Judge Questions FTC's Motive In Gender-Care Probe

By Jared Foretek

A federal judge in Washington said Tuesday he would have to balance any legitimate concerns about parents and children being misled on the issue of gender-affirming care with what appeared to be retaliatory motives behind Federal Trade Commission investigative demands to a pair of nonprofits.

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Calif. Dialysis Bill Violates 1st Amendment, 9th Circ. Says

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday struck down provisions of a California law that aims to restrict dialysis providers' ability to profit from patients receiving health insurance premium assistance from nonprofit charities, ruling in a published opinion that the provisions violated nonprofit American Kidney Fund's and dialysis providers' First Amendment rights.

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HHS Must Face States' Suit Over RFK's 'Dramatic Overhaul'

By Dorothy Atkins

A Rhode Island federal judge rejected Tuesday the government's bid to toss a group of states' lawsuit challenging Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "dramatic overhaul" of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, criticizing the government for rehashing jurisdictional arguments the court already rejected and finding the states' claims are plausible.

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Jury Awards $39.5M Over Discharged Psych Patient's Victims

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday hit a healthcare management company and a Pennsylvania hospital with a $39.5 million verdict, finding them liable for the deaths of four people who were murdered by a family member who was discharged from a psychiatric unit that failed to submit paperwork that would have prevented him from purchasing the gun he used to kill them.

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Minn. Can't Unfreeze $243M In Medicaid Funds, Judge Says

By Craig Clough

A Minnesota federal judge on Monday denied the state's preliminary injunction request to release $243 million in Medicaid funds deferred by the federal government during a fraud investigation, holding that the "unprecedented" size and scope of the deferral action doesn't mean the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services isn't legally cleared to pursue the action.

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Texas AG Says DOGE Data Led To Fraud Investigations

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas attorney general on Tuesday announced investigations into dozens of Medicaid providers across Texas, claiming that data from the Department of Government Efficiency led to the fraud allegations.

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Acadia Still On Hook For $9M Rehab Death Negligence Verdict

By Rae Ann Varona

A California state appeals court on Tuesday affirmed a more than $9 million jury verdict against Acadia Healthcare Co. Inc. in a suit stemming from the death of a patient at one of its addiction treatment centers, saying there was substantial evidence that the Marin County facility was negligently understaffed.

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Urban Hospitals Sue Over Lower Medicare 'Rural Floor'

By Crystal Owens

A slew of urban hospitals, including a dozen Indian Health Service entities, are asking a D.C. federal court to invalidate a two-year Health and Human Services wage index methodology for Medicare reimbursements, alleging it assigned lower adjustments for rural hospitals in their states.

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Mich. AG Says PBMs Can't Stall Discovery In Drug-Pricing Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

Michigan's attorney general is urging a federal court to reject a renewed bid by pharmacy benefit managers to pause discovery in an antitrust case accusing them of price-fixing reimbursement rates, claiming the companies are relying on exaggerated burden claims and an ordinary motion to dismiss that is unlikely to succeed.

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Ga. Panel Vacates $662K Interest On $2M Arbitration Award

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday vacated about $662,000 in interest that was tacked onto an arbitration award in a trade secrets dispute between two medical device companies, ruling that while the assessment of interest was justified, a trial court had miscalculated the total.

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Pa. Hospitals Accuse Aetna Of Underpaying Medicare Claims

By Hailey Konnath

Two Pennsylvania hospital operators have sued Aetna Health Inc. in federal court, alleging the insurer has been improperly denying Medicare Advantage claims for inpatient services, or underpaying, under a new policy.

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Data Breach Counsel Chided For Flouting NC Court Rules

By Abigail Harrison

Two attorneys looking to temporarily helm a series of putative data breach class actions targeting a radiology firm have failed to become interim co-lead class counsel, as a North Carolina Business Court judge chided them for not following rules and filing a procedurally deficient motion.

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NY Fertility Clinic Agrees To Settle Suit Over Destroyed Eggs

By Y. Peter Kang

Less than a month ahead of trial, a New York fertility clinic has agreed to resolve a suit accusing it of negligently allowing a woman's eggs to be destroyed due to alleged mishandling, according to documents filed in New York federal court.

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Insurer Premera Accuses Clinic Of Misusing No Surprises Act

By Ben Adlin

Premera Blue Cross sued a weight loss clinic on Monday in Washington federal court saying it abused a federal law aimed at safeguarding patients from unexpected medical bills in order to shake down the insurer for exorbitant amounts of money — as much as 10 times what Premera pays in-network providers.

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5 Firms Advise On Gilead's Up To $5B Tubulis Acquisition

By Al Barbarino

Gilead Sciences Inc. said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire German clinical-stage cancer biotechnology company Tubulis for up to $5 billion, in a deal steered by five law firms.

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DC Circ. Skeptical Ex-Steward CEO Could Skip Senate Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

A D.C. Circuit judge told the attorney for the embattled former CEO of Steward Health Care on Tuesday that she couldn't comprehend how his client could invoke his Fifth Amendment rights without showing up to his scheduled appearance before a Senate committee.

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BakerHostetler Adds Davis Wright Privacy Pro In LA

By Gina Kim

BakerHostetler announced Tuesday it has welcomed data privacy litigator Spencer Persson from Davis Wright Tremaine to its digital assets and data management practice group as partner, bringing in years of experience handling high-stakes privacy matters that will beef up the firm's privacy and digital risk class action and litigation team. 

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Senior Housing Demands A Distinct Dealmaking Playbook

An aging population and evolving state regulations underscore a critical reality that senior housing assets can undergo operational or compliance shifts during dealmaking, highlighting the need for unique contractual safeguards like expanded disclosures, anchored notice obligations, and targeted closing conditions and remedies, say attorneys at Goodwin.

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Legal Theories In Social Media Verdicts Hold Clues On Impact

Although the two verdicts in cases in New Mexico and California involving Meta and Google are being lumped together, they rest on fundamentally different legal theories, and that distinction determines how their effects may be felt in other jurisdictions, says Mark Morgan at Day Pitney.

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Pregnant DLA Piper Atty Recounts Firing: 'This Feels Wrong'

By Pete Brush

A former associate who claims DLA Piper unlawfully fired her after she announced she was pregnant told a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday that she got positive feedback as she worked with large corporate clients and was "shocked" when she was terminated.

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Blanche Says Only Trump Knows Why Bondi's Leaving DOJ

By Courtney Bublé

Todd Blanche said on Tuesday he is now acting attorney general and no one, beyond the president, knows why Pam Bondi is out and he is in.

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Calif. Lawmakers Advance Bill To Curtail PE Role In Litigation

By Emily Sawicki

A California bill to ban corporate investors from influencing litigation strategy is heading to the state Senate, backed by bipartisan support from the Assembly.

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Top DOJ Immigration Atty Faces Ethics Complaint

By Jack Karp

The head of the U.S. Department of Justice's immigration litigation office has lied to judges, disobeyed court orders and failed to stop attorneys he supervises from engaging in misconduct in high-profile immigration cases, according to an ethics complaint filed Tuesday.

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Analysis

Habeas Orders Sharpen As Due Process Concerns Mount

By Britain Eakin

Federal judges are issuing increasingly detailed, critical and decisive orders for habeas relief in immigration cases, stepping in as what immigration experts say is a last resort check on a system viewed as having crumbling due process safeguards.

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DOJ Pushes To End Former Immigration Judge's Bias Suit

By Jake Maher

The U.S. Department of Justice moved to dismiss a former Ohio immigration judge's discrimination suit in D.C. federal court this week, calling the complaint "heavy on conclusory statements and speculation and light on allegations of fact."

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Calif. Atty Apologizes, Blames OpenCase For False Citations

By Matt Perez

A California attorney has filed a response to an order for potential sanctions over his alleged use of artificial intelligence, which resulted in false citations, saying the hallucinations appeared in a later draft after using OpenCase to perform a cite check.

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Audio

Approach The Bench: Judge Robinson On Community Court

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

Judge Devin Robinson's courtroom at the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn looks and feels very different from the courthouse archetype.

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States, DC Back NY AG James In DOJ Probe Appeal

By Emily Sawicki

Backed by amici including the attorneys general of 20 states and the District of Columbia, New York Attorney General Letitia James is fighting the U.S. Department of Justice's bid to reopen an investigation into her office launched by a federal prosecutor found to have been serving unlawfully.

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