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June 27, 2024
OptumRx Agrees To Pay $20M To Resolve DOJ Opioid Claims
OptumRx Inc. has reached a $20 million deal with the U.S. Department of Justice to end allegations the company improperly filled opioid prescriptions in combination with other drugs, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
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June 27, 2024
State AGs Want Stay Lifted In Generic Drug Pricing Suit
The attorneys general of New York and Connecticut have asked a federal judge to lift a partial discovery stay in three state-led generic drug pricing lawsuits against the pharmaceutical industry, saying it is no longer necessary because sentencing is complete in a parallel U.S. Department of Justice proceeding.
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June 27, 2024
Judge Blasts Prisons Bureau, Sends Exec To Halfway House
An Illinois federal judge said Thursday he felt he needed to protect Outcome Health's co-founder from the Bureau of Prisons' "ridiculous" policy barring her from a low security camp just because she isn't a citizen, sentencing her to time served and three years' supervision in a Chicago halfway house instead.
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June 27, 2024
Insurers Call Rite Aid Ch. 11 Opioid Deal Unfair
Counsel for bankrupt drugstore chain Rite Aid told a New Jersey bankruptcy judge Thursday that it hopes to reach an agreement with at least some of its insurers on payments into an opioid settlement fund before closing arguments in its Chapter 11 plan confirmation Friday.
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June 27, 2024
Texas DAs Escape Defendant Class Cert. In Abortion Case
A Texas federal judge on Wednesday rejected a bid to force state prosecutors to become a certified class of defendants in a suit aimed to curb retaliation against advocates who help women get an abortion outside the state, saying there was no risk of varying adjudications.
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June 27, 2024
Ga. Judge Says NBC Falsely Reported Mass Hysterectomies
A Georgia federal judge has ruled several news programs under the NBCUniversal umbrella incorrectly portrayed a doctor as having performed unwanted mass hysterectomies on immigrant women held at a private detention center.
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June 27, 2024
ACLU Says Mich. Can't Ban Medicaid Coverage Of Abortions
The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday lodged a suit challenging a Michigan law barring Medicaid coverage of abortions, claiming that the ban is a violation of the state constitution's newly enacted right to reproductive freedom.
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June 27, 2024
11th Circ. Upholds Radiology Practice's FMLA Suit Win
The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday backed a Florida radiology practice's defeat of a doctor's lawsuit alleging he was fired because he requested medical leave, ruling a lower court didn't err when it blocked him from presenting evidence he hadn't previously disclosed.
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June 27, 2024
Hospitals' Charity Care Does Not Equal Taking, NJ Panel Rules
A New Jersey appellate panel Thursday rejected a group of Garden State hospitals' challenge to a lower court's finding that a state requirement to treat patients regardless of the patient's ability to pay does not amount to constitutional taking, ruling that they failed to show evidence of physical taking of hospital property.
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June 27, 2024
6th Circ. Dismisses Doctors' ACA Trans Healthcare Appeal
The Sixth Circuit dismissed on Thursday an appeal from a group of doctors attempting to block the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing prohibitions on gender-identity discrimination under the Affordable Care Act, finding subsequent agency action overruled the doctors' claims.
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June 27, 2024
Calif. Justices Say Patient's Choice A Factor In Product Cases
The California Supreme Court has sided with a woman alleging that a shock therapy device made by Somatics LLC caused her permanent injuries, saying she can establish that her injuries were caused by a lack of warning as long as she shows that a prudent patient would have declined treatment upon hearing a warning.
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June 27, 2024
Fla. Gov. Vetoes Bill Giving Immunity On Data Breach Claims
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have provided immunity from data breach lawsuits for businesses that complied with certain cybersecurity standards, citing concerns that the legislation could result in Floridians' data being less secure.
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June 27, 2024
4th Circ. Won't Revive Navy Hospital Gangrene Suit
The Fourth Circuit declined to revive a North Carolina woman's lawsuit over a U.S. Navy hospital allegedly misdiagnosing her kidney failure and causing her to contract gangrene and require multiple amputations, standing by a lower court's ruling that her suit was filed too late under a state-level statute.
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June 27, 2024
High Court Allows Idaho Emergency Abortions, For Now
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed abortions in Idaho to continue in emergency situations under a federal law requiring doctors at Medicare-funded hospitals to provide emergency care, including abortions.
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June 26, 2024
Ex-Outcome CEO Gets 7½ Years For Fraud Conviction
Former Outcome Health CEO Rishi Shah was sentenced to 7½ years in prison Wednesday for engaging in a massive fraud through which he grew the health advertising company by lying to investors, lenders and customers about its value and capabilities.
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June 26, 2024
Moms For America Sues Biden Admin Over Vax Liability Law
Conservative nonprofit Moms for America has sued the Biden administration over a law that shields companies from COVID-19 vaccine injury lawsuits, saying the law is unconstitutional because it circumvents judicial review and violates fundamental rights, including due process and trial by jury.
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June 26, 2024
Justices Chide 5th Circ. In Biden Social Media Case
The Fifth Circuit relied on "clearly erroneous" facts and an overgeneralized view of standing when it ordered the Biden administration to stop working with social media platforms to combat COVID-19 and election misinformation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday as it threw out a challenge to the government's actions.
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June 26, 2024
Calif. Sanctioned $111M In 30-Year Prison Staffing Case
A California federal judge has ordered state officials to hand over more than $111 million for failing to bring prison mental health staffing up to levels set by the court in 2009 in a 30-year-old case, saying Tuesday that "given defendants' contumacy, it is for the court to effect compliance."
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June 26, 2024
State Data Privacy Law Patchwork: Midyear Report
States jumped on the consumer data privacy law bandwagon at a brisk clip in the first half of 2024, although it remains unclear if this push will be enough to encourage Congress to finally enact a nationwide framework this year.
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June 26, 2024
Choctaw Nation Wants 9th Circ. Rehearing In CVS Arb. Dispute
The Choctaw Nation has asked the Ninth Circuit for a rehearing in an effort to undo the court's decision forcing it to arbitrate a dispute over prescription drug reimbursements with subsidiaries of CVS Health Corp., arguing it never waived sovereign immunity and did not agree to such proceedings on its Recovery Act claims.
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June 26, 2024
Apple Watch Improvement Is 'Inferior,' Docs Tell 9th Circ.
Four cardiac specialists backed medical monitoring startup AliveCor against Apple in a Ninth Circuit amicus brief Tuesday arguing a district court wrongly nixed antitrust claims by crediting the phaseout of a heart rate monitoring algorithm as an improvement when all it did was deny patient access to "potentially life-saving" technology.
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June 26, 2024
NJ Panel Tosses Malpractice Suit Over COVID-19 Death
A New Jersey appellate panel on Wednesday dismissed medical malpractice claims against a nursing home and doctor who discharged a patient without waiting for the results of her COVID-19 test, which turned out to be positive, an omission that preceded the death of her husband from the virus.
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June 26, 2024
Ex-Seattle Cancer Center Worker Settles Suit Over 'Woke' DEI
A former clinical social worker for Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center has agreed to drop her lawsuit accusing management of firing her for protesting diversity programming as laden with "woke" identity politics, according to a recent stipulation filed in Washington federal court.
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June 26, 2024
Disabled Patients Can't Access Psilocybin, Ore. Suit Claims
A group of psilocybin facilitators are suing the Oregon Health Authority in federal court, alleging that the state's treatment program's refusal to let them administer the drug in places other than specific service centers violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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June 26, 2024
House GOP Gears Up For The End Of Chevron Deference
A new memo outlines how House Republicans are gearing up for the U.S. Supreme Court to potentially overturn the decades-old precedent that courts defer to agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes, as an opportunity to roll back the Biden administration's policies and reclaim Congress' power.
Expert Analysis
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Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content
From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.
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A Changing Regulatory Landscape For Weight Loss Drugs
As drugs originally approved to treat diabetes become increasingly popular for weight loss purposes, federal and state regulators and payors are increasing their focus on how these drugs are prescribed, and industry participants should pay close attention to rapidly evolving compliance requirements, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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Opioid Suits Offer Case Study In Abatement Expert Testimony
Settlements in the opioid multidistrict litigation provide useful insight into leveraging expert discovery on abatement in public nuisance cases, and would not have been successful without testimony on the costs necessary to lessen the harms of the opioid crisis, says David Burnett at DiCello Levitt.
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Patent Lessons From 4 Federal Circuit Reversals In April
Four Federal Circuit decisions in April that reversed or vacated underlying rulings provide a number of takeaways, including that obviousness analysis requires a flexible approach, that an invalidity issue of an expired patent can be moot, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.
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Opinion
USPTO's Proposed Disclaimer Rule Would Harm Inventors
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s recently proposed rule on terminal disclaimers will make the patent system less available to inventors and will unfairly favor defendants in litigation, say Stephen Schreiner at Carmichael IP and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.
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Series
Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.
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How HHS Discrimination Rule Affects Gender-Affirming Care
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new final rule, which reinterprets the Affordable Care Act's anti-discrimination provision, greatly clarifies protections for gender-affirming care and will require compliance considerations from sponsors and administrators of most group health plans, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Opinion
'Natural Person' Or Not, AI-Made IP Deserves Protection
The entire legal edifice rests on a determination that an artificial system is not a so-called natural person, and although this may appear to be straightforward on its face, rapid advances in technology may soon force us to revisit our understanding of a natural person, says Manav Das at McDonnell Boehnen.
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Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony
In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.
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Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance
A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.
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FTC Noncompete Rule's Impact On Healthcare Nonprofits
Healthcare entities that are nonprofit or tax-exempt and thus outside of the pending Federal Trade Commission noncompete rule's reach should evaluate a number of potential risk factors and impacts, starting by assessing their own status, say Ben Shook and Tania Archer at Moore & Van Allen.
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Cell Therapy Cos. Must Beware Limits Of Patent Safe Harbors
Though developers of gene and cell therapy products commonly assume that a legal safe harbor protects them from patent infringement suits, recent case law shows that not all preapproval uses of patented technology are necessarily protected, say Natasha Daughtrey and Joshua Weinger at Goodwin.
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Series
Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.
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How Clinical Trials Affect Patentability In US And Europe
A comparison of recent U.S. and European patent decisions — concerning the effect of disclosures in clinical trials on the patentability of products — offers guidance on good practice for companies dealing with public use issues and prior art documents in these commercially important jurisdictions, say lawyers at Finnegan.
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Opinion
State-Regulated Cannabis Can Thrive Without Section 280E
Marijauna's reclassification as a Schedule III-controlled substance comes at a critical juncture, as removing marijuana from being subjected to Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code is the only path forward for the state-regulated cannabis industry to survive and thrive, say Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie and Sammy Markland at FTI Consulting.