7th Circ. Debates Federalism, Bad-Faith Prosecution Limits

By Celeste Bott

A case deemed moot by the Seventh Circuit nonetheless drew commentary Monday from several judges on the court, with four calling an injunction that blocked Florida from pursuing a state court suit over youth gender-affirming care a "grievous blow" to federalism, while others said federal intervention is a "constitutional safety valve" against bad-faith prosecutions.

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1st Circ. Suggests Appeal In Drug Rebate Case May Be Moot

By Carolyn Muyskens

A First Circuit panel raised mootness concerns as it heard arguments Tuesday from drug companies appealing a ruling that prevented them from intervening in a now-dismissed case to defend a rebate model for a federal drug-pricing program. 

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Feature

Meet The Attys In The 340B Battle At 1st Circ.

By Mark Payne

Gibson Dunn and Dunn Isaacson Rhee attorneys presented arguments Tuesday at the First Circuit over whether drug manufacturers can intervene in a challenge to a now-suspended drug rebate program for hospitals. Law360 profiles the attorneys.

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8th Circ. Revives Doctor's Suit Over COVID Speech Probes

By Gianna Ferrarin

An Eighth Circuit panel on Tuesday revived a doctor's suit seeking an order limiting a Minnesota state medical board's ability to investigate him for his public statements related to the COVID-19 pandemic, finding a district court "set the bar too high" at the dismissal stage.

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FDA Seeks Applications For Project To Speed Up Human Trials

By Dan McKay

Federal regulators on Tuesday launched a pilot program that will pair pharmaceutical companies with research institutions in an effort to make it faster and easier to conduct clinical trials on humans in the United States.

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States Say DOJ Trans Care Crackdown Is Unconstitutional

By Madeline Lyskawa

States suing the Trump administration have urged a Massachusetts federal judge to strike down directives calling for providers of gender-affirming care to be investigated and prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, arguing the directives are arbitrary and capricious and violate the Tenth Amendment.

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Connecticut Wins Fight Over School Vaccine Exemptions

By Aaron Keller

Connecticut has won the dismissal of a challenge to its mandatory school vaccination laws, beating through both litigation and legislative amendments allegations by parents that the state's rollback of vaccine exemptions violated religious freedom statutes and the state and federal constitutions.

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Pa. Appellate Panel Scolds Attys In $18.5M Med Mal Case

By Matthew Santoni

Attorneys from Burns White LLC and Philadelphia personal injury firm Bosworth & Associates both got a dressing-down from a Pennsylvania appellate panel over their conduct in a medical malpractice case, though the court upheld the $18.5 million jury verdict for the plaintiff.

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Mich. AG Says PBMs Put Opioid Profits Before Patient Safety

By Susan Smiley

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has asked a federal court not to dismiss the state's lawsuit accusing pharmacy benefit managers including Express Scripts and Optum of abetting the opioid epidemic, arguing the PBMs are not passive administrators, but profit-driven architects of the crisis.

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Express Scripts Accused Of Shorting Independent Pharmacies

By Rae Ann Varona

A dozen independent Arkansas pharmacies on Tuesday hauled Express Scripts into Missouri state court, accusing the pharmacy benefit management giant of continuously shorting them on prescription reimbursements despite Arkansas' efforts to combat underpayments.

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Justices Asked To Resolve Cannabis Dormant Commerce Split

By Sam Reisman

A California litigator's campaign of lawsuits alleging that state and local cannabis regulatory regimes violate the U.S. Constitution's dormant commerce clause has culminated in a petition for a writ of certiorari which appeared on the U.S. Supreme Court's docket Tuesday.

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Takeda Can't Decertify Amitiza Class After $885M Jury Loss

By Matthew Perlman

A Massachusetts federal court refused Takeda's request to decertify a class of Amitiza buyers, after a jury awarded groups of purchasers a total of $885 million for claims that the drugmaker conspired to delay the launch of a rival generic version of the anti-constipation drug.

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Molina Escapes Investor Action Over Guidance Cuts, For Now

By Katryna Perera

Health insurance provider Molina Healthcare and two of its executives have, for now, escaped a shareholder suit accusing them of misleading investors about medical costs and internal controls before the company repeatedly slashed its 2025 earnings guidance, with a California federal judge finding that none of the suit's challenged statements are actionable.

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Tax Court Can't Override Insurance Regulators, 5th Circ. Told

By Natalie Olivo

The U.S. Tax Court incorrectly overstepped state insurance regulators in holding that an ophthalmology practice's microcaptive insurance arrangements lacked economic substance, an eye doctor and his wife told the Fifth Circuit in asking for a reversal of the ruling.

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AIG Can Depose Former Texas Fraud Chief In Conduent Trial

By Hope Patti

AIG can depose the former chief of the Civil Medicaid Fraud Division of the Texas Attorney General's Office as part of a trial to determine if the $236 million Medicaid settlement between the office and Conduent State Healthcare LLC was the result of fraud, a Delaware state court ruled.

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NJ Court Backs Judgment Tossing Wrongful-Death Claims

By Mike Curley

A New Jersey appeals court panel on Tuesday affirmed judgments throwing out a woman's claims that Jersey City Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health, Emergency Medical Associates and their employees caused the death of her husband, finding that her experts failed to link their actions with his death.

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Ga. Nurse Says Firing After PTSD Incident Ran Afoul Of ADA

By Kelcey Caulder

A fired nurse accused a medical provider of disability bias in Georgia federal court, claiming the company unlawfully fired her after she reported that her post-traumatic stress syndrome flared up when she saw a video of the aftermath of her sister's shooting.  

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ITC To Eye Part Of Judge's Decision In Medical Dilation Row

By Adam Lidgett

The full U.S. International Trade Commission is set to look at parts of an agency judge's ruling in favor of medical technology company Stryker Corp. in a fight against imports it said infringed its patents on balloon dilation products used in ear, nose and throat procedures.

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Urology Tech Co. Can't Duck Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A New Hampshire federal judge has refused to let Laborie Medical Technologies Corp. escape a proposed class action accusing it of anticompetitively locking healthcare providers already using its urology devices into also using its single-use catheters instead of cheaper alternatives.

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Former Cannabis Co. Exec Seeks $400K Over Contract Breach

By Jonathan Capriel

New York cannabis company Ascend Wellness Holdings Inc. must fork over the $400,000 in unpaid wages and other benefits owed to a former executive, the former employee argued in federal court, saying that the company has admitted it never gave written cause when firing him, thereby violating his contract.

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Cooley, Latham Prep Electra Therapeutics' $325M IPO Plan

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Biotechnology firm Electra Therapeutics plans to make its public debut this week through an estimated $325 million initial public offering steered by Cooley LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP.

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CareTrust REIT Pays $400M For Southwest U.S. Portfolio

By Nate Beck

Real estate investment trust CareTrust said Tuesday that it has purchased a 2,622-bed portfolio of skilled nursing facilities located in the Southwest for $400 million.

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Insurers Can't Nix $195M Opioid Coverage Bid, Trustee Says

By Gianna Ferrarin

Chubb, Liberty Mutual and Lloyd's of London units and other insurers can't get off the hook for covering the remainder of third-party payor opioid lawsuits against Endo International, a representative for a trust of the bankrupt pharmaceutical company told a Pennsylvania federal court.

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Brief

Judge To OK $581M Genesis Ch. 11 Settlement

By Emily Lever

A Texas bankruptcy judge on Tuesday agreed to approve a settlement valued at $581 million between nursing home operator Genesis Healthcare and its creditors, allowing the debtor to clear another hurdle on its path out of Chapter 11.

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CMS Rule, DOJ Probes Deepen Gender Care Compliance Risk

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' final rule restricting Medicaid funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care is likely to face immediate litigation, but the CMS rulemaking is already working alongside U.S. Department of Justice's enforcement campaign to create operational risk for providers, say attorneys at Arnall Golden.

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2 Cases Shed Light On Invoking The 5th Before Congress

Given the anticipated increase in congressional investigations following the midterm elections, those who anticipate being in Congress' spotlight can draw valuable Fifth Amendment lessons from the ongoing case involving Dr. Anthony Fauci's testimony and the D.C. Circuit’s recent ruling in de la Torre v. Cassidy, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

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5th Circ. Ruling Hints At Loper Bright's Effect On OSHA Suits

The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Exxon Mobil v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission relied on Loper Bright to narrow the scope of illnesses that employers must record, signaling that courts may continue to scrutinize agency assertions that deference is due, say attorneys at Ogletree.

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How States' 'Perry Mason Moment' Led To $17B Meta Deal

By Dorothy Atkins

A recent landmark $17.1 billion settlement with Meta Platforms Inc. may have never happened if it weren't for a quick-thinking trial attorney and his close-knit team of lawyers representing 29 states, who worked together to swiftly shift strategies midtrial.

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Ashurst Perkins Aided $230M ICap Ponzi Scheme, Suit Claims

By Ben Adlin

Ashurst Perkins Coie pocketed millions of dollars in legal fees by providing services to clients it knew were operating a Ponzi scheme that ultimately swindled investors out of nearly $230 million, plaintiffs claimed in a Washington state lawsuit accusing the firm of aiding and abetting fraud.

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Trump Taps Ex-DOL Official To Serve As EEOC Top Cop

By Anne Cullen

The White House nominated a former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP attorney who previously led the U.S. Department of Labor's contractor compliance arm to serve as the general counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

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Washington Sen. Murray Vows To Block Trump US Atty Pick

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee to be U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington is under fire from one of the home state senators who vowed to use every avenue possible to block him.

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Fla. Judge Won't Pause Trump-IRS Settlement Sanctions

By Jack McLoone

The Florida federal judge who barred President Donald Trump and others from citing a settlement resolving what she characterized as a sham $10 billion case against his own Internal Revenue Service won't pause her sanctions order while the president appeals to the Eleventh Circuit.

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4th Circ. Appears Split On Reviving Comey, James Indictments

By Jared Foretek

Partisan splits were apparent Tuesday on the Fourth Circuit panel hearing the Trump administration's challenge to a federal district judge's dismissal of the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, with two of the three judges appearing to agree an improper appointment doomed the cases.

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Brief

Calif. Judge Charged Over Fatal Crash With Bicyclist

By Craig Clough

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Tuesday that his office charged Kings County Superior Court Judge Kendra Weber with a misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter, alleging she struck and killed a bicyclist.

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