DOJ Says NY-Presbyterian Blocked Lower-Cost Health Plans

By Mark Payne

New York-Presbyterian Hospital is forcing major health insurers to contract with it on an "all-or-nothing" basis, which is driving up healthcare costs in New York City and violates federal antitrust law, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday. 

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Pregnancy 'Crisis' Center Loses Bid To End Deception Claims

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday rejected a request by an anti-abortion nonprofit and a Missouri marketing firm to dismiss claims that they tried to trick women into visiting a pregnancy "crisis" center.

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9th Circ. Upholds Medtronic Win In Spinal Cord Device Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

A Washington man cannot sue medical device maker Medtronic USA Inc. on allegations it sold him a spinal cord implant that malfunctioned causing greater pain, the Ninth Circuit ruled, saying he lacked expert witnesses to support his negligence claims.

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IOC Bans Transgender Athletes From Women's Competitions

By Alex Lawson

The International Olympic Committee announced a ban Thursday on transgender athletes competing in women's events, a policy shift that will see Olympic hopefuls subjected to genetic testing to determine their eligibility.

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U.S. Lawmakers Renew Tribal Child Abuse Prevention Bill

By Crystal Owens

A trio of U.S. lawmakers has reintroduced a bill that aims to strengthen available resources to Indigenous nations by filling gaps in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to provide for more equitable access to grant funding opportunities.

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Legislative Update: Cannabis And Psychedelics Bill Roundup

By Sam Reisman

Lawmakers at the state and federal level stewarded legislation to rein in kratom and its derivatives, Idaho lawmakers took a stand against a proposal to legalize medical marijuana via ballot initiative, and New York legislators introduced a plan to audit the state's cannabis regulator on an annual basis. Here are the major moves in cannabis and psychedelics legislation from the past week.

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Regeneron Can't Sink Disability Bias Claims Over Scheduling

By Patrick Hoff

A former Regeneron Pharmaceuticals director can proceed with her lawsuit claiming she was fired for requesting a flexible schedule to care for her daughter, a New York federal judge ruled, saying she'd sufficiently backed up allegations that doing so had violated federal disability bias law.

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Co. Accused Of Sharing Mental Health Data With Google

By Zach Dupont

A California resident alleged in Colorado federal court that a Denver-based telehealth mental health provider is providing sensitive customer data to Google without their consent in violation of federal and state privacy laws, according to a proposed class action filed Thursday.

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McDonald Hopkins Must Produce Fraud Warning Docs

By Gianna Ferrarin

Midwestern law firm McDonald Hopkins LLC must produce email communications in connection with litigation accusing Blue Cross units of a smear campaign against a clinical lab owner, an Ohio federal judge ruled, finding the documents were not protected by work product or attorney-client privilege.

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Texas Court Won't Dismiss Patient's Cancer Misdiagnosis Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Texas appellate court has greenlighted a suit accusing a physician and two healthcare companies of misdiagnosing a patient with cancer, finding the plaintiff's expert report adequately outlined how the alleged negligence led to an unnecessary procedure.

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Imaging Practice Data Breach Class Actions Hit NC Biz Court

By Abigail Harrison

A series of putative class actions resulting from a data breach at imaging practice Triad Radiology Associates PLLC hit North Carolina Business Court this week, with a couple of the cases naming hospitals that partnered with the practice.

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Ex-Mich. City Workers Say Judge Erred In Trimming Vax Suit

By Susan Smiley

Former city employees of Ann Arbor, Michigan, asked a federal judge Thursday to reconsider her decision to remove religious discrimination and state civil rights claims from their suit alleging religious discrimination after they were denied COVID-19 vaccine exemptions.

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BigLaw Races To Capture Expanding Fund Finance Market

By Kevin Penton

Debt financing work at the fund level has long been dominated on the lender side by attorneys from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP, Haynes Boone and Mayer Brown LLP, but other firms are increasingly crafting formal practices and poaching fund finance stars from the more established players.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The Lanier Law Firm, Kiesel Law LLP, Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP, Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP and Beasley Allen Law Firm lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a California state jury in a bellwether trial found Meta and Google liable for harming the mental health of a woman who says she became addicted to their social media platforms as a child.

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NJ Federal Judge DQs Beasley Allen In J&J Talc MDL

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey federal judge has disqualified the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing hundreds of plaintiffs in sprawling multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, holding that the firm violated ethics rules by collaborating with former outside counsel for J&J, a ruling the law firm has vowed to appeal.

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Atty Sanctioned For AI Hallucinations In Workers' Comp Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

A New Jersey appellate court on Friday ordered an attorney to pay $1,000 in sanctions for failing to rectify AI-hallucinated case citations pointed out to him in an appeal concerning reimbursement sought by a workers' compensation carrier.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Apple hit back at a tech company's wireless charging patent claim, a flurry of businesses bring COVID-19 pandemic insurance claims as a key deadline draws closer and Ipulse Partners LLP file a claim against a luxury yacht company it represented in a trademark dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Polsinelli Hires Practice Head From McDermott In NY

By Andrea Keckley

Polsinelli PC said Thursday that it has hired a longtime McDermott Will & Schulte LLP attorney to co-lead its special situations and alternative investment practice, saying the move "further advanc[es] the firm's strategic focus on private credit, distressed investing, and complex restructuring matters."

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Apollo, BlackRock Deny Asking Kirkland To Abandon Optimum

By Tracey Read

Apollo, Ares, BlackRock and other major financial companies have denied Optimum Communications' claims accusing them of "bullying" Kirkland & Ellis LLP into withdrawing as the telecommunications company's transaction counsel to get revenge for a collusion lawsuit filed in New York federal court.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

A federal judge has stopped the Pentagon from dropping AI giant Anthropic from the government's supply chain, and Latham & Watkins ranked first in a survey of in-house legal leaders on which law firms are most helpful in developing business, followed by King & Spalding, Jones Day and Ropes & Gray.

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Firms Targeted By Trump Urge DC Circ. To Uphold EO Rulings

By Alison Knezevich

Four law firms targeted last year by President Donald Trump urged the D.C. Circuit on Friday to affirm lower court rulings that struck down executive orders restricting their ability to practice law, saying the directives blatantly violate the Constitution.

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Brief

Amazon Swaps MoFo In, Perkins Coie Out In Cooker Suit

By Ben Adlin

Amazon.com LLP switched counsel Friday in a customer's product defect suit accusing the retail giant of selling a faulty pressure cooker that allegedly malfunctioned and caused her severe burns, substituting two Morrison Foerster LLP attorneys in place of an outgoing Perkins Coie LLP lawyer.

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Mich. Judge Signals No Stay If Attys Exit Retaliation Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan federal judge said Friday she is not inclined to pause a long-running sexual harassment suit again if counsel for an attorney who is suing her ex-mentor and former firm are allowed to withdraw, telling the parties, "We've been here. We've done this," as she heard arguments over a motion to exit the case.

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Judiciary Nixes Amicus Disclosure Reform Over Potential Chill

By Emily Sawicki

The federal judiciary has been asked not to move forward with a plan to add to amicus brief disclosure requirements designed to curb "dark money" groups from bankrolling amicus briefs, after rules committee chairs pulled the recommendation over concerns of a possible chilling effect.

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Ex-Williams & Connolly Clerk Accused Of Posting Client Info

By Hailey Konnath

A former Williams & Connolly LLP clerk has been posting confidential firm information — including client information and work email exchanges — and he's threatening to "keep leaking" the materials, which he called "a fun read," according to a suit filed in District of Columbia Superior Court.

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Mayer Brown's $21M Fee Bid In RI Truck Tolls Suit Rebuffed

By Linda Chiem

A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday rebuffed Mayer Brown LLP's bid for $21 million in attorney fees for representing the commercial trucking industry's lead trade group in long-running litigation over the state's truck tolling program, saying the American Trucking Associations ultimately was not the "prevailing party."

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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FCC Told It Can't Make Foreign Call Centers Speak English

By Nadia Dreid

The National Creditors Bar Association is not pleased with the Federal Communications Commission's plans to pass new rules that would require companies to make sure their foreign call center operators speak "American Standard English," saying the agency has no power over foreign employees.

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