HHS' Childhood Vaccine Policy Changes Put On Ice

By Chris Villani

A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration's modified childhood vaccine schedule and put all decisions made by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s federal vaccine policy committee on hold, finding they veered sharply from normal procedure and likely violated the law.

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J&J's Lack Of Malice Gets $966M Talc Verdict Cut To $16M

By Rae Ann Varona

A California state judge slashed $950 million in punitive damages from a $966 million jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson on Friday in a lawsuit involving an 88-year-old woman who died of mesothelioma, saying the estate's counsel failed to sufficiently show the pharmaceutical giant acted maliciously.

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Mich. Jury Awards $10M To Med Resident Fired During Leave

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan state jury has awarded more than $10 million to a former medical student who said she was fired from a hospital's OB-GYN residency program after being forced to take a required licensing exam while on maternity leave.

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Q&A

PBGC Keen On Dishing Out Opinion Letters, Director Says

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has revamped its website to encourage attorneys to seek opinion letters about how the Employee Retirement Income Security Act applies to specific scenarios. PBGC Director Janet Dhillon spoke to Law360 about that effort, the PBGC's latest financial report to Congress and her goals for the agency.

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Incentive Pay Boosted Cigna GC To $5.96 Million In 2025

By Sue Reisinger

A boost in incentive pay helped raise the total compensation of Cigna Group's general counsel to nearly $5.96 million in 2025, according to a recent securities filing.

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Trump Taps Vance For Fraud Task Force, Bashing Blue States

By Lauren Berg

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order creating a task force chaired by Vice President JD Vance that aims to curb "fraud, waste and abuse" in federal housing, food and other benefit programs, with the president alleging "staggering fraud and waste" in Minnesota and other Democratic-led states.

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1st Circ. Affirms Block Of Trump's 'Unprecedented' Aid Freeze

By Hailey Konnath

The First Circuit on Monday mostly upheld a lower court's order blocking the Trump administration from enacting a "sweeping and unprecedented categorical 'freeze' of federal financial assistance," ruling that the states involved in the suit will likely successfully show that the federal government acted arbitrarily and capriciously.

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GAO Rejects Unequal Evaluation Claim In CMS Contract

By Elaine Briseño

The U.S. Government Accountability Office found the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not treat a technology contractor unequally by giving it a low-confidence rating in the technical category even though the winning bidder had time-management issues.

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Md. Appeals Court Upholds Ax Of MedStar Data Sharing Suit

By Allison Grande

A Maryland state appeals court refused to revive a proposed class action accusing MedStar Health Inc. of illegally sharing patients' personal information with Facebook and Google, finding that the type of data that was allegedly divulged isn't protected by the state's wiretap statute.

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Pa. Appeals Court Reinstates Kratom And Caffeine DUI Charge

By Elizabeth Daley

A man charged with driving under the influence and other offenses after using caffeine and the herbal stimulant kratom cannot argue his case should be dismissed since he wasn't using controlled substances, the Pennsylvania Superior Court said Monday, reversing a lower court.

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Defamation Suit Against WWE Accuser's Lawyer Advances

By Elaine Briseño

A Connecticut federal judge on Friday refused to toss a doctor's defamation suit against the Holland Law Firm and one of its attorneys, saying it is premature to determine whether the plaintiff, whose patient accuses the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. of sex trafficking, is a public figure who has to prove actual malice.

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Trump Admin Wants Student Loan Forgiveness Suits Tossed

By Julie Manganis

The Trump administration on Monday asked a Massachusetts federal judge to toss a pair of lawsuits challenging a change to eligibility requirements for student loan forgiveness, calling the potential repercussions from the new rule "speculative."

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Medtronic Seeks To Ax 'Extreme Outlier' $382M Antitrust Loss

By Dorothy Atkins

Medtronic has urged a California federal judge to scrap its nearly $382 million trial loss to rival Applied Medical over Medtronic's bundling practices that a jury found suppressed competition for advanced bipolar devices, arguing the verdict is an "extreme outlier" in antitrust law that can't survive.

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Mass. City Accused Of Bias In Mental Health 911 Response

By Chris Villani

The city of Worcester, Massachusetts, was hit with a suit Monday claiming that its 911 response is inadequate and discriminatory towards people with mental disabilities because the armed police who usually show up are ill-equipped to deal with those calls and often make matters worse.

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Judge Tosses Kaiser Whistleblowers' Claims After $556M Deal

By Ganesh Setty

A California federal court on Monday officially dismissed False Claims Act lawsuits from the federal government and three people alleging that Kaiser Permanente affiliates engaged in Medicare fraud, on the heels of Kaiser's $556 million settlement reached in January.

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Senior Housing REIT Janus Living Seeks $703M From IPO

By Nate Beck

Senior housing-focused real estate investment trust Janus Living said Monday that it is seeking about $700 million in an initial public offering this week, advised by Latham & Watkins LLP and Sidley Austin LLP, that follows a carveout this year.

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Triton Clinches €5.5B For 6th Fund In Largest Raise To Date

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

European middle-market private equity shop Triton Partners, led by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, on Monday revealed that it closed its sixth flagship mid-market fund with €5.5 billion ($6.3 billion) in tow, marking the firm's largest fundraise to date.

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What We Know About DOJ's New FCA Enforcement Priorities

Recent remarks from the leader of the Justice Department’s commercial litigation branch provide key insights on how False Claims Act cases — especially healthcare fraud, trade fraud, antidiscrimination and cybersecurity claims — will be evaluated, prioritized and pursued as heightened enforcement becomes the new normal, say attorneys at Latham.

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How Cos. Should Prepare For NY RAISE Act Compliance

With the New York Responsible AI Safety and Education Act taking effect March 19, state regulators will expect subject artificial intelligence governance policies to understand whether appropriate safeguards and protocols are in place to prevent or mitigate discriminatory or adverse outcomes by frontier models, says Michael Paulino at Gordon Rees.

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The Benefits Of Choosing A Niche Practice In The AI Age

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly accessible, lawyers with a niche practice may stand out as clients seek specialized judgment that automation cannot replicate, but it is important to choose a niche that is durable, engaging and a good personal fit, says Daniel Borneman at Lowenstein Sandler.

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Conservative Groups Back DOJ As Amici In Law Firm EO Suits

By Emily Sawicki

Conservative groups are backing the Trump administration's attempts to revive executive orders targeting BigLaw firms, arguing in an amicus brief to the D.C. Circuit that Perkins Coie LLP had "unclean hands" for its part in what they called the "Russiagate hoax."

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Winston & Strawn Sanctioned For Trying To 'Make Up Facts'

By Dani Kass

A California federal judge sanctioned Winston & Strawn LLP on Monday for making up facts and otherwise misrepresenting the record in contract litigation over its client's app being removed from Apple's platform, then separately dismissed the case on the merits.

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Don't 'Grimace, Nod, Laugh': Judge Breyer Slams Musk's Attys

By Bonnie Eslinger

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer scolded Elon Musk's Quinn Emanuel counsel during a hearing Monday ahead of closing arguments in California litigation alleging that Musk tanked Twitter's stock to get out of his $44 billion acquisition deal, saying he wouldn't "sit here and watch lawyers grimace, nod, laugh in court."

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Pro Se Litigant Lawyered So Well He Owes $1.8M, Judge Says

By Dorothy Atkins

A Michigan federal judge ruled Monday that a pro se defendant must pay software-maker Dassault Systemes $1.8 million in fees for willfully infringing its software copyrights to train design students, while commending the pro se litigant's professionalism during 15 years of litigation for rivaling and exceeding many licensed attorneys.

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SEC Enforcement Head Resigns After 7 Months

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that its enforcement director, Margaret "Meg" Ryan, has resigned from the agency after nearly seven months on the job.

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Analysis

Excitement, Tinged With Skepticism, Over AAA's AI Arbitrator

By Caroline Simson

The American Arbitration Association caused a stir last fall when it introduced its AI Arbitrator for documents-only construction cases, and even though lawyers say they're excited about the tool's possibilities — and that of artificial intelligence in arbitration in general — so far, many have been reluctant to be the first to take that plunge.

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Boris Epshteyn Targeted Over Trump Bid To 'Coerce' BigLaw

By Lauren Berg

Lawyers, law professors and retired judges led by two nonprofits urged the New York state courts' ethics committee on Monday to investigate Boris Epshteyn's involvement in President Donald Trump's efforts to "intimidate and coerce" BigLaw firms into pro bono agreements with the administration.

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Trump To Get 5th North Carolina Federal Court Vacancy

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump will get another judicial vacancy to fill in North Carolina with U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen Jr. of the Middle District of North Carolina recently announcing he will take senior status.

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Paralegal Calls Full Lewis Brisbois Arbitration Unenforceable

By Adrian Cruz

A former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP paralegal has told a Florida state judge that the firm shouldn't be able to force her into arbitrating her claims against it because a number of the alleged actions took place after she was terminated from her job.

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Democrats Push DOJ To Investigate Noem For Perjury

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats have referred the departing U.S. secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, to the Department of Justice for a perjury investigation following her recent congressional testimony.

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Mass. Justices Won't Boost Pay For Court-Appointed Attys

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' highest court on Monday declined a request to let state judges offer higher hourly rates to induce attorneys to accept court-appointed cases, a proposal meant to alleviate a shortage of appointed counsel in two of the state's busiest counties.

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Ga. Panel Says Minister Can't Rep His Church In Tax Case

By Chart Riggall

The Georgia Court of Appeals said Monday that nonattorneys can't be allowed to represent unincorporated associations in court, backing a trial court's dismissal of a minister's bid to represent his church in a property tax dispute with his home county.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court's docket last week featured disputes including an $83.75 million settlement tied to a renewable energy merger, fraud claims in a fertilizer company acquisition and a developer's fight for control of a major Philadelphia redevelopment project.

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