High Court Spurns Pharma Challenges To IRA Drug Price Talks

By Dan McKay

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected six petitions Monday from pharmaceutical giants seeking to bring down the Medicare drug price negotiations established as part of the Inflation Reduction Act three years ago.

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Takeda Liable In IBS Drug Pay-For-Delay Trial

By Carolyn Muyskens

A federal jury in Boston on Monday found Takeda Pharmaceuticals conspired with a generic-drug maker to delay the launch of a generic version of Takeda's anti-constipation drug, awarding purchasers $885 million, a figure that's expected to swell after a rule tripling plaintiffs' antitrust damages is applied.

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Colo. Justices Tell Hospital To Resume Gender-Affirming Care

By Rachel Konieczny

The Colorado Supreme Court ordered Children's Hospital Colorado on Monday to resume its provision of gender-affirming care for transgender youth patients, finding the patients demonstrated actual harm from the denial of care.

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Mangione Can Suppress Some Evidence In NY Murder Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

A New York judge on Monday narrowed the evidence state prosecutors may use in their murder case against Luigi Mangione, ruling that a gun and silencer may be allowed into trial but not some items found during an illegal search of his backpack and certain statements to law enforcement.

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Justices Deny Eli Lilly's Qui Tam Constitutional Challenge

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review Eli Lilly's $183 million trial loss to a whistleblower who claimed the drugmaker knowingly defrauded the government by underpaying Medicaid drug rebates.

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Justices Won't Revive LA Schools COVID Vaccine Policy Suit

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review whether the Los Angeles Unified School District's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees passes constitutional muster, keeping in place the Ninth Circuit's ruling that relied on a 121-year-old high court precedent upholding a city's smallpox vaccine policy.

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Aetna Denied A Freeze On Trans Facial Surgery Order

By Kellie Mejdrich

A Connecticut federal judge ordered Aetna to comply with a preliminary injunction requiring it to reconsider coverage denials affecting two transgender health plan participants who sought gender-affirming facial surgery, refusing to stay the insurer's compliance obligations during its pending appeal in the proposed class action.  

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PBMs Tell Mich. Court They're Not To Blame For Opioid Abuse

By Susan Smiley

Pharmacy benefit managers told a Michigan federal court on Monday they are not responsible for opioid abuse because they do not control prescription drugs once they are sold to patients, as Evernorth Health, Express Scripts and other companies seek an exit from the state attorney general's public nuisance suit.

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Boeing Owed Duty To Worker's Future Kid, Wash. Panel Says

By Rachel Riley

Boeing must face claims that a factory worker's on-the-job chemical exposure caused birth defects in his child, a Washington Court of Appeals panel said in a published ruling Monday, finding that an employer "may be liable for negligence towards an employee's not-yet-conceived offspring."

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Morgan & Morgan Atty Barred From Harvard Suit Over AI Error

By Chris Villani

A Massachusetts judge on Monday said a Morgan & Morgan PA attorney may not appear before him in a suit against Harvard University over the theft of body parts donated to its medical school, saying the lawyer did not learn his lesson after signing off on briefs in another case with fake case law generated by artificial intelligence.

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Fla. Hospitals Seek $10.5M In Fees In Safety Rating Fight

By Danielle Ferguson

Community hospitals owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp. sought $10.5 million in fees they said were warranted in their successful Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act case against hospital ratings nonprofit Leapfrog, while the nonprofit called the request "grotesquely inflated" and premature.

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Ill. Panel Sides With AbbVie In Eye-Stent Injury Suit

By Mike Curley

An Illinois appeals panel on Monday affirmed summary judgment in favor of AbbVie in a suit alleging one of its eye stents caused a man's eye injuries, finding the patient failed to present any evidence that his symptoms were a result of the product's manufacturing or design.

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Boies Schiller, Firm Partner Dropped From Fla. Fee Suit

By Madison Arnold

Boies Schiller Flexner LLP and a firm partner have been dismissed as defendants in a Florida state lawsuit brought by a pharmaceutical mass tort law firm and other parties that alleged they breached a nondisclosure agreement and interfered with business relationships.

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Revised Suit Against Healthcare Data Co. Still Fails, Court Told

By MJ Koo

A former healthcare data platform chief strategy officer's amended complaint against the employer failed again to justify bringing three out-of-state individuals into the litigation, the company told a North Carolina federal court, adding that several key claims remain flawed.

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Fla. Hospital Patients Denied Rethink On Class Cert.

By Bryan Koenig

A Florida federal judge refused to rethink her decision denying class certification for consumers accusing Health First Inc. of locking in patients and blocking competition from rival hospital systems, dinging the plaintiffs for raising arguments they could've asserted earlier and for altering a quote from a cited case.

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Health Co. Wants Kirkland Off IP Case For 'Cardinal Sin'

By Elliot Weld

A healthcare company suing medical technology company Commure Inc. over alleged trade secret theft has said Kirkland & Ellis LLP should be disqualified from representing Commure because the healthcare company had tried to retain Kirkland prior to filing the suit and shared confidential information before anyone asked who the defendant was going to be.

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Pa. High Court Snapshot: Wegmans, PennDot Top May Lineup

By Matthew Santoni

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's May session begins Tuesday with an argument whether the state's Department of Transportation can be sued over a tree branch that fell onto a state road, even though the tree itself was growing from Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority property.

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ADA Suit Can't Seek Rewrite Of Psilocybin Law, Ore. Says

By Sam Reisman

Oregon's health regulator has urged a federal judge to reject a bid to expand access to regulated psilocybin services to homebound patients, saying the relief sought by plaintiffs would mark a "fundamental alteration" of the program.

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Hawaiian Scholarship Suit Imperils $2.2M In Work, Court Told

By Crystal Owens

An Indigenous nonprofit is seeking to intervene as a defendant in a constitutional challenge to the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program, telling a federal district court that the litigation threatens $2.2 million of annual work that's central to its mission and will impede ongoing collaborations for the upcoming fiscal year.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a broad mix of celebrity estate litigation, merger disputes, investor suits, record demands, sanctions fights and questions over corporate moves away from Delaware.

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Woman Says Spinal Device Caused Permanent Nerve Damage

By Zach Dupont

The maker of a spinal cord stimulation technology to treat chronic pain faces a federal lawsuit from a Colorado woman who claims that the technology caused her permanent nerve damage and that the device has unacceptable rates of failure nationwide.

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Senior Home Says Colo. Is Right Venue For Insurance Dispute

By Zach Dupont

The owner of a Kansas-based senior living community said its claims that its insurer failed to pay over $7 million in damages it suffered when a sprinkler burst must stay in Colorado, according to a pair of briefs filed in Colorado federal court Friday.

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'Skinny Label' Arguments Spotlight Induced Infringement Risk

Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma highlight the uncertain boundary between lawful generic competition through so-called skinny labels and induced patent infringement, with potential implications for patent holders’ communication, enforcement and causation strategies across industries, says Anton Hopen at Trenam.

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Series

Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

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Murdaugh Sues Ex-Court Clerk Who Tried To Sway The Jury

By Jack Karp

Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh is suing the court clerk whose attempt to influence the jury in his murder trial led the South Carolina Supreme Court to overturn his murder conviction.

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Trump Seeks Circuit Seats For 2 Judges He Appointed

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's recent picks for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits mark the first time in his second administration that he's seeking to elevate judges he appointed in his first term.

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Wyoming Prosecutor Confirmed Despite Misconduct Rebuke

By Courtney Bublé

Just a few days ago, federal judges tossed nine criminal indictments after President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. attorney's office of Wyoming was accused of prosecutorial misconduct. On Monday evening, he was confirmed to permanently lead the office.

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Analysis

Half The Nation's Bar Apps Could Remove Rape Questions

By Cara Bayles

By next year, it's possible that about half of U.S. jurisdictions will have amended character and fitness questions to avoid dredging up aspiring lawyers' sexual trauma. But while advocates hail the reforms as progress, concerns linger about the patchwork this could create across the country.

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Ex-Willkie Atty Banned By SEC For Insider Trading

By Emily Sawicki

A former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP mergers and acquisitions attorney who earlier this month admitted to taking part in a widespread BigLaw insider trading scheme will be barred from representing a client before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a minimum of four years, according to an order the agency issued Monday.

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NY Judge Largely Halts Manhattan Immigration Courts Arrests

By Rae Ann Varona

A New York federal judge Monday largely barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting arrests at three Manhattan immigration courthouses, finding there was no good reason why "unfettered discretion" by ICE officers was better than a policy with arrest limitations.

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