Justices Would Back Vax Law Challenge, 2nd Circ. Told

By Aaron Keller

The U.S. Supreme Court's March 2 decision in a California gender-related school policy case requires the Second Circuit to advance a 2023 challenge to Connecticut's preschool and daycare student vaccine mandates, an attorney for a Constitution State congregation told a three-judge panel on Wednesday.

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5th Circ. Bars Dead Veteran's VA Surgery Suit As Untimely

By Mark Payne

The estate of a dead veteran who filed a medical malpractice lawsuit 18 years after an unauthorized operation at a Veterans Affairs hospital didn't bring the suit within Mississippi's seven-year deadline for medical malpractice claims, the Fifth Circuit ruled Wednesday.

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Feds Must Give Records On Trans Military Ban, Judge Says

By Ganesh Setty

A Washington federal court has ordered the Trump administration to produce records underlying its decision to bar transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military, rejecting a distinction the administration carved between trans individuals and individuals with gender dysphoria.

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Bayer 'Natural' Vitamin Buyer Classes Affirmed By 9th Circ.

By Craig Clough

A split Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a federal district court's certification of New York and California classes of consumers who bought Bayer Healthcare multivitamin gummies that were allegedly labeled falsely as "natural," finding the company "demands more" from the plaintiffs at this stage of the litigation than certification requires. 

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Life Policy With $21M Payout Voided As Illegal Life Wager

By Hope Patti

A Delaware federal court voided a life insurance policy as an unlawful wager on a now-deceased Florida woman's life, finding that Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. is entitled to retain the policy's $10 million death benefit and $11 million in premium payments.

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Ex-Conn. Prosecutor Fights Drug Co. Bid To Appeal DQ Denial

By Matthew Santoni

Insurers Humana Inc. and Molina Healthcare Inc. urged a federal judge to turn down a group of generic-drug makers' request for an immediate trip to the Third Circuit, arguing the drugmakers' bid for a second chance to disqualify Connecticut's former assistant attorney general from an antitrust case was not qualified for an interlocutory appeal.

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Consolidation Recommended For NY Hospital Antitrust Cases

By Emily Brill

Two antitrust lawsuits accusing New York-Presbyterian Hospital of using anticompetitive tactics when negotiating with insurers should move forward as one, a New York magistrate judge said Wednesday, encouraging a federal district judge to consolidate the proposed class actions filed by a pair of union benefit funds.

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Commure Took Health Co.'s Software Trade Secrets, Suit Says

By Elliot Weld

A San Diego-based healthcare technology services company has accused Commure Inc. of stealing trade secrets to launch competing cloud-based software, framing the alleged conduct as an instance of a large company "backed by big money" breaking the rules to obtain a much smaller competitor's information.

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Chicago-Area Jury Awards $7.25M In Hysterectomy Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

A Chicago-area jury has hit five University of Illinois Hospital doctors and a nurse with a $7.25 million verdict over claims they botched a delivery and cesarean section, leaving a 32-year-old woman permanently unable to give birth to any more children.

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Health System Says AI Co. Botched $32M Software Project

By Gianna Ferrarin

A San Francisco-based healthcare technology company failed to deliver on promises it would consolidate a Catholic health system's data under a unified platform, breaching a projected $32 million service agreement, the health system alleged in a complaint.

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Eli Lilly Case Over Weight Loss Drugs Kept Mostly Intact

By Adam Lidgett

A California federal court has refused to throw out a lawsuit from Eli Lilly against a telehealth company and related entities over the compounding of its popular weight loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, but agreed to trim a conspiracy claim from the case.

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Judge Lets Pharma Co. Seal Parts Of Ex-GC's Retaliation Suit

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas state judge on Wednesday granted Houston-based Empower Clinic Services LLC's bid to permanently and partially seal a petition by its former general counsel that alleges a smear campaign by the company after he confronted them about conduct he said was unlawful.

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Florida Co. Accused Of $91M Fake Obamacare Scheme

By David Minsky

The Federal Trade Commission accused a Florida company and its executives of operating a nationwide scheme selling fake Obamacare plans, alleging in a federal lawsuit unsealed Wednesday that they made at least $91 million by tricking people into purchasing fraudulent health benefits packages.

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Brief

Workers' Attys Get $940K As $4.7M Tobacco Deal Approved

By Patrick Hoff

A Virginia federal judge on Wednesday awarded $940,000 in attorney fees to class counsel who secured a $4.7 million settlement with food distributor Performance Food Group over claims that it unlawfully charged tobacco users an extra fee for health benefits.

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Healthcare REIT Raises $462M In IPO Advised By 4 Firms

By Nate Beck

Healthcare-focused real estate investment trust National Healthcare Properties began trading Wednesday after raising $462 million in an initial public offering guided by Paul Weiss, Greenberg Traurig LLP, Sidley Austin LLP and Venable LLP.

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4 Firms Build Amneal's Up To $1.1B Kashiv Biosimilars Buy

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Biopharmaceutical company Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Wednesday unveiled plans to acquire biosimilars-focused Kashiv BioSciences LLC in a deal worth up to $1.1 billion that was built by four law firms.

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Sorrento, M3 Get Pause On RICO Suit Naming Jackson Walker

By Alex Wittenberg

A Texas bankruptcy judge on Wednesday agreed to put on hold a lawsuit in California federal court alleging Jackson Walker LLP and executives at Sorrento Therapeutics and M3 Partners conspired to forum shop in Texas so the drug developer could seek Chapter 11 protection there.

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Simpson Thacher Adds Another Kirkland Finance Alum In Calif.

By Gina Kim

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP has hired another former Kirkland & Ellis LLP partner to join its recently formed capital structure solutions practice in the San Francisco area, where she'll focus on banking and other finance matters, Simpson Thacher announced Wednesday.

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Kirkland Keeps Growing In Philly With Private Equity Atty

By James Boyle

Kirkland & Ellis LLP announced Wednesday it is continuing to expand its new Philadelphia office with the recent addition of a private equity attorney, who has moved his practice after more than 12 years with Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

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Fresenius Ruling May Shift Anti-Kickback Enforcement

The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Fresenius v. Bonta suggests that businesses have a First Amendment right to donate to certain charities, even if those donations are motivated by economic self-interest, potentially calling into question years of Anti-Kickback Statute proceedings against pharmaceutical manufacturers for making similar donations, says Jonah Knobler at Patterson Belknap.

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Written Consent Ruling May Signal Change For Telemarketing

The Fifth Circuit's ruling in Bradford v. Sovereign Pest Control is a takedown of the Federal Communications Commission's prior express written consent regulation, and because Loper Bright empowers courts to disregard agency interpretations, Telephone Consumer Protection Act litigants now have an opportunity to challenge previously settled FCC regulations, orders and interpretations, say attorneys at Manatt.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: How To Draft Pleadings

Most law school graduates step into their first jobs without ever having drafted a complaint, answer, motion or other type of pleading, but that gap can be closed by understanding the strategy embedded in every filing, writing with clarity and purpose, and seeking feedback at every step, says Eric Yakaitis at Haug Barron.

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Norton Rose Faces $100M Suit Over Withdrawn Patent App

By Celeste Bott

Norton Rose Fulbright was sued in Illinois state court Tuesday by an advertising tech company claiming that the law firm mishandled a patent application and caused it to be deemed withdrawn, but kept the company in the dark about the loss of its valuable patent rights for over a year.

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Lockheed Birth Defect Trial Judge 'Disappointed' By Attys

By Cara Salvatore

A Florida federal judge said Tuesday he's "puzzled and disappointed" in counsel who appear "unprepared" on the eve of trial in a suit by children who blame their birth defects on Lockheed Martin's chemical handling practices at an Orlando defense system manufacturing and research facility.

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Hunter Biden Blasts Winston & Strawn Tactics In Fee Row

By Emily Sawicki

As a discovery dispute between Hunter Biden and Winston & Strawn LLP drags on amid a suit over allegedly unpaid legal bills, the former president's son accused the BigLaw firm, which once represented him in a Delaware criminal case and other matters, of resorting to "what is uncomfortably close to an ad hominem attack" against him.

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Analysis

Bondi's Proposed Rule Change May Shield Her In Ethics Case

By Phillip Bantz

A federal rule change that Pam Bondi proposed before she was fired as U.S. attorney general could stymie an ethics complaint against her in Florida, which is expected to be refiled after the state bar declined to take up the case during her tenure, experts say.

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Messner Reeves Accused Of $8.3M Trust Account Fraud

By Zach Dupont

Colorado law firm Messner Reeves LLP was hit with a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court from five businesses claiming it stole more than $8 million from them in a fraudulent loan scheme involving a now-defunct sports arena and hotel project in Las Vegas.

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Alston & Bird Says Goliath Investors Can't Claim Malpractice

By Carolina Bolado

Alston & Bird LLP urged a Florida federal court on Wednesday to toss a malpractice suit claiming the firm facilitated a $328 million cryptocurrency scam at Goliath Ventures Inc., arguing that the proposed class of Goliath investors who brought the suit were never clients of the firm.

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Analysis

House GOP Again Pushes Data Privacy Bill To Override States

By Allison Grande

House Republicans on Wednesday took their latest crack at establishing a cohesive nationwide data privacy framework, floating legislation that would give consumers more control over their personal information while preempting a growing patchwork of state laws, although early criticisms indicate that the issues that have long stymied these efforts persist.

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330+ Groups Urge DOJ To Restore Immigration Aid Staff

By Courtney Bublé

More than 300 legal services providers, faith-based institutions and community groups are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to fully restore a program that allows nonlawyers to assist low-income and indigent persons in immigration proceedings.

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Acting DOJ Inspector General Tapped For Permanent Post

By Jack Karp

President Donald Trump has nominated the U.S. Department of Justice's acting inspector general, who investigated the FBI's probe into Trump's links with Russia, to remain in that role on a permanent basis, according to a White House announcement.

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Paint Co. Says Injury Firm Used Stolen Data To Solicit Clients

By Abigail Harrison

A paint company has asked a North Carolina federal court to boot the opposing counsel in a putative data breach class action, accusing them of finding stolen data on the dark web and using it to solicit potential plaintiffs before victims were even notified of the breach.

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