5th Circ. Backs FDA, Pharma Cos. In GLP-1 Shortage Fight

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not unlawfully remove blockbuster GLP-1 medications made by Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk from the national drug shortage list, the Fifth Circuit ruled Thursday, handing a loss to compounding pharmacies that produce copycat doses of the drugs.

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Albertsons Loses Bid For Midtrial Win In Wash. Opioid Case

By Ben Adlin

Albertsons can't escape the state of Washington's lawsuit accusing the pharmacy chain and its Safeway subsidiary of contributing to the state's opioid crisis, a state judge ruled Thursday in denying the company's bid to dismiss the case midtrial.

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States' Suit Says HHS Terms Threaten Family Planning Dollars

By Rachel Riley

Twenty-three states launched a lawsuit in Maryland federal court Thursday challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new conditions on federal funding for family planning services that they say would require recipients end support for "gender ideology," abandon diversity programming and drive patients toward parenthood and marriage.

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PBMs Hammer Opioid Judge In Last-Ditch Gambit At 6th Circ.

By Jeff Overley

An Ohio federal judge knowingly flouted a Sixth Circuit rebuke by forcing two of the largest remaining defendants in multidistrict opioid litigation to either "settle for enormous sums or litigate for years hundreds of cases," says a Thursday petition urging the appeals court to intervene.

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Mead Johnson Nutrition Head Defends Formula In MDL Trial

By Celeste Bott

Mead Johnson's head of nutrition testified Thursday in a trial over whether its preterm infant formula led to a newborn's serious and ultimately fatal gut illness, saying she had no reasons to worry about the product's safety but acknowledging it carries a higher risk for the disease than human breast milk.

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Guardant Suits Against Tempus AI Clear Dismissal Bids

By Adam Lidgett

A Delaware federal judge has refused to throw out litigation accusing Tempus AI Inc. of infringing Guardant Health Inc. patents covering technology used to analyze cancer-related genetic data and help guide testing and treatment.

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GAO Says CMS Should Rethink $52M Task Order

By Madeline Lyskawa

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services applied unstated evaluation criteria when passing on a company's $49 million offer to provide support services for a health care facility surveyor training program in favor of a more expensive bid, according to a decision by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. 

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CVS Must Face Investor Claims Over AI Use Omissions

By Rae Ann Varona

A New York federal judge trimmed a proposed investor class action Thursday that alleges CVS Health Corp. concealed that its profitability was largely driven by its use of artificial intelligence, allowing the case to proceed on "actionable half-truths" that the company misrepresented the effects of its AI use.

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Website Arbitration Pact Can't Thwart Caremark ERISA Suit

By Grace Elletson

A New York federal judge narrowed a suit accusing CVS Caremark of improperly denying coverage for a specific GLP-1 drug but kept the bulk of the case in court, finding that an arbitration agreement featured on the company's website doesn't apply to benefit plans.

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AG Says Florida Won't Take Part In Meta's 'Weak' $17B Deal

By Jonathan Capriel

Florida will take no part in Meta's $17 billion social media addiction settlement, according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has slammed the sum as "weak" and said the Sunshine State will not be bought off for "pennies on the dollar."

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Hospital Wants Saul Ewing Client To Stop Contacting Nurses

By Matthew Santoni

A whistleblower in a False Claims Act case against a Pittsburgh-area hospital tried to solicit complaints from her co-workers — allegedly at the urging of her attorneys at Saul Ewing LLP — despite rules against ex parte communication with employees of represented parties, the hospital's lawyers said this week.

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Colo. Hospital Can't Split Discovery In Retirement Funds Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado federal judge rejected a faith-based nonprofit hospital's bid for the court to bifurcate discovery in a lawsuit brought by former employees accusing the health system of mismanaging their retirement funds, finding the requested action "would hinder judicial economy."

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Mich. Hospitals Defend CVS 340B Drug Savings Suit

By Susan Smiley

University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers urged a Michigan federal judge Wednesday to preserve its suit claiming that CVS Health Corp. diverted millions of dollars earmarked for indigent healthcare to itself, saying the conduct clearly amounts to a racketeering scheme.

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Disabled Adults Fight Connecticut's IQ Cutoff For Services

By Brian Steele

A group of young adults who say they have intellectual disabilities alleged in a new lawsuit that Connecticut's "strict intelligence quotient cutoff" for receiving state agency services is unconstitutional and ignores shifts in the medical and legal landscapes.

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Judge Wary Of EEOC's Challenge To Yale Hospital Age Testing

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut federal judge on Thursday said oral arguments forced her to rethink whether to require a trial in the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's challenge to age-based employee cognition tests at Yale New Haven Hospital, indicating the EEOC presented a solid case and that Yale's defenses might be stronger.

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Selena Gomez Says Wondermind Investor Suit Must Be Nixed

By Katryna Perera

Pop star Selena Gomez has urged a Delaware federal judge to toss securities fraud claims against her tied to the mental health startup Wondermind, saying she wasn't involved in the offering and suggesting that the plaintiffs may deserve sanctions for bringing "egregiously improper" claims against her.

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23andMe Judge Slows Estimation Of Calif. Data Breach Claim

By Alex Wittenberg

A Missouri bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday he would split a process for dealing with data breach claims brought by the state of California against 23andMe into two stages, saying he would first decide whether the bankruptcy trust for the DNA testing company should be allowed to estimate the state's claims for damages.

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Series

Taekwondo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Taekwondo has taught me to recognize when to fight for a position and when to focus on finding a solution, and that the best outcomes are often achieved by solving problems — all of which has improved my work as a bankruptcy lawyer, mediator and Subchapter V trustee, says Amy Denton Mayer at Berger Singerman.

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Exclusive

Inside The $150M Immigration Contract That Wasn't

By Daniel Connolly

The leader of a small Houston-based law firm says she was "blindsided" by an announcement from the federal government that her 24-attorney shop had won a $150 million no-bid contract to represent thousands of immigrant children in deportation proceedings.

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ABA Faces Uphill Battle To Remain As Law School Accreditor

By Emma Cueto

The American Bar Association council responsible for accrediting law schools is fighting on multiple fronts to retain its status as a nationwide accreditor, fending off challenges at both the federal and state levels.

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Dems Say DOJ Opinion Aims To Foil Oversight Of White House

By Courtney Bublé

With midterm elections right around the corner, Senate Democrats are worried the new legal opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice could let the Trump Administration obstruct congressional oversight of the White House.

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Google Users' Atty Fee To Be In 'Realm' Of $147M, Judge Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated Thursday that he won't give the full $147 million in fees sought by lawyers who won a $425 million class action verdict against Google for unlawfully collecting user information, but he said their "really excellent lawyering" deserves an amount "within that realm."

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Womble Bond Asks To Drop Dutch Software Client Over Rift

By Hayley Fowler

Womble Bond Dickinson is looking to pull its representation of a Dutch software company after five years of a bitter trademark battle, citing a "fundamental disagreement" that has allegedly made it impossible for the firm to move forward as counsel of record.

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