Justices Seek US View On Pharma's Iraq Terror Liability

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday invited the U.S. solicitor general to opine on a lawsuit accusing pharmaceutical companies of aiding a Hezbollah-linked militia's terrorist activities in Iraq, after the D.C. Circuit held the plaintiffs adequately alleged that the companies' participation was conscious and voluntary.

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Pharmacy Tech's COVID Vax Bias Suit Falls Short At 7th Circ.

By Patrick Hoff

The Seventh Circuit refused to reopen a suit alleging an Illinois county hospital fired a pharmacy technician for requesting a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine, saying it was bound by a recent ruling nixing a similar case.

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Texas Court Affirms Most Of $7.1M Nursing Home Injury Win

By Mike Curley

A Texas appeals court has affirmed the bulk of a $7.1 million injury verdict in favor of a nursing assistant over injuries she sustained while moving an obese patient from his bed to a wheelchair, finding that the evidence supports the negligence finding.

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HealthSpan's Surgery Partners Bid Now $6B Amid Rival Offer

By Nate Beck

HealthSpan Partners, an affiliate of nonprofit system Bon Secours Mercy Health, raised its offer to $6 billion Monday in a proposed acquisition of short-stay surgical facility owner and operator Surgery Partners, after a third party made an unsolicited bid.

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Compass Submits Psilocybin Depression Drug To FDA

By Sam Reisman

Pharmaceutical company Compass Pathways announced Monday that it had submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a new drug application to treat treatment-resistant depression with psilocybin, the primary compound in psychoactive mushrooms.

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Brief

FDA Orders New GLP-1 Risk Warnings Over Vision Loss

By Emily Field

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday said it is requiring new warnings on GLP-1 medications, the group of blockbuster drugs prescribed for diabetes and weight loss, for a serious, rare condition that can cause sudden and possibly permanent vision loss in one eye.

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Brief

USTR Extends Vietnam Section 301 IP Investigation

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Trade Representative is extending its investigation into Vietnam's trading practices for three more months, according to a notice published Monday.

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Quest Pays $13M To End Giants Ticket Kickback Claims

By George Woolston

Quest Diagnostics Inc. has paid $13 million to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to Medicare and New York and New Jersey Medicaid programs, according to federal prosecutors.

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Hospital Can't Redo Nurses Union Row, NLRB Says

By Katherine Smith

An Oregon hospital cannot win remand of its case challenging a National Labor Relations Board order requiring the hospital to bargain with a nurses union, the board has told the D.C. Circuit, claiming the hospital can't relitigate issues over the union's certification it should have raised in an underlying case.

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Med Group Ordered To Return $750K Overpayment To Insurer

By Gianna Ferrarin

A pediatric specialty practice group must pay Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co. upwards of $750,000 it received as an overpayment after the group surrendered its policies, an Illinois federal judge ruled Monday, finding the provider breached its contract by failing to surrender the funds.

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Ohio AG Asks To Streamline Drug Pricing Suit

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The attorney general of Ohio is seeking to amend its complaint accusing Express Scripts and several related entities of conspiring to raise prescription drug prices.

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National Science Foundation Sued Over Plan To Defund Unit

By Carolyn Muyskens

Researchers on Monday challenged the impending phase-out of an office of the National Science Foundation that funds 64% of U.S. research in the social sciences, calling the move to eliminate funding illegal and devastating for their fields.

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Justices Won't Review DOD, Subcontractor Software Feud

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a dispute over rights to healthcare software for a U.S. Army veterinary records system, after the Federal Circuit held a defense subcontractor failed to present a valid contract claim.

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Justices Decline Review In Real Estate Row Over Pot Biz

By Sam Reisman

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a real estate developer's case against the city of Pontiac, Michigan, alleging municipal officials violated constitutional rights by delaying approvals of a proposed cannabis operation until it was no longer viable.

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Supreme Court Weighs Ending Decades-Old Bivens Doctrine

By Marco Poggio

A staff nurse at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu asked the Supreme Court on Monday to eliminate a 55-year-old legal doctrine allowing people to sue federal government officials for damages over constitutional injuries they suffer at their hands, arguing the doctrine violates the separation of powers and must be overruled.

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Health Plan Startup Sues CMS Over 2-Star Medicare Rating

By Gianna Ferrarin

A health insurance startup urged a D.C. federal court to set aside a low Medicare Advantage star rating it received from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for 2027, arguing CMS used improper criteria and is jeopardizing approximately $20 million in revenue.

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Yale Health Network Settles Workers' Time Rounding Suit

By Brian Steele

Yale New Haven Health Services Corp. and a putative class of workers have settled claims the healthcare network underpaid wages by systematically modifying and rounding time sheets, Connecticut federal court records show.

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Ex-Eli Lilly Rep Fights Firing After Flagging Mounjaro Abuse

By Spencer Brewer

A former pharmaceutical sales representative on Monday told a Texas federal court that Eli Lilly and Co. wrongfully fired her after she blew the whistle on the company's practice of offering its lucrative drug Mounjaro as a weight loss drug, saying Eli Lilly asked her to breach the law.

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Seattle Area Residents Aim To Relaunch Airport Pollution Suit

By Rachel Riley

Washington residents are seeking a federal judge's permission to revamp their proposed class action over alleged flight path pollution near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, with the goal of bringing federal claims against the airport operator and major airlines after the Ninth Circuit ruled out their previous state law claims.

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DOJ's Civil Division Head Joins Agency Exits After Midterms

By Jack Karp

The leader of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division, Brett A. Shumate, on Monday became at least the fifth top DOJ official to step down following Republicans' defeat in last week's midterm elections.

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High Court Disbars Judicial Watch Founder Larry Klayman

By David Minsky

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday disbarred Judicial Watch founder and Florida conservative activist attorney Larry Klayman following his 18-month suspension issued last year by the D.C. Court of Appeals. 

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Firms Must Face RICO Claims In Asbestos Fraud Suit

By Emily Field

An Illinois federal judge on Friday held that Simmons Hanly Conroy LLP and Sokolove Law must face racketeering claims brought by a Los Angeles industrial pipe manufacturer alleging that the firms brought baseless asbestos claims, finding that an antitrust doctrine shielding those who petition the courts does not apply.

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Trump Eyes OLC Chief For Texas Judgeship After Midterms

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump is considering the head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel for a federal judgeship in Texas, a process that started right after the Democrats won big in last week's midterm elections.

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Goldstein Says Gov't Conceded Key Trial Errors

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog co-founder Thomas Goldstein told the Fourth Circuit that the federal prosecutors who netted 12 tax and mortgage fraud convictions effectively conceded they hid evidence by steering a key witness to new testimony mid-trial and had reversed their stance on jury instructions, two key issues in Goldstein's appeal.

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AAA Says Consumers' Monopoly Claims Lack Factual Support

By Caroline Simson

The American Arbitration Association is lashing out against consumers who accuse the institution of monopolizing the consumer arbitration services market, telling a federal judge on Monday that they should be sanctioned for including "false, misleading, and unsupported allegations" in an amended complaint.

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Wash. Panel Nixes $10K Sanctions On Monsanto PCB Attys

By Rachel Riley

A Washington Court of Appeals panel has overturned a combined $10,000 in sanctions against four attorneys who defended Monsanto from chemical poisoning claims, concluding Monday that the trial court overstepped its authority by personally punishing the lawyers for late disclosure of expert witnesses.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week cleared the way for Cloudflare Inc. to seek immediate review of an injunction blocking a stock restructuring designed to preserve its founders' control, while setting a January hearing in a similar dispute over Meta Platforms Inc.'s plan to create nonvoting shares.

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