9th Circ. Won't Revisit FCA Ruling Over Drug Price Program

By Ganesh Setty

The Ninth Circuit has said it will not disturb its March ruling allowing a hospital chain to pursue a False Claims Act lawsuit against various pharmaceutical companies for allegedly causing the government to overpay for drugs under a discount program.

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Wash. Justices Float AI Hypotheticals In Hospital Pixel Case

By Rachel Riley

As the Washington Supreme Court considered a group of parents' bid to revive their proposed privacy class action over a Seattle hospital's use of the Meta Pixel browser tracking tool on its website, the justices questioned Thursday whether the rise of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots carried implications for the case.

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Trans Patients Say Stanford Can't Give DOJ Medical Records

By Gianna Ferrarin

A group of transgender adolescents who received gender-related care at a Stanford Medicine hospital urged a California federal court to order the hospital not to turn over any of their medical records in response to a criminal subpoena issued by a grand jury in Texas.

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DOJ To Speed Up Review Of Qui Tam Benefits Fraud Claims

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it's speeding up the agency's review of whistleblower complaints accusing contractors of defrauding state-administered benefits programs that are funded by the federal government, in violation of the False Claims Act. 

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Hospital's $11.5M COVID Tax Credit Suit Clears Dismissal Bid

By Ben Adlin

A Washington federal judge refused to throw out a hospital's lawsuit seeking $11.5 million from the federal government under a COVID-19 relief program, ruling on Thursday that Tri-State Memorial Hospital has plausibly alleged that it partially suspended its operations because of a government order.

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Legislative Update: Cannabis And Psychedelics Bill Roundup

By Sam Reisman

Tennessee became the latest state to approve a policy paving the way for more research into ibogaine; Vermont lawmakers brought a bill doubling cannabis potency and possession limits closer to the finish line; and California legislators approved a bill banning the sale of "laughing gas" used for recreational purposes. Here are the major moves in cannabis and psychedelics legislation from the past week.

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Hospital Operator, Execs Ink $32M FCA Settlement With Feds

By Sarah Jarvis

Psychiatric hospital operator Oglethorpe Inc. has agreed to pay $32 million and be excluded from all federal healthcare programs for 10 years to resolve allegations it knowingly failed to return Medicare overpayments in violation of the False Claims Act.

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Calif. AG Sues 23andMe Over Lapses In Genetic Data Security

By Allison Grande

California moved Thursday to sue the genetic testing company formerly known as 23andMe over a 2023 data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly 7 million customers, arguing that the company failed to implement even the most basic security measures and misled consumers about the scope of its safeguards and severity of the breach.

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1st Circ. Rejects Bid To Halt Deportation Over Teens' Health

By Elaine Briseño

The First Circuit let stand deportation orders for a Guatemalan man hoping concerns over his daughters' health would earn him a reprieve, finding an immigration judge correctly found his removal would not result in exceptional hardship for the teens.

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Mich. Judge Dismisses Data Breach Class Action

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a data breach class action brought against A-Line Staffing Solutions because the plaintiffs failed to show that any injury that might have occurred was a direct result of the staffing company's actions.

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Texas Panel Tosses Med Mal Suit Over Flawed Expert Report

By Y. Peter Kang

A Texas appellate court has dismissed a medical malpractice suit against a physician accused of leaving a catheter wire in a patient's leg, ruling that the plaintiff's expert report failure to properly identify the applicable standard of care didn't pass muster under the state's healthcare liability law.

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Roundup

Injury Law Roundup: Freight Brokers, Uber Lose Key Cases

By Y. Peter Kang

The U.S. Supreme Court's green light of negligent hiring claims against freight brokers in highway crash cases and an adverse verdict against Uber in the sexual assault multidistrict litigation lead Law360's Injury Law Roundup.

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Ex-Perrigo Workers Say Lax Security Led To Cyberattack

By Gina Kim

Perrigo, a company that manufactures branded and private-label over-the-counter healthcare products, was hit with a proposed class action in Michigan federal court Wednesday following a cyberattack linked to a notorious hacking group that claims to have accessed personal data belonging to current and former employees.

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UConn Escapes Surgeon's ADA Damages Claim In Bias Suit

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut federal judge Thursday dismissed a surgeon's discrimination lawsuit against the University of Connecticut, saying a bid for money damages was barred by sovereign immunity and that a state employment law claim could only be heard in state court, though the doctor is allowed to retool her case.

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J&J Unit Cleared In Blood Pump Patent Suit In Mass.

By Adam Lidgett

A Massachusetts federal jury on Thursday cleared a Johnson & Johnson MedTech subsidiary of allegations that it infringed a blood pump patent owned by a unit of Swedish medical device company Getinge AB.

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Abbott Labs Settles Ill. Genetic Privacy Suit

By Celeste Bott

Abbott Laboratories has inked a settlement with a proposed class of workers alleging the company's onboarding materials asked for employees' medical history in violation of an Illinois law aimed at protecting residents' genetic information, prompting an Illinois federal judge to dismiss the case Thursday.

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Hospital Network Left Bonuses Out Of OT Pay, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

A dietary worker at a Pennsylvania hospital network accused her employer of shortchanging overtime pay by leaving bonuses out of the calculation, according to a proposed collective action filed in federal court.

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Brief

UnitedHealthcare Unit Settles PrEP Coverage Fight

By Kelcey Caulder

A UnitedHealthcare subsidiary and two customers who alleged its failure to approve full coverage for PrEP violated the Affordable Care Act have agreed to settle their dispute, parties told a Minnesota federal court.

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McDermott-Led Ampersand Clinches $1.5B Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Healthcare-focused private equity firm Ampersand Capital Partners, advised by McDermott Will & Schulte, on Thursday revealed that it closed its latest fund with $1.5 billion.

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Husch Blackwell Adds Manatt Healthcare Duo In LA

By Adrian Cruz

Husch Blackwell LLP announced that a pair of Los Angeles-based commercial litigators from Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP have joined the firm as part of its focus on expanding its California healthcare capabilities.

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Opinion

High Court's Abortion Pill Stay Reinforces Appellate Principles

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent order in Danco Laboratories v. Louisiana, staying a Fifth Circuit ruling that reinstated an in-person requirement for dispensing the abortion medicine mifepristone, should be seen not as a definitive ruling on reproductive rights, but as an affirmation of a more disciplined jurisdictional reality, says Daniel Nardo at Nardo & Associates.

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Series

Studying Foreign Languages Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Studying Italian and Japanese has shown me that learning a new language can benefit a legal career in several ways, including by demonstrating the importance of approaching problems from a fresh perspective and the value of practicing patience with colleagues and clients, says Anna King at Genworth Financial.

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Brief

Davis Polk Adds A&O Shearman Antitrust Partner In NY

By Andrea Keckley

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP has hired a former A&O Shearman partner, who joined its antitrust and competition practice in New York.

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Bonus Spotlight

Selendy Gay Doles Out Spring Associate Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

New York litigation boutique Selendy Gay PLLC paid its associates spring bonuses of as much as $25,000 this week, according to the firm.

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Ex-Calif. Appellate Judge To Take Over As Law School Dean

By Rose Krebs

A former California appellate justice, who was the first Muslim to serve as a Court of Appeal justice in the U.S., has been named Western State College of Law at Westcliff University's next dean.

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Dems Say DOJ Blocked Bondi On Trump Questions

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats were incensed on Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys who accompanied former Attorney General Pam Bondi to her committee interview stopped her from answering questions about President Donald Trump.

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Civil Rights Icon Clarence B. Jones Dies At 95

By Andrea Keckley

Civil rights icon Clarence B. Jones, a speechwriter and personal attorney to Martin Luther King Jr., died May 22 at an assisted living facility in the Santa Clara County city of Cupertino, California, his family confirmed earlier this week. He was 95.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen the billionaire who donated £5 million ($6.7 million) to Nigel Farage sue Ben Habib, the leader of far-right party Advance UK, for defamation; Mashreqbank bring claims against three subsidiaries of dissolved private equity giant Abraaj Group for commercial fraud; and the property and investment vehicle of the State of Kuwait be targeted by four real estate figures who filed a miscellaneous claim. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Boies Schiller's Matthew Schwartz

By Sarah Jarvis

Matthew L. Schwartz oscillated among many career aspirations as a kid, from astronaut to mayor of New York. When it was time to head off to college, the man who would go on to handle the prosecution of employees tied to Bernie Madoff and become chair of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP set his sights on science, earning an undergraduate degree in physics.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Phillips Black Inc., Hogan Lovells and Watkins & Eager PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Black Mississippi death row prisoner who argued racial discrimination tainted his jury selection is entitled to habeas corpus relief.

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DLA Piper Hires Real Estate, Construction Partner In Seattle

By Nate Beck

DLA Piper said it has added a Seattle-based real estate partner with experience advising a range of construction projects including data centers, mixed-use projects, schools and renewable energy facilities.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Kirkland & Ellis says it's investing a half billion dollars into developing its own artificial intelligence platform to better serve clients. And Law360 looks at the general counsel who is guiding BP through its latest leadership crisis after the company abruptly dismissed its board chair.

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Baker McKenzie Asks Judge Not To Toss Suit Against Ex-Atty

By Alison Knezevich

A lawyer for Baker McKenzie on Friday urged a Washington, D.C., judge not to dismiss the BigLaw firm's defamation suit against a former tax associate who accused a firm office leader of sexual assault, telling the court the accusations were false and made with "malice."

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Fla. Panel Revives Firm's Suit Over Tobacco Case Referrals

By David Minsky

A Florida state appellate court revived a law firm's complaint alleging tortious interference against a widow over a contingency fee agreement involving tobacco injury case referrals, finding that the lower court wrongly tossed the lawsuit based on extraneous information even though there was sufficient evidence to support a claim.

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NY Judge Doubts Nussbaum-Linked Firms Belong In Ch. 11

By Emily Lever

A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday questioned whether his court was the proper venue to wind down two commercial real estate law firms headed by Mark J. Nussbaum as the debtors sought to ditch an assignment for the benefit of creditors process in New York state court.

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Trump Urges 3rd Circ. To Reverse 'Bizarre' Anti-SLAPP Loss

By Dorothy Atkins

President Donald Trump urged the Third Circuit on Thursday to find a Pennsylvania anti-SLAPP statute shields him from the Central Park Five's defamation claims, slamming the lower court's "truly bizarre" ruling in an opening brief filed the same day a DLA Piper partner and others joined Trump's defense team.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Akin Gump Owes Fees For Winebow's 'Self-Indulgent' Appeal

By Dorothy Atkins

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday ordered an importer's Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP attorneys to pay a European winemaker fees for having to defend against the importer's "spurious objections" to the winemaker's valid arbitral award, ruling that the importer's "self-indulgent" appeal warrants sanctions in the form of fees.

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Colo. Appeals Court Bars One-Way Fees In Eviction Cures

By Zach Dupont

A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Thursday reversed the dismissal of a proposed class action against a group of landlords, Tschetter Sulzer PC and the Colorado Apartment Association accusing the collective of illegally extracting attorney fees from tenants during eviction proceedings.

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Double Shooting Renews Courthouse Safety Fears In NC

By Hayley Fowler

The shooting of two Fox Rothschild LLP attorneys outside a courthouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, ahead of Memorial Day weekend has renewed calls to protect the safety of judges and lawyers in an increasingly volatile justice system.

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Calif. Panel Reverses Order For Citing Atty's Bogus Case Law

By Dorothy Atkins

A California appellate panel on Thursday reversed a judgment in favor of a man accused of abusing his son, finding that "without doubt" the trial judge abused her discretion by incorporating the man's bogus legal citations into her ruling, despite being alerted to the mistakes in advance.

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