1st Circ. Panel Seems Poised To Uphold RI Drug Pricing Law

By Mark Payne

The majority of a First Circuit panel seemed unlikely Wednesday to upend a Rhode Island law that blocks drug manufacturers from imposing restrictions on healthcare providers and contract pharmacies in a federal prescription drug discount program, appearing unconvinced of an argument that states can't interfere with federal government programs. 

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Ill. Court Blocks Fla. Suit Targeting Gender Care Policies

By David Minsky

An Illinois federal judge blocked the Florida attorney general's lawsuit targeting medical groups' policies on youth gender-affirming care, saying there's sufficient jurisdiction over Sunshine State officials because of a potential nationwide chilling effect the enforcement action caused.

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Trans Youth Sue NYU Langone, DOJ To Bar Records Release

By Gianna Ferrarin

A group of transgender minors and young adults who received gender dysphoria care at NYU Langone urged a New York federal court to bar the U.S. Department of Justice from accessing their sensitive health records through a criminal subpoena.

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Judge Questions Terms Of Student Loan Forgiveness Change

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge considering whether to block a new Trump administration rule that could kick millions of public sector and nonprofit employees out of a student loan forgiveness program repeatedly pressed a government lawyer Wednesday on the precise criteria the U.S. Department of Education would use to decide who is no longer eligible.

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Medtronic Unit Must Face Bellwether Hernia Mesh Claims

By Y. Peter Kang

A Massachusetts federal judge has largely cleared the way for bellwether claims in multidistrict litigation over Covidien's hernia mesh, finding that a reasonable jury could find the Medtronic subsidiary failed to adequately warn physicians about certain risks.

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Ky. Gov. Broadens Medical Cannabis Eligibility Via Order

By Sam Reisman

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Tuesday issued an executive order clarifying that the state's relatively new medical marijuana program is open to a larger population of patients than was previously supposed.

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M&A Claim Payouts Hit $1B High In North America, Aon Says

By Hope Patti

The frequency and severity of claims made under policies for mergers and acquisitions have risen in recent years, with Aon's North American clients recovering a record-breaking $1 billion across transactional liability lines in 2025, according to a report published Wednesday.

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DOJ Inks $56.5M Deal In Whistleblower Medicare Fraud Suits

By José Luis Martínez

The U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday that two health assessment companies and a founder of one of them agreed to pay $56.5 million to resolve whistleblower allegations that they submitted false diagnosis information to private Medicare insurers.

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Police Say Man Who Served As ALJ Cut Wife With Butter Knife

By Madison Arnold

A Miami resident who served as a federal administrative law judge was arrested after police say he cut his wife with a butter knife during a domestic dispute.

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3rd Circ. Nixes DOL's $35.8M Nursing Home Wage Win

By Benjamin Morse

Federal wage law doesn't allow workers to recover pay for nonovertime hours during weeks when they logged more than 40 hours, the Third Circuit held Wednesday as a matter of first impression, partially undoing a $35.8 million win for the U.S. Department of Labor against bankrupt nursing homes.

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Bankrupt Hospital Can't Exit $3B BCBS Antitrust Deal

By Danielle Ferguson

A bankrupt Alabama hospital with "settler's remorse" can't bail on a multibillion-dollar antitrust settlement with Blue Cross Blue Shield, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

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IVF Patients Say Natera Profited Off Ineffective Embryo Tests

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of in vitro fertilization patients are suing Natera Inc. in California federal court, alleging that it falsely advertised the efficacy and importance of its preimplantation genetic testing to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars from patients looking to conceive.

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Treatment Providers Can't DQ Participants' Atty In Wage Suit

By MJ Koo

Several Texas-based addiction recovery program operators cannot remove a worker's attorney from a proposed wage class action over his prior involvement with the programs, a federal judge found, saying the operators failed to show the attorney had a conflict of interest or was a necessary witness.

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Medical Equipment Co. Inks $14.3M Deal In Overbilling Suit

By Matthew Santoni

Pennsylvania-based AdaptHealth Corp. will pay $14.3 million to settle claims that it violated the North Carolina Debt Collection Act by overcharging and trying to collect debts from patients who had returned medical equipment to the company, according to details of a deal released this week.

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HHS Says Bronx Facility $31M Payback Suit Filed Prematurely

By Elaine Briseño

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says a nursing center in New York City should have pursued administrative remedies before fighting the collection of $31 million in Medicare overpayments with a lawsuit.

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Brain Computer Interfaces Boot Up Multipronged Legal Issues

As neurotechnology companies begin to conduct human clinical trials for brain computer interfaces, attorneys should prepare for legal ramifications across a broad range of practice areas, including intellectual property, privacy and product liability, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

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5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

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BigLaw Insider Trading Defendants Have Big-Name Legal Help

By Chris Villani

An insider trading case involving nonpublic information prosecutors say was stolen from some of the largest law firms in the U.S. has ensnared more than two dozen defendants, many of whom have turned to lawyers with notable clients including Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Luigi Mangione.

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Hueston Hennigan Follows Milbank's Lead In Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

The race to match Milbank LLP's attorney pay hikes is officially on, with trial firm Hueston Hennigan the latest to announce it will increase associate pay by $10,000 to $20,000 annually.

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Analysis

The Plaintiffs Atty Now 5-0 At Supreme Court With No Dissents

By Jeff Overley

It's true that Jennifer Bennett is undefeated at the U.S. Supreme Court, but it's also an understatement. Bennett's five wins, including two recent ones, were all unanimous decisions. They showed that the plaintiffs bar can still persuade a conservative supermajority. And they turned the tide after a spree of decisions keeping workers and consumers out of court.

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Goldstein Cites Addiction To Avoid Time, DOJ Seeks 8 Years

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors recommended a 97-month prison sentence for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein, telling a Maryland federal court he has bilked the government out of more than $9.5 million in unpaid taxes. Goldstein, meanwhile, asked for a suspended sentence and supervised release, citing a "severe and longstanding gambling addiction."

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Rocade Capital Buys LFG To Create Combined $2B Lit Funder

By Ryan Boysen

Rocade Capital LLC has acquired fellow litigation funder Law Finance Group LLC, creating a combined platform that has deployed more than $2.3 billion and specializes in $10 million to $50 million deals, including post-judgment financing, portfolio deals and lending to plaintiff's firms.

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Court Reporter Shortage A 'Crisis,' Calif. Supreme Court Told

By Bonnie Eslinger

Two legal nonprofits urged the California Supreme Court to issue an order entitling low-income civil litigants to electronic recording if a live court reporter is not available, saying at a hearing Wednesday that a court reporter shortage in the Golden State has created a "crisis."

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9th Circ. Suspends 2 Attys For 6 Months Over AI Hallucinations

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday temporarily suspended two California immigration attorneys from practicing before the appellate court for filing briefs in a deportation relief case containing artificial intelligence-generated hallucinations, finding no excuse for their "extraordinary confession" of not vetting citations used by unlicensed brief writers.

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Tenn. Firm Sanctioned For AI Misuse In Baker Donelson Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Tennessee federal judge has sanctioned a Memphis, Tennessee, law firm over its misuse of artificial intelligence amid a malpractice suit against Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, ordering the regional firm to reimburse costs associated with the matter and report the misconduct to the state's disciplinary counsel.

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Feature

'Read The Cases': Conn. Judge Offers AI Advice To Attys

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge told a gathering of attorneys Tuesday that his law clerks are not allowed to use generative artificial intelligence for any purpose involving legal research, his interns are barred from using it at all, and lawyers must be careful when relying on the material that the tools produce.

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Atty Can't Shake $120M Verdict In RICO, Defamation Dispute

By Carolina Bolado

An Alabama federal judge refused to disturb a $120 million verdict against a former Conrad & Scherer LLP managing partner, ruling there was enough evidence at trial for a jury to find the attorney liable on Drummond Co.'s racketeering and defamation claims.

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Graham Pushes Federal Tort Path After DOJ Drops $1.8B Fund

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice seemed, at least briefly, to support a Republican senator's alternative solution to the "anti-weaponization" $1.8 billion fund that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday the department is abandoning.

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DOJ Sets New Healthcare Fraud Convictions Record

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced that its Health Care Fraud Unit secured six jury trial convictions across the country in less than three weeks, with the cases involving more than $1.1 billion in fraud losses.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Dardarian Ho's Linda Dardarian

By Lynn LaRowe

Despite being on the other side of a disability rights case that will cost his municipality at least $150 million, Kevin McLaughlin, city attorney for Oakland, California, believes that if more lawyers were like Linda Dardarian, there would be far less lamenting about civility in the legal profession.

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