Health

March 14, 2025
Skadden Tech Veteran Preps For AI's Planetary Revolution

Kenton King helped open Skadden's Silicon Valley offices some 25 years ago and has lived and breathed tech for a majority of his career, so he's no stranger to so-called disruptors in the sector. But he said game-changers like artificial intelligence come along only once or twice in a lifetime.
March 14, 2025
Feds Say North Carolina Cardiologist Owes $7.9M In Taxes

A North Carolina cardiologist owes the federal government $7.9 million in taxes, fees and interest, according to a new civil complaint brought against him by the tax division of the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to hold him liable for the purportedly unpaid sum.
March 13, 2025
Colo. Says Its Abortion 'Reversal' Ban Doesn't Discriminate

The Colorado Medical Board and Colorado Board of Nursing have urged a federal court to leave in place a state law banning the use of medication to "reverse" the abortion pill, arguing that it merely regulates "substandard ineffective medical practices" and doesn't discriminate against religious health providers.
March 13, 2025
Springer Nature Planning 'Bait-And-Switch,' Court Hears

Independent scientific journal publisher Pleiades Publishing is urging a New York federal court to bar Springer Nature from trying to use a "bait-and-switch" tactic with customers allegedly aimed at undermining Pleiades' reputation while the two companies arbitrate a dispute over a soured distribution deal.
March 13, 2025
Ohio Health Insurer Wins $24M Verdict ln Racketeering Case

An Ohio jury has awarded Medical Mutual of Ohio more than $24 million in damages, after the insurer accused its rivals FrontPath Health Coalition and HealthScope Benefits of undercutting the bidding process for healthcare contracts with the city of Toledo.
March 13, 2025
Fla. Nursing Home Dodged Union After Transfer, NLRB Says

A National Labor Relations Board judge ruled that employees of a Florida nursing home were entitled to backpay and compensation for unused paid time off, finding that workers weren't told in advance that their facility switched operators in violation of a union collective bargaining agreement.
March 13, 2025
NY AG James Pitches Bill To Expand Consumer Protection Law

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday announced legislation that would expand the state's ban on deceptive business practices to also protect against unfair and abusive practices, an idea backed by Biden-era Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau heads.
March 13, 2025
Merck Asks Justices To Block Fosamax Failure-To-Warn Suits

Merck has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Third Circuit ruling that allowed more than 1,000 state-law failure-to-warn claims over its osteoporosis drug Fosamax, arguing that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's formal rejection of a such a proposed warning label should block such lawsuits under federal law.
March 13, 2025
Calif. AG Appealing State Limits On Pay-For-Delay Ban

California enforcers are appealing to the Ninth Circuit after a lower court found that a new state law restricting "reverse payment" settlements between brand-name and generic-drug makers cannot be used to regulate deals that were struck outside the state.
March 13, 2025
Judge Won't Toss $35M Ch. 11 Bank Fee Clawback Lawsuit

A Delaware bankruptcy judge has denied a summary judgment bid to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that an $1.8 billion loan set medical testing company Millennium Laboratories on course for its 2015 Chapter 11.
March 13, 2025
PBMs Tell FTC 5-Month Delay Too Long For In-House Insulin Trial

The nation's "Big Three" pharmacy benefit managers say they want to get to trial in the Federal Trade Commission's administrative suit against them sooner rather than later, arguing that the agency's request for a five-month delay would be too long, but they're open to a three-week postponement.
March 13, 2025
Pa. Justices Let Convicted Doctor Reapply For License

A former University of Pittsburgh Medical Center radiologist who lost his license for unlawfully prescribing Vicodin can seek reinstatement less than 10 years after his 2019 suspension thanks to a change in state law defining a drug trafficking offense, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
March 13, 2025
HHS Calls Back Terminated Attys Clearing Medicare Appeals

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday moved to reinstate about 15 attorneys who were cut loose in recent weeks, restoring staff many in the agency saw as critical to clearing a backlog of Medicare appeals.
March 13, 2025
9th Circ. Ends Idaho Abortion Law Row After Mutual Dismissal

A Ninth Circuit panel has dropped an appeal from Idaho claiming the state's strict abortion ban doesn't conflict with a federal law protecting emergency abortions, after the Trump administration announced its decision to drop the Biden-era legal challenge.
March 13, 2025
SEIU Fund Escapes Surgery Centers' Underpayment Suit

A Service Employees International Union benefit fund no longer has to face a lawsuit four surgical centers launched accusing it of shortchanging them on patient treatments, with a New York federal judge saying Wednesday the centers have failed to show that any agreement existed between themselves and the fund.
March 13, 2025
Full 4th Circ. Urged To Rethink Drug Price-Fixing Class Action

The Fourth Circuit's dismissal of a proposed class action accusing drug companies of conspiring to inflate the price of a drug for Huntington's disease has deepened a circuit split on proving injury under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a group of reimbursement recovery entities has said in asking the full court to rethink the ruling.
March 13, 2025
Colo. Appeals Court Affirms $2.6M Award To Car Crash Victim

A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Thursday declined to throw out a jury's $2.6 million economic damages award to a car accident victim following arguments that her experts didn't explicitly state her medical expenses were of "reasonable value," finding the jury had enough information to reach their decision.
March 13, 2025
Days Into New Role, FDA's Top Lawyer Is Out

The top lawyer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration resigned just two days after she was selected for the role, according to a Thursday announcement by the agency on social media site X.
March 13, 2025
Judge Orders Reinstatement Of Many Fired Federal Workers

A California federal judge on Thursday ordered the immediate reinstatement of certain probationary employees fired from six federal agencies, saying the Office of Personnel Management did not have the authority to direct those terminations, making the firings "unlawful."
March 13, 2025
Lacking Votes, White House Pulls Weldon Nomination At CDC

The White House pulled Dr. Dave Weldon's nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday after support among GOP lawmakers wavered, and it became clear he didn't have the votes to clear a Senate committee.
March 12, 2025
Fox News Cleared Of Sex Assault Claims, But Anchor Isn't

A New York federal judge on Wednesday agreed to free Fox News from a suit alleging that former host Ed Henry sexually harassed and raped a former producer but held that Henry must face the bulk of her claims before a jury trial set for May.
March 12, 2025
GOP Senators Take Aim At CFPB Medical Debt Rule

Republican senators have introduced a measure to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent rule banning medical debt from credit reports, one of the latest Biden-era regulations to be targeted for legislative repeal.
March 12, 2025
Labcorp Warns Fed. Circ. Of 'Balkanization' In Prenatal IP Row

Labcorp, one of the world's largest chains of clinical lab providers, told the full Federal Circuit that a loss it incurred there over a patent tied to a $384 million judgment in Texas was the result of the "balkanization" of the court's patent obviousness jurisprudence.
March 12, 2025
Women Attys, AGs Urge Justices To Protect Provider Choice

Women attorney groups and a group of state attorneys general urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject South Carolina's attempt to stop Medicaid patients from seeing Planned Parenthood healthcare providers, saying in an amicus brief Wednesday that patients have a right to choose their healthcare providers and have a private right of action to enforce that right.
March 12, 2025
SEC Says Ex-Allarity Execs Concealed Doomed FDA Approval

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued three former executives of clinical-stage pharmaceutical company Allarity Therapeutics Inc. in Massachusetts federal court, alleging Wednesday that they schemed to conceal from the public that the company's new drug application for its flagship drug had no chance of gaining regulatory approval.

Expert Analysis

The Most Important Schedule I Drug Regulatory Shifts Of 2024

In 2024, psychedelics and cannabis emerged as focal points in medical research, marking a pivotal year in their legal and regulatory journey, but these developments presented both opportunities and challenges within this evolving field, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Stephen Kim at Avicanna.
UPS Penalty Demonstrates Goodwill Impairment Red Flags

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent $45 million penalty against UPS for withholding reports of goodwill impairment should warn investors to watch for the telltale signs of companies inflating their worth by delaying tests that would reveal similar declines in the value of intangible assets, say attorneys at Labaton Keller.
Series

Coaching Little League Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While coaching poorly played Little League Baseball early in the morning doesn't sound like a good time, I love it — and the experience has taught me valuable lessons about imperfection, compassion and acceptance that have helped me grow as a person and as a lawyer, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.
Courts Must Stick To The Science On Digital Addiction Claims

A number of pending personal injury and product liability lawsuits allege that plaintiffs have developed behavioral addictions to the use of social media and video games — but this is not yet recognized by relevant authorities as an addiction, so courts must carefully scrutinize such claims, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2025

Lawyers and their clients must be prepared to navigate an evolving litigation funding market in 2025, made more complicated by a new administration and the increasing overall cost of litigation, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.
FTC Privacy Enforcement Takeaways From 2024

In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission distinguished three prominent trends in its privacy-related enforcement actions: geolocation data protections, data minimization practices, and artificial intelligence use and marketing, say Cobun Zweifel-Keegan at IAPP and James Smith at Dechert.
Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win

Attorneys have a tendency to overestimate litigation risk before summary judgment and underestimate risk after it, but an eight-stage litigation framework can clarify risk at different points and help litigators reassess what true success looks like in any particular case, says Joshua Libling at Arcadia Finance.
Issues To Watch In 2025's ERISA Litigation Landscape

Whether 2024’s uptick in new Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases will continue this year will likely depend on federal courts’ resolution of several issues, including those related to excessive fees, defined contribution plan forfeitures, and pleading standards for ERISA-prohibited transaction claims, say attorneys at Groom Law.
How DOGE's Bite Can Live Up To Its Bark

All signs suggest that the Department of Government Efficiency will be an important part of the new Trump administration, with ample tools at its disposal to effectuate change, particularly with an attentive Republican-controlled Congress, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
2024 Was A Significant Year For HIPAA Compliance

The Office of Civil Rights' high level of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act activity in 2024 and press releases about its specific focus on certain cybersecurity issues make it abundantly clear that the OCR is not going to tolerate widespread compliance complacency, says Nathan Kottkamp at Williams Mullen.
5 Notable Information Security Events In 2024

B. Stephanie Siegmann at Hinckley Allen discusses 2024's largest and most destructive data breaches seen yet, ranging from ransomware disrupting U.S. healthcare systems on a massive scale, to tensions increasing between the U.S. and China over cyberespionage and the control of U.S. data.
Series

Playing Rugby Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My experience playing rugby, including a near-fatal accident, has influenced my legal practice on a professional, organizational and personal level by showing me the importance of maintaining empathy, fostering team empowerment and embracing the art of preparation, says James Gillenwater at Greenberg Traurig.
How 2025 NDAA May Affect DOD Procurement Protests

A bid protest pilot program included in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act shifts litigation costs onto unsuccessful bid protesters and raises claim-filing thresholds, which could increase risks to U.S. Department of Defense contractors who file protests, and reduce oversight of DOD procurement awards, say attorneys at Venable.
Looking Back At 2024's Noteworthy State AG Litigation

State attorneys general across the U.S. took bold steps in 2024 to address unlawful activities by corporations in several areas, including privacy and data security, financial transparency, children's internet safety, and other overall consumer protection claims, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
Opinion

No, Litigation Funders Are Not 'Fleeing' The District Of Del.

A recent study claimed that litigation funders have “fled” Delaware federal court due to a standing order requiring disclosure of third-party financing, but responsible funders have no problem litigating in this jurisdiction, and many other factors could explain the decline in filings, say Will Freeman and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.