Purdue Pharma's $5.5B Plea Deal Clinched As Survivors Protest

By Carla Baranauckas

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP has to pay a $3.5 billion fine and forfeit an additional $2 billion, more than five years after it pled guilty to criminal charges related to its role in the opioid crisis, a New Jersey federal judge said Tuesday.

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Ex-Fauci Adviser Charged With Concealing COVID Records

By Danielle Ferguson

Federal prosecutors have charged a former adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci with deleting government emails and using his personal email account to dodge public records requests about the origins of the COVID-19 virus.

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Ohio Justices Nix 'Would Have Been Married' Obergefell Test

By Craig Clough

The Ohio Supreme Court held Tuesday that a state law establishing parental rights for the spouse of a woman who conceives a child through artificial insemination doesn't retroactively apply to same-sex couples when a child was born before gay marriage was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015.

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Analysis

Attys Want To See Examples In New Mental Health Parity Rule

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Trump administration's plans to promulgate new regulations governing mental health parity requirements for employee health plans are currently causing headaches for attorneys, but a rule that includes specific examples could ultimately ease compliance burdens for benefit plan sponsors.

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Analysis

Meet The Attys Arguing The High Court 'Skinny Label' Case

By Ryan Davis

When the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in a patent case involving "skinny labels" on generic drugs, a longtime patent attorney as well as a government attorney who often handles intellectual property cases will face an appellate specialist who has argued many high court cases.

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MedMal Case Volume Declines, But Doctor Risks Remain High

By Mark Payne

While the volume of malpractice lawsuits against U.S. physicians has dropped in recent years, that doesn't mean the threat of legal liability is dissipating, according to a report released Monday by the American Medical Association. 

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Brief

Chinese Man Extradited From Italy Over COVID Data Theft

By Madeline Lyskawa

A Chinese citizen has appeared before a Houston federal court after being extradited from Italy to face charges for his alleged role in the Microsoft "HAFNIUM" cyberattack that was allegedly orchestrated by the Chinese government to target U.S. COVID-19 research.

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Maryland Justices Allow IVF Cost Class Action To Proceed

By Hope Patti

A Maryland couple can pursue a proposed class action against a health insurer that they say wrongfully denied coverage for embryo thawing in connection with an in vitro fertilization procedure, the Maryland Supreme Court has ruled, finding that the insurer's subsequent payment of the claim doesn't moot the suit.

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Colo. Fertility Clinic Must Face Trimmed Data Breach Suit

By Allison Grande

A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday narrowed a proposed class accusing a fertility clinic of failing to adequately protect patients' health and other personal information swept up in a 2024 data breach, preserving the plaintiffs' breach of contract and fiduciary claims while tossing, for now, several negligence, privacy and state consumer protection law allegations.

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Anti-Pot Group Says CMS Violated APA With Hemp Program

By Mike Curley

A group of advocates opposed to legal cannabis, as well as a cannabinoid company and two individuals, are fighting the government's bid to halt their challenge to a program to give Medicare beneficiaries access to federally legal hemp products, saying the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services violated federal law by instituting the program without notice or comment.

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Ga. Parents Say Child's $37M Death Verdict Wrongly Reduced

By Chart Riggall

A couple whose son died during lymphoma treatment at a university medical center told a Georgia appellate panel Tuesday that a trial court misinterpreted the state's tort claims act when it reduced a verdict in their favor from $37 million to $2 million.

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Judge Publicly Scolds 'Disgraced' Ex-Prosecutor For AI Errors

By Hayley Fowler

A North Carolina federal judge has eviscerated a former federal prosecutor in a public reprimand for his use of artificial intelligence to draft a response brief that was riddled with hallucinations, calling out the prosecutor's "lack of candor" and saying he "disgraced not only himself, but also the entire office he formerly served."

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Hartford HealthCare Misused Privilege, Teamsters Plan Says

By Aaron Keller

Hartford HealthCare should be forced to produce 182 documents withheld under the attorney-client privilege from an antitrust lawsuit, say a Teamsters health plan and a transit district that claim the hospital group is exercising monopoly power over regional health services markets within Connecticut.

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10th Circ. Backs Hospital In Ex-Worker's Disability Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

The Tenth Circuit refused to upend a Kansas hospital's defeat of a former maintenance worker's lawsuit claiming he was fired for taking time off to manage his anxiety, ruling the three-month gap between his leave request and his termination was too long for the events to be connected.

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Walgreens Can't Use Recording To Undo Investor Claim In Ill.

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge has said she won't toss a claim brought by shareholders alleging a former Walgreens president made a false and misleading statement during an investor conference, rejecting the company's argument that an audio recording of that conference warranted a second look at her dismissal ruling.

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Nurses Fight 'Deceptive' Opt-Out Push In $14M Wage Deal

By Benjamin Morse

Nurses involved in a $14 million wage-and-hour class settlement are urging a Colorado federal judge to block what they call a misleading opt-out campaign by a named plaintiff in a related action in state court, saying mass texts promising unsubstantiated recoveries threaten to undermine the deal.

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Union Urges Toss Of Tobacco Co.'s Retiree Health Fight

By Emily Brill

A North Carolina federal judge should let a tobacco workers' union keep its win in a retiree healthcare fight with the company that makes Winston and Salem cigarettes, the union argued, saying the company's challenge to a November arbitration award can't proceed because it wasn't properly filed.

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Brief

Teleflex Settles Catheter Patent Case Against Medtronic

By Elliot Weld

Medical device company Teleflex and Medtronic have reached a settlement to end a catheter patent dispute from which a judge recused himself after explaining he was "at a loss" on how to proceed.

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Brief

Mich. Health System Inks $1.9M Deal To End ERISA Suit

By Grace Elletson

A Michigan health system agreed to pay $1.9 million to resolve a suit claiming it failed to kick an underperforming investment fund from its workers' retirement plan, causing employees to lose out on millions in savings.

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Eli Lilly Inks $2.25B AI Genetics Research Pact With Profluent

By Al Barbarino

AI-focused biotech Profluent said Tuesday it has entered a multiprogram, strategic research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Co. to treat diseases with high unmet need, in a deal that involves an upfront payment and up to $2.25 billion in additional milestone payments. 

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Paul Hastings, Gibson Dunn Steer $739M Ligand-Xoma Deal

By Nate Beck

Ligand Pharmaceuticals said it plans to purchase XOMA Royalty in a $739 million deal combining the two biotechnology royalty aggregator companies advised by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Paul Hastings LLP.

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How CMS Fraud Priorities Complicate Provider Acquisitions

As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services steps up usage of its affiliates authority and post-transaction audits, parties contemplating the acquisition or sale of home health and hospice providers should take steps to avoid the potential suspension of Medicare billing privileges, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

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Mapping Philly US Atty's White Collar Enforcement Push

Attorneys at Blank Rome discuss the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania David Metcalf’s commitments and priorities, survey early results from his first year, and suggest practical action items for companies operating under the office's jurisdiction.

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Initial Virginia AG Actions Signal Focus On Multistate Efforts

Now that Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones has reached the 100-day mark in office, his first set of actions reveals a clear preference for coalition with regional and national counterparts, which means the primary risk for businesses is no longer just the fact of enforcement, but the speed at which investigations can escalate, says Lauren Cooper at Hogan Lovells.

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Analysis

Comey Indictment Built On Bad Legal Foundation, Experts Say

By Phillip Bantz

The criminal indictment of former FBI Director James B. Comey over an alleged threat against President Donald Trump by way of a social media post of seashells appears to be based on either an outdated or flawed understanding of the legal standard required to prove the charges in the case, which could sink the prosecution, according to experts.

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GrayRobinson Faces More Suits Over 2025 Data Breach

By Adrian Cruz

After being hit with a proposed class action accusing GrayRobinson PA of negligence following the revelation of a March 2025 data breach, the Florida-based firm is now facing two further suits regarding the same incident.

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Justices Limit Voting Rights Act Suits While Voiding La. Map

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana's congressional map containing two majority-Black voting districts Wednesday and further limited the Voting Rights Act's use in challenging racial discrimination in legislative redistricting — a decision the dissent claims completes the conservative majority's "demolition" of the seminal civil rights law.

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Fla. Judge Pick Denies Conflict In Trump Defamation Case

By Courtney Bublé

A judicial nominee for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday denied there was any overlap between when he presided over a case involving President Donald Trump and when the White House let him know Trump was considering him for the federal judgeship.

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Judiciary Advisers Back Looser Limits On Defense Subpoenas

By Jeff Overley

A campaign by white collar defense lawyers against long-standing limits on subpoena powers cleared a key hurdle Wednesday when federal judiciary advisers endorsed earlier and easier access to potentially favorable evidence despite staunch resistance from crime victims' advocates.

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Former AG Bondi To Appear Before House Committee May 29

By Courtney Bublé

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi will appear before the House oversight committee on May 29, committee Republicans said Wednesday.

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Nadine Menendez Denied Bail During Bribery Conviction Appeal

By George Woolston

A New York federal judge on Wednesday denied a bid from Nadine Menendez for bail while she appeals her conviction on a bribery scheme carried out with her ex-senator husband, ruling that her motion doesn't raise a substantial question of law.

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