More Healthcare Coverage
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March 06, 2024
5th Circ. Weighs 'Very Complex' Chemo Hair Loss Dispute
The Fifth Circuit is weighing whether two drug manufacturers had an obligation to expedite changing the label on their chemotherapy medications to warn of permanent hair loss in a case one justice describes as "a very complex situation" that will have far-reaching consequences for drugmakers and patients.
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March 05, 2024
4th Circ. Affirms Med Mal Trial Win For Md. Patient
A clinic and gynecologist can't evade a $1 million judgment over claims they botched a surgery, causing a patient's infection and ultimately the removal of part of her large intestine, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled, saying there was sufficient evidence for a jury to find them liable.
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March 05, 2024
Pharmacist Takes Deal In Mich. Over Fatal Meningitis Outbreak
The founder of a Massachusetts drug compounding center that was the source of a deadly meningitis outbreak has pled no contest to 11 counts of manslaughter brought by Michigan state prosecutors, the latter state's Department of Attorney General announced Tuesday.
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March 05, 2024
Magnolia Medical Again Sues Kurin Over Sepsis IP
Magnolia Medical has accused Kurin of continuing to infringe patents covering its diagnostic tests for sepsis and other bloodstream infections after Kurin lost a jury trial in 2022 over a different patent, claiming its rival has a "predatory business model."
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March 05, 2024
Conn. Healthcare Trade Group Drops Staffing Rule Challenge
A healthcare trade group has dropped its suit seeking to stop Connecticut health officials from implementing new nursing home staff allocation controls in the wake of a new law increasing per-patient staffing hours.
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March 05, 2024
Avadel Told To Pay Jazz Pharma $234K Over Narcolepsy Drug IP
A Delaware federal jury found Monday that a specialty drugmaker owes nearly $234,000 to drug manufacturer Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. for using a patented process behind its newer narcolepsy drug, launched last year to sales of over $28 million.
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March 05, 2024
FDA Rejection Of Fosamax's Label Fix Not Final, 3rd Circ. Told
Counsel for patients suing Merck over its osteoporosis drug Fosamax's alleged risk of causing painful bone fractures told a Third Circuit panel Tuesday that a Food and Drug Administration letter denying changes to the drug's label does not count as a final agency action triggering federal preemption of state law failure to warn claims.
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March 05, 2024
NJ Atty Aims To Duck Claims He Botched Suit Amid Pandemic
A New Jersey attorney has asked a state court to dismiss a former client's legal malpractice claims against him arising out of the confusion of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that the allegations show "duplicity" in repudiating an underlying medical malpractice settlement he negotiated for her.
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March 05, 2024
Ex-Walgreens CLO Joins UnitedHealth In Advisory Role
Walgreens' former top legal leader in the U.S. and a one-time O'Melveny & Myers LLP healthcare partner has announced on her LinkedIn profile that she has joined UnitedHealth Group Inc. as an "executive in residence" to help advise its management team.
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March 04, 2024
DLA Piper Snags Temporary Block Of Docs Order In Sale Spat
A Texas appellate court has agreed to block a trial court's order that would have forced DLA Piper to hand over communications with a medical group it represented in a sale, tentatively finding the firm will either prevail in its challenge or that a "serious question" requires further consideration.
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March 04, 2024
Tobacco Cos. Urge DC Circ. To Ax Broad Health Warning Order
Tobacco giants R.J. Reynolds and ITG Brands have backed a bid to overturn a D.C. district court order classifying Philip Morris USA's electronic tobacco devices, called HeatSticks, as "cigarettes," thereby subjecting them to the same marketing requirements that warn consumers of the negative health effects of smoking.
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March 04, 2024
Elanco Urges Justices To Preserve Junk Fax Win
Pet medicine company Elanco Animal Health Inc. has told the U.S. Supreme Court that its faxed invitations to a veterinarian seminar don't count under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's prohibition on unsolicited fax advertisements, as the Seventh Circuit ruled in July.
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March 04, 2024
Insurer Wants Trade Secret Suit Dropped Sans Atty Fee Award
A dental health insurer asked a Washington federal judge on Monday to toss its trade secret claims against an ex-executive without leeway for her to request legal fees, arguing that she can't be considered a winning party because she handed over a company laptop after being hit with the suit.
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March 01, 2024
Adamas' Ex-COO Agrees To $4.6M Deal In Investor Suit
Adamas Pharmaceutical Inc. investors asked a California federal judge on Friday to approve a $4.65 million settlement with the company's former chief operating officer to resolve proposed class claims the company misled consumers about the success of its treatment for Parkinson's disease.
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March 01, 2024
Aetna Can't Escape Fertility Bias Suit From Same-Sex Couple
A California federal judge has declined to toss a woman's case challenging Aetna's fertility treatment coverage as discriminatory, finding at this stage, she has sufficiently argued that the policy discriminates against LGBTQ couples in violation of the Affordable Care Act.
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March 01, 2024
Pa. Supreme Court Snapshot: Judge's Side Gig Vexes Tax Row
In its first argument session of 2024, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania will once again have seven justices on the bench to hear cases concerning issues like a judge taking a second job, following last year's elevation of Superior Court Judge Daniel D. McCaffery to fill the vacancy left by the death of former Chief Justice Max Baer in 2022.
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March 01, 2024
GSK, Shook Hardy Can Recover Costs After Zofran MDL Win
GlaxoSmithKline and its attorneys from Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP can recover more than $450,000 in legal costs after beating a multidistrict suit claiming the company's anti-nausea drug Zofran caused birth defects, a federal judge has ruled.
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March 01, 2024
Auto Coverage Hinges On Victim's Domicile, Mich. Panel Says
A dispute over personal protection insurance will return to a trial court to determine whether a crash victim was residing in Michigan or Kentucky at the time of the incident, after a Michigan state appeals court granted neither the victim's guardian nor Progressive an early win.
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March 01, 2024
Gilead, Cipla Ink Deal To End HIV Drug Buyers' Antitrust Suit
Gilead Sciences Inc. and generics maker Cipla told a California federal judge Friday they've reached a settlement ending a proposed class action filed by a public employees' health insurance fund over an alleged anti-competitive patent deal to delay the launch of a generic version of the HIV drug Truvada.
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March 01, 2024
UW Settles Missing Tumor Suit After Admitting It Can't Find It
The University of Washington has settled a medical malpractice lawsuit accusing its hospital staff of losing a tumor before testing it for cancer, after UW admitted that it had been "unable to locate the specimen" since the patient's August 2022 surgery.
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February 28, 2024
7th Circ. Revives Health System Worker's FMLA Suit For Trial
A split Seventh Circuit panel on Wednesday revived a former OSF Healthcare System employee's suit accusing the company of wrongfully firing her after failing to adjust performance expectations while she worked reduced hours, ruling a factual dispute remains over how much leave she took, which could lead a jury to find in her favor.
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February 28, 2024
Ga. Panel Brings Doctor In, Publix Out In Drug Allergy Case
The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday overturned a trial court ruling releasing a doctor from the professional malpractice suit of a patient who was hospitalized for nearly two weeks following an allergic reaction to a prescription drug but remained "unpersuaded" that Publix Super Markets Inc. was liable in the case.
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February 28, 2024
4 Firms Plan To Co-Lead Suboxone Dental Decay MDL
Attorneys from Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise LLP and three other law firms have asked an Ohio federal judge to appoint them co-lead counsel for the new multidistrict litigation over opioid addiction treatment Suboxone allegedly causing dental decay, with 14 other firms seeking appointment to plaintiff leadership committees.
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February 28, 2024
Nurse Wants Staff Co. Wage Suit Paused For 11th Circ. Appeal
A nurse asked a Georgia federal judge to stay her proposed class action alleging a staffing firm lured nurses to work in Florida using unfulfilled wage promises, pending her appeal of a ruling denying her bid for class certification.
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February 27, 2024
Conn. Agency Asks Judge To Rethink Tuition Refund Pause
The Connecticut Office of Higher Education has asked a state judge to vacate a ruling that paused the agency's refund process for students affected by the abrupt shutdown of Stone Academy, arguing the judge shouldn't have exercised jurisdiction over the matter and that the ruling interferes with the agency's statutory authority to implement the program.
Expert Analysis
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Labor Collusion Loss Will Shape DOJ's Case Strategy
Following the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent loss in United States v. Manahe, tallying its trial score record to 0-3 in labor-related antitrust cases over the past year, defendants can expect that the DOJ will try to exclude defense evidence and argue for more favorable jury instructions, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Examining Chancery's Recent Openness To Caremark Claims
As seen in an April decision involving Walmart's role in the national opioid epidemic, the Delaware Chancery Court has recently shown receptivity to Caremark claims at the early pleading stage of litigation, providing plaintiffs with more leverage to negotiate an early settlement and bringing risk management lessons for boards, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Expect The Patchwork Of AI Regulation To Grow
Given the unlikelihood of meaningful federal artificial intelligence legislation in the immediate future, the patchwork of state AI regulation will likely continue to grow, bringing at least two main risks for companies in the AI space, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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Job Reassignment Case Shows Need For Clear ADA Policies
The Fifth Circuit's recent holding in U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Methodist Hospitals that a disabled employee was not entitled to a job reassignment as a reasonable accommodation underscores the importance of implementing detailed Americans with Disabilities Act policies and educating employees on them, says Marcellus Chamberlain at Phelps Dunbar.
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White Collar Defense Lessons From The Bench And Beyond
Former Minnesota judge and federal prosecutor Nicole Engisch, now a partner at Dorsey & Whitney, shares insights from her background that may inform attorneys’ defense-side approach in white collar cases and corporate investigations — more relevant than ever given the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent policy changes.
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Comparing Iowa's Data Privacy Law With Other States'
Iowa’s recently signed data privacy law is intentionally more business-friendly than other U.S. state privacy laws — as it does not apply in the business-to-business contexts and does not have a private right of action — and further entrenches the main tenets of enhanced privacy in the U.S., say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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Ga. Needs To Resolve Cannabis Counsel Confusion
Georgia’s medical cannabis regulator finally adopted rules for low-THC oil last month, but a 2021 ethics ruling prohibits lawyers from advising participants in the state’s legal program and creates a confounding landscape that the state bar and courts must address, say Whitt Steineker and Mason Kruze at Bradley Arant.
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6th Circ. Ruling's Seismic Shift In FCA Kickback Causation
It is difficult to overstate the significance of the Sixth Circuit’s recent decision in the False Claims Act kickback case U.S. v. Hathaway, which shifts the government's burden of proof by adopting a more defense-friendly causation standard and curbing an expansive definition of remuneration, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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3rd Circ. Ruling Offers Tools To Manage Exempt Employees
The Third Circuit’s recent opinion in Higgins v. Bayada Home Health, finding the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to deduct paid time off for missed employee productivity targets, gives companies another resource for managing exempt employee inefficiency or absenteeism, says Laura Lawless at Squire Patton.
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Dormant Commerce Clause Issues Are Evolving In Cannabis
As federal courts across the country wrestle with how the Constitution’s dormant commerce clause applies to state-legal cannabis markets, industry stakeholders will need to watch how the issue evolves in several key contexts, including interstate compacts, say Tommy Tobin and Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie.
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Garmon Defense Finds New Relevance As NLRB Stays Active
With a more muscular National Labor Relations Board at work, employers should recall that they have access to a powerful yet underutilized defense to state law employment and tort claims established under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, say Alex Meier and Cary Reid Burke at Seyfarth.
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The Important Role Of Contra Proferentem In ERISA Cases
A Pennsylvania federal court's recent decision in Stein v. Paul Revere Life Insurance illustrates what happens when ERISA plan terms are unclear, and why the contra proferentem principle should be applied uniformly in all ERISA cases, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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New Mich. Cannabis Policy May Lower Costs For Some Cos.
Under a recently issued bulletin from Michigan’s cannabis regulator, certain growers and processors may be able to significantly reduce costs by shifting the balance of their medical and adult-use licenses — but this strategy does entail some complications, says Robert Hendricks at Warner Norcross.