contraceptive Depo-Provera have reached an agreement with the pharmaceutical giant, according to an order filed Monday.

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Eli Lilly Settles Mounjaro TM Suit Against Seattle Area Clinics

By Rachel Riley

Eli Lilly has agreed to drop a lawsuit accusing two Washington clinics of ripping off its trademarks for the weight loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, according to a voluntary dismissal motion filed in federal court on Monday, almost two weeks after a judge rejected a resolution proposed by the parties. 

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WestRock Must Face Class Claims Over Wash. Paper Mill Odor

By Ben Adlin

A group of Washington and Oregon residents can proceed with a proposed class action accusing paper mill operator WestRock Longview LLC of negligently releasing noxious gases that sickened neighbors and hurt property values, a Washington federal judge ruled Monday.

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J&J Talc Trial In LA Ends With Deadlocked Jury

By Craig Clough

A mistrial was declared Monday by a Los Angeles state judge in a two-month trial over allegations Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused a woman's deadly mesothelioma after the jury deadlocked during deliberations, according to counsel for the plaintiff.

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Judge Allows Pfizer, Moderna Defenses In GSK Vax IP Dispute

By Adam Lidgett

A Delaware federal judge on Tuesday permitted Pfizer and Moderna to move ahead with their arguments that GlaxoSmithKline patents the company claims are infringed by the COVID-19 vaccines are unenforceable because of an unreasonable delay in obtaining them.

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Fed. Circ. Clarifies Standard For Contesting CICA Overrides

The Federal Circuit's recent holding in Life Science Logistics strengthens the hand of protesters facing an override of the Competition in Contracting Act stay, and a Court of Federal Claims decision the same day demonstrates that how a protester frames its requested relief remains critically important, says Richard Arnholt at Bass Berry.

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AG Watch: Oregon's Strategic Civil Enforcement Approach

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s recent antitrust litigation activity and proposed staffing increase are the latest in a series of structural and policy changes that signal that the state Department of Justice is taking a more aggressive approach to civil enforcement, says Keturah Taylor at Cozen O'Connor.

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The Paradoxical Duty To Adopt AI When You Can't Bill For It

Both billing for hours saved using artificial intelligence and preserving billable time by not adopting AI may violate rules of professional conduct, but until bar associations' ethics rules catch up to this emerging economic dilemma, firms must decide how to adjust fee structures themselves, says Ines Lassalle at Peyrot & Associates.

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K&L Gates Adds Ex-DOJ Atty, WH Cyber Director Office's GC

By Jack Rodgers

The former acting general counsel for the White House's Office of the National Cyber Director, who most recently worked as U.S. digital currency counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, has joined K&L Gates LLP as a partner.

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Trump Halts Clayton Director Hearing Over Blue-Slip Dispute

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump directed Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, not to appear for his confirmation hearing Wednesday on his nomination to be director of national intelligence, in part over a blue-slip issue.

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Full Fed. Circ. To Hear Immigration Judges' Firing Challenge

By Ganesh Setty

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday agreed to conduct en banc review over the firing of two immigration judges, after the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that they constituted inferior officers who are subject to at-will removal by the president.

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Winston Taylor Fills Leadership Roles In DC, Miami, Europe

By Madison Arnold

Winston Taylor announced Wednesday that it made senior appointments across four major commercial centers around the globe.

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No Discipline For DOJ Atty's 'Lapse Of Judgment' In ICE Case

By Emily Sawicki

A Rhode Island federal prosecutor who knowingly withheld information about a detainee's criminal history at the behest of immigration enforcement, leading to an "unfounded attack" against a federal judge by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the detainee's release, violated his duty of candor but will not face discipline, the district's chief judge determined.

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