FTC Claims Trans Health Org. Lied About Medical Consensus

By Spencer Brewer

The Federal Trade Commission and several Republican-led states sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health on Wednesday, telling a Texas federal court that the organization falsely touted a "medical consensus" while advocating for transgender healthcare for children.

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Mangione To Use 'Mental Defect' Defense In NY Murder Trial

By Frank G. Runyeon

A New York state judge revealed Wednesday that Luigi Mangione will argue he was suffering a "mental defect" at the time he allegedly murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

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HHS Urges DC Court To Toss AbbVie 340B Audit Challenge

By Gianna Ferrarin

A D.C. federal court should toss a suit by AbbVie challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretation of who qualifies as a "patient" for audits under the federal 340B drug discount program, HHS said in a motion, arguing the court lacks jurisdiction.

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Sen. Committee Clears Drug Disclosure, Biosimilar Bills

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Wednesday cleared two bills for full Senate review, tackling the gap between health and patent oversight agencies, and the need for more interchangeable biosimilars.

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DOJ's Pot Shift Leaves Key Questions For Cannabis Industry

By Sam Reisman

The Trump administration's recent moves to relax federal restrictions on marijuana through the administrative process will have unclear ramifications for all industry players unless Congress steps in to rewrite cannabis law, attorneys heard Wednesday.

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DOJ Deal Bars OhioHealth From Blocking Patient Steering

By Bryan Koenig

OhioHealth swore off contract language inhibiting the ability of insurers to steer patients to cheaper healthcare providers, in a settlement resolving one of two U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuits targeting alleged hospital network efforts to force insurers to cover their hospitals in all plans.

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6th Circ. OKs 30-Month Medical Fraudster Kickback Sentence

By Parker Quinlan

The Sixth Circuit has ruled in a published opinion that a 30-month prison sentence was correctly calculated for a Tennessee man who was convicted of violating federal anti-kickback laws with his fraudulent door-to-door medical marketing firm.

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Lab Owner Avoids 'Very Long' Prison Term For $89M Fraud

By Carla Baranauckas

A Utah businessman who cooperated with prosecutors after admitting his role in a false Medicare claims scheme was sentenced Wednesday in New Jersey federal court to three years of probation and ordered to forfeit $28 million.

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Opioid Clinic To Pay $10M To Resolve False Treatment Claims

By Elaine Briseño

A Rhode Island opioid treatment provider and its former CEO have agreed to pay $10.2 million to resolve allegations they billed Medicaid and Medicare for treatments they did not provide, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

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NC Clinic, School District Must Face COVID Vax Challenge

By Abigail Harrison

A North Carolina state appeals panel issued its second opinion in a lawsuit from the mother of a teenager who alleged he was vaccinated for COVID against his will, finding Wednesday that she adequately put forward constitutional claims and can pursue allegations against a school district and medical society clinic in trial court.

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Amazon Workers Ink $3M Deal In COVID Screening Wage Suit

By Gina Kim

Amazon will pay $3 million to settle a class action filed in Pennsylvania federal court alleging it failed to compensate more than 30,000 hourly employees for time they spent off the clock to undergo COVID-19 health screenings during the pandemic in violation of state minimum wage laws, according to a Wednesday order. 

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Doctors Defeat Most Claims In Life Insurance Fraud Dispute

By Hope Patti

A life insurer failed to adequately allege that a pair of doctors were knowingly involved in a purported scheme to defraud the carrier into issuing $160 million worth of policies, a New Jersey federal court ruled, tossing all but one claim brought under the state's Insurance Fraud Protection Act.

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DC Judge Halts Prison Bureau's 'Near Total' Trans Care Ban

By Gina Kim

A Washington, D.C., federal judge blocked the Bureau of Prisons from enforcing a "near total ban" on gender-affirming care for trans incarcerated people, ruling Wednesday the policy was "reverse engineered" to fit the Trump administration's directive barring funding of such care in prisons, violating the Administrative Procedure Act. 

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Mental Health Co. To Face Wage Class Damages Trial

By Cara Salvatore

A North Carolina federal judge ruled Wednesday that the mental healthcare company JMJ Enterprises LLC must face a second-phase damages trial after a jury found in February in favor of a collective of employees claiming that the company willfully broke federal and state wage laws by underpaying workers at group homes.

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Glenmark Pharma Beats Suit Over Recalled Cholesterol Drugs

By Rae Ann Varona

A New Jersey federal judge Wednesday tossed a proposed class action that accused drugmaker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals of falsely representing that its statin cholesterol drugs were safe and effective despite a recall over its manufacturing practices, saying plaintiff consumers' lack of actual economic or physical injury meant they couldn't sue.

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J&J Can't Get New Trial In $65.5M Minn. Talc Cancer Case

By Emily Field

A Minnesota state judge on Wednesday denied Johnson & Johnson's bid for a new trial in a case that resulted in a $65.5 million verdict in favor of a 37-year-old wife and mother who claimed that the company's talc baby powder caused her cancer, rejecting arguments about her husband's infidelity.

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Eli Lilly Urges Full Fed. Circ. To Scrap Teva's $177M IP Win

By Dorothy Atkins

Eli Lilly & Co. urged the full Federal Circuit Wednesday to review a panel ruling that upheld Teva's $177 million jury verdict on headache drug patents, arguing that the panel's decision runs afoul of the justices' Amgen holding and "opens a truck-sized hole in enablement and written description law."

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Grocery Chain Says Aon Put $40M In Opioid Coverage At Risk

By Gianna Ferrarin

Supermarket chain Giant Eagle on Wednesday hit insurance brokerage firm Aon with claims in Pennsylvania federal court that it jeopardized $40 million in coverage allegedly owed to the chain for settlement and defense costs in opioid litigation.

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Aetna Can't Bring Its Own Claims In $20M Air Ambulance Fight

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge has agreed to throw out three Aetna entities' allegations that air ambulance operators misrepresented their services throughout an Independent Dispute Resolution award process, finding that the federal No Surprises Act bars the insurer's counterclaims.

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Medline, AdaptHealth Sued Over Deadly Hospital Bed Fire

By Aaron Keller

Medline Industries and AdaptHealth have been sued by the estate and daughter of a Connecticut woman who allegedly died after suffering burns over 47% of her body when an electric-powered hospital-style bed caught fire in a Newtown home.

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ITC, Masimo Tell Full Fed. Circ. To Skip Apple Watch Review

By Theresa Schliep

Masimo Corp. and the U.S. International Trade Commission have pushed back on Apple's request for full Federal Circuit rehearing of a panel decision finding an older version of the Apple Watch infringes Masimo's patents, saying Wednesday the case isn't exceptional enough for such scrutiny.

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Maya Kowalski Sues Ex-Atty Over Fees, Funding Loan

By Carolina Bolado

Maya Kowalski, the subject of the Netflix documentary "Take Care of Maya," filed a malpractice suit against her former attorney on Wednesday, accusing him of charging excessive fees and improperly orchestrating an advance funding loan after winning a $213 million judgment.

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Brief

Medical Spa Investment Co. Files Ch. 11 With $10M+ Debt

By Rick Archer

An investment management firm specializing in medical spas and medical aesthetics providers has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware with $10 million to $50 million in debt.

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HHS Enforcement Restructuring Signals Compliance Risks

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' recent restructuring of its Office for Civil Rights suggests that, while Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act enforcement remains central, its priorities have expanded to encompass civil rights, conscience and religious freedom, and data and cybersecurity issues, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

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Using NY Lawsuit Loan Law, Ruling Against Shady Injury Suits

The combination of a New York state appellate ruling that exposes litigation lenders in potentially fraudulent personal injury cases to discovery and a new law limiting predatory loans to plaintiffs provides defense counsel a powerful new toolkit for confronting suspicious claims, say attorneys at Stradley Ronon.

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Opinion

Rule Of Law Requires Gov't Engagement With Bar, Not Retreat

A federal agency's absence from national and local bar conferences, most recently illustrated by the U.S. Department of Justice's withdrawal from a New York City Bar Association white collar conference, disserves the bar, the government lawyers themselves and, ultimately, the administration of justice, says Muhammad Faridi at Linklaters.

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Full Fed. Circ. To Hear Immigration Judges' Firing Challenge

By Ganesh Setty

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday agreed to conduct en banc review over the firing of two immigration judges, after the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that they constituted inferior officers who are subject to at-will removal by the president.

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No Discipline For DOJ Atty's 'Lapse Of Judgment' In ICE Case

By Emily Sawicki

A Rhode Island federal prosecutor who knowingly withheld information about a detainee's criminal history at the behest of immigration enforcement, leading to an "unfounded attack" against a federal judge by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the detainee's release, violated his duty of candor but will not face discipline, the district's chief judge determined.

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Trump Halts Clayton Director Hearing Over Blue-Slip Dispute

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump directed Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, not to appear for his confirmation hearing Wednesday on his nomination to be director of national intelligence, in part over a blue-slip issue.

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Sanctioned IP Atty Tells Fed. Circ. 'Integrity' On The Line

By Elliot Weld

An attorney who was sanctioned in a trade dress infringement case due to what a judge said were his repeated misrepresentations has asked the Federal Circuit to lift the penalties against him and his client, saying his "professional and personal integrity, and my family, depends on it."

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Bosch Receives First DOJ Declination Under New Policy

By Sarah Jarvis

German technology company Bosch on Wednesday became the first company to avoid criminal prosecution under a new U.S. Department of Justice enforcement policy after it cooperated with the federal government and agreed to pay $36 million to settle allegations it improperly exported technology products to sanctioned Chinese company Huawei.

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