More Healthcare Coverage
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May 29, 2024
5th Circ. Sends Hain Toxic Baby Food Suit To State Court
Grocery store chain Whole Foods Market Inc. and international food company Hain Celestial Group Inc. can't escape a lawsuit seeking to hold them liable for the mental and physical decline of a toddler, allegedly caused by tainted baby food they sold, the Fifth Circuit ruled, saying the case was improperly removed to federal court.
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May 29, 2024
Conn. Hospital Settles Exonerated Doctor's Race Bias Suit
A Connecticut hospital and a doctor of Nigerian heritage have settled a race and gender discrimination lawsuit that followed a supervisor's assertion during a sexual harassment and assault probe that Nigeria was home to a "typically misogynistic and chauvinistic" culture, according to a Wednesday dismissal order.
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May 29, 2024
May Roundup: 11 Wage Rulings on Class, Collective Actions
The month of May brought plenty of rulings in cases with one or two workers trying to assert claims on behalf of others. Whether it's collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act or class actions under state law where the bar to clear is higher, here are 11 rulings on group wage and hour litigation to know from May.
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May 28, 2024
HIV Drug Buyers Fight Bid To Combine 9th Circ. Appeal Briefs
Drug buyers that allege Gilead Sciences Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals delayed generic versions of HIV medications told the Ninth Circuit it would be unfair to grant the companies' call for a single brief addressing the 17 appeals filed after a jury rejected the claims last year.
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May 28, 2024
Workplace Civil Rights Suit Gets Full Mich. High Court Hearing
The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to again consider whether employers can use contracts to limit the ability of aggrieved workers to sue, after hearing mini oral arguments last year, though two justices said they would not have advanced the case.
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May 24, 2024
Petition Watch: Forum Shopping, Monopolies & Gun Safety
Law360 looks at four U.S. Supreme Court petitions filed in the past two weeks, including the FDA's request that the justices curb an increase in forum shopping at the Fifth Circuit, and two veterinarians who want the justices to allow plaintiffs to pursue antitrust claims for actions allegedly leading to the creation of a monopoly.
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May 23, 2024
Charges Tossed For Army Doc, Wife In Russia Data Leak Case
A Maryland federal judge dismissed all charges against a U.S. Army physician and her wife who were accused of trying to leak military patients' medical information to Russia, finding the government violated the Speedy Trial Act and bungled the defense's request for access to classified information.
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May 23, 2024
Conn. Marketing Co., Competitor Settle Exec Poaching Suit
The Connecticut-based healthcare marketing firm Primacy LLC has reached a settlement with a competitor it accused of poaching a top executive, weeks after bringing a trade secrets lawsuit in federal court.
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May 23, 2024
Ex-Physical Therapy Clinics Owner Gets 2 Yrs. In Billing Scam
The former owner of eight physical therapy clinics in the Boston area was sentenced Thursday in Massachusetts federal court to just over two years in prison for a years-long scheme to bill insurance companies for nonexistent treatments, including for himself.
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May 23, 2024
LA Jury Awards $58M To Train Yard Worker Injured In Slip
A train yard worker was awarded over $58 million this week by a Los Angeles jury due to an injury that he says occurred when he slipped on top of a wet train car, which resulted in a fractured foot and a diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome.
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May 22, 2024
Nursing Home Asks Ill. Justices For Broad COVID Immunity
An Illinois nursing home facing wrongful death suits over an outbreak of COVID-19 told the state's highest court Wednesday that plaintiffs were trying to have it "both ways," by claiming Gov. J.B. Pritzker's grant of pandemic-related immunity to healthcare facilities was both clear and ambiguous.
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May 22, 2024
Inventor To Take $102M IP Malpractice Row To Ga. High Court
A neurosurgeon pursuing a nearly $102 million legal malpractice case against FisherBroyles LLP and a legal services contractor over a missed patent filing deadline said Wednesday that he is planning to take the dispute to the highest court in the Peach State.
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May 22, 2024
NJ Law Firm Sued For Allegedly Botching Med Mal Action
New Jersey law firm Bramnick Rodriguez Grabas Arnold & Mangan LLC has been hit a legal malpractice lawsuit in state court from a former client alleging the firm botched a medical malpractice action by failing to submit an expert report.
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May 22, 2024
Calif. Court Rejects Arbitration Pact Stacked Against Workers
The arbitration pact an eyeglass retailer provided to a former employee was procedurally and substantively unconscionable and therefore unenforceable, a California state appeals court ruled, affirming a trial court's decision in a worker's wage and hour suit.
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May 21, 2024
Hawaii Wins $916M From Bristol-Myers, Sanofi Over Plavix
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Sanofi owe more than $916 million to the state of Hawaii for not warning patients of East Asian or Pacific Island ancestry of potential health risks associated with their blood thinner Plavix, a state judge ruled Tuesday, following a trip to the state's highest court.
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May 21, 2024
MetLife Workers Tell 3rd Circ. Higher Premiums Give Standing
A group of MetLife Group Inc. retirees insisted to the Third Circuit on Tuesday that they would have had lower health insurance premiums had MetLife not kept millions in pharmacy rebates, and that MetLife's actions gave them standing to sue — or at least to seek more information on how the company should spend the money.
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May 21, 2024
Prime Healthcare Atty Jumps Back To Genova Burns As Partner
A former Genova Burns LLC associate has rejoined the firm in New Jersey as a labor and employment partner this week after an in-house stint as associate general counsel for 50,000-employee health system Prime Healthcare, Genova Burns confirmed on Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Ex-Workers Drop Gender Bias Suit Against Ga. Medical Cos.
Two female former human resources workers for a medical management company and a podiatrist center told a Georgia federal court they had agreed to drop their lawsuit accusing their ex-employers of discriminating against them based on gender, reclassifying them as hourly and firing them for complaining.
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May 20, 2024
Justices Turn Away Hospital Construction Feud
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a case that centers on a $180 million project to expand a Mississippi children's hospital, once again declining to resolve whether parties that agree to certain arbitral rules have also agreed to delegate jurisdictional questions to the arbitrator.
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May 20, 2024
Judge Tosses Acuitas' COVID Biotech IP Suit
A New Jersey federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit from a maker of a component of a COVID-19 vaccine relating to patent infringement litigation brought by two other companies against Pfizer and BioNTech.
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May 20, 2024
Rite Aid Settles Trademark Suit Over New Logo
Rite Aid has reached an agreement with Brand Design Co. to end a lawsuit claiming that the drugstore chain misused the design firm's font for a new logo, the parties have told a Pennsylvania federal court.
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May 17, 2024
VA Deal Winner Says Protest Not Based On Common Sense
The winner of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mail-order pharmacy deal urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to toss a competitor's protest of the award, saying the protester's challenge was based on an incorrect reading of applicable regulations.
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May 17, 2024
Philly Surgeon Settles Sex Bias Case With Jefferson Hospital
An orthopedic surgeon who sued Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for gender discrimination over its handling of sexual assault allegations has settled his case with the hospital after a $15 million award in his favor was erased.
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May 16, 2024
NJ Judge Scrutinizes J&J Unit's Libel Claim Over Talc Study
A bankrupt Johnson & Johnson unit's libel claims over a scientific article linking talcum powder to mesothelioma intrigued a New Jersey federal judge during an oral argument on Thursday, prompting her to muse that the author's consideration of other exposures seemed to bolster the study at issue.
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May 16, 2024
Home Health Co., Aides Settle OT Suit Over Shift Tracking
A home health care organization and two workers asked an Ohio federal judge Thursday to sign off on a $62,000 settlement resolving claims that the company underpaid overtime wages by separately tracking the day and night shift hours that employees worked in a single week.
Expert Analysis
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When And How Companies Should Build An AI Strategy
Once a company has decided to engage with artificial intelligence, there are myriad steps that need to be taken, beginning with the creation of an AI leadership team that has deep knowledge about the company's business risks and is highly respected by senior management, say Judith Rinearson and Corey Bieber at K&L Gates.
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5th Circ. Ruling Shows Need For Proffer Terms Negotiation
The Fifth Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Shah decision, holding that a defendant breached his proffer agreement, illustrates why defense attorneys should insist on negotiating the terms of such agreements with prosecutors to protect their clients at trial, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
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Data Furnishers Should Watch CFPB Plans For Class Actions
Companies should follow the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rulemaking process as it considers allowing class actions against data brokers that provide incorrect consumer information to credit reporting agencies, a move that could rewrite the legal risks of participating in the consumer reporting ecosystem, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Justices Could Use Purdue To Resolve Related Circuit Split
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear Harrington v. Purdue Pharma to determine the validity of nonconsensual third-party releases in bankruptcy, but justices should also take the opportunity to resolve a related circuit split over the constitutional authority of bankruptcy judges to issue final rulings on such releases, says Benjamin Feder at Kelley Drye.
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2nd Circ. OT Ruling Guides On Pay For Off-The-Clock Work
While the Second Circuit’s recent holding in Perry v. City of New York reiterated that the Fair Labor Standards Act obligates employers to pay overtime for off-the-clock work, it recognized circumstances, such as an employee’s failure to report, that allow an employer to disclaim the knowledge element that triggers this obligation, say Robert Whitman and Kyle Winnick at Seyfarth.
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Tips For Student Visa Applicants Mired In Processing Delays
Notwithstanding procedural changes at the U.S. Department of State that provided hope for more timely and predictable visa processing outcomes, international student applications continue to risk becoming bogged down in administrative processing, but certain steps may improve the situation, say Carl Risch and Lauren Epstein at Mayer Brown.
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Bracing For Regulatory Delays As Shutdown Looms
As a government shutdown looms, stakeholders should plan for regulatory delays and note that more regulations could become vulnerable to congressional disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, say Matthew Shapanka and Holly Fechner at Covington.
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How A Gov't Shutdown Would Affect Immigration Processing
While a government shutdown would certainly create issues and cause delays for immigration processing, independently funded functions would continue for at least a limited time, and immigration practitioners can expect agencies to create reasonable exceptions and provide guidance for navigating affected matters once operations resume, say William Stock and Sarah Holler at Klasko Immigration Law Partners.
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Smart Immigration Reform Can Improve Health Care Access
With the U.S. health care crisis expected to worsen due to ongoing nationwide physician shortages, immigration reform can provide one short-term solution to bring more trained doctors to medically underserved areas, says Sarah Peterson at Fragomen.
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HIV Drug Case Against Gilead Threatens Medical Innovation
The California Court of Appeals should dismiss claims alleging that Gilead should be held liable for not bringing an HIV treatment to market sooner, or else the biopharmaceutical industry could be disincentivized from important development and innovation, says James Stansel at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
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Developers Are Testing Defenses In Generative AI Litigation
In the rapidly growing field of generative artificial intelligence law in the U.S., there are a few possible defenses that have already been effectively asserted by defendants in litigation, including lack of standing, reliance on the fair use doctrine, and the legality of so-called data scraping, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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How Calif. Ruling Extends Worker Bias Liability To 3rd Parties
The California Supreme Court's recent significant decision in Raines v. U.S. Healthworks Medical Group means businesses that provide employment-related services to California employers can potentially be held liable for California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act violations, says Ryan Larocca at CDF Labor.
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Laws Based On Rapid Drug Tests Are Unscientific And Unfair
Given the widespread legalization of marijuana, states are increasingly implementing laws to penalize drivers under the influence of drugs, but the laws do more harm than good as the rapid tests they rely on do not accurately measure impairment, say Josh Bloom and Henry Miller at the American Council on Science and Health.