More Healthcare Coverage

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • February 27, 2024

    Troubled REIT Finds Lifeline In $941M Bond Offering

    Diversified Healthcare Trust, which doubted its ability to survive mounting debt issues last year, no longer faces an existential threat due to proceeds it netted from a $941 million senior secured notes offering, an executive of the real estate investment trust said.

  • February 26, 2024

    Sales Reps Score $1.6M In Fees After Beating RICO Case

    A federal judge in Los Angeles has ordered a biotech startup to pay more than $1.6 million in legal fees to two former employees, after the company failed to convince a jury that the pair broke racketeering laws when they worked for a rival that stole proprietary information when setting up shop.

  • February 26, 2024

    Medical Device Companies Settle Ga. Wrongful Death Suit

    Two medical alert device companies have settled a Georgia man's allegations that their negligent handling of his mother's distress call led to her death, avoiding a looming trial in the case, according to a filing Monday in Peach State federal court.

  • February 26, 2024

    NJ Town Justified Hospital-Only Zone, Appeals Panel Says

    A New Jersey municipality may be able to exclude nursing homes from an area zoned for hospitals, a Garden State appeals panel ruled Monday, reasoning that a trial court order disallowing the maneuver relied on case law that's factually distinct. 

  • February 23, 2024

    Pa. Dentist Hit With $11M Verdict In Cancer Patient's Suit

    A Pennsylvania jury has awarded an $11 million verdict to a woman who claimed her dentist failed to promptly send her for a biopsy of a sore in her mouth that eventually developed into Stage IV cancer, her attorneys announced Friday.

  • February 22, 2024

    Conn. AG Defends $10M Remedy Bid Against Nursing School

    The state of Connecticut on Thursday defended its request to collect a $10 million litigation placeholder from a shuttered nursing school, arguing state regulators were correct to take action against the troubled institution despite the school's strenuous assertions that the attorney general's office is wrong on many facts.

  • February 22, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Protect AbbVie's Atty-Client Communications

    The Third Circuit has denied AbbVie Inc.'s bid to block a Pennsylvania federal court's order to turn over attorney communications from a patent case allegedly cooked up just to extend the company's monopoly on a testosterone drug, but the appellate court's explanation remained under seal Thursday.

  • February 22, 2024

    Total Vision's Antitrust Suit Against VSP Kept Largely Intact

    Total Vision can move forward with most antitrust claims accusing eye care insurance giant VSP of hamstringing it and trying to force an acquisition at a dramatically reduced price, after a California federal judge said VSP cannot summarily duck behind a deal signing away Total Vision's rights to sue.

  • February 22, 2024

    Fired Exec Says Conn. Hospital Booted Her For Her Age

    A former Waterbury Hospital executive is suing her ex-employer in Connecticut federal court, saying it posted her job on a career site while she was on medical leave and then fired her so the CEO could "replace her with someone younger and more attractive."

  • February 22, 2024

    Fla. Whistleblower Suit Deal Averts Littler's Disqualification

    Littler Mendelson PC won't have to face a disqualification bid in Florida federal court over a firm attorney's purported use of a mistakenly produced, privileged document at a deposition after its client reached a settlement in a whistleblower retaliation suit, court records show.

  • February 22, 2024

    ICE's Immunity Bars Bulk Of Virus Death Suit, For Now

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has for now dodged most of a lawsuit over the death of a man who contracted COVID-19 in detention, after a California federal court ruled that sovereign immunity barred most of the case.

Expert Analysis

  • EU's AI Act Is A Glimpse Into Future Compliance Landscape

    Author Photo

    As the EU's groundbreaking Artificial Intelligence Act moves to the final stage of adoption, its proposed language provides valuable insight into the substantial compliance hurdles that companies across all jurisdictions will face in using generative AI, so U.S. organizations should consider what they can be doing now, say Vivien Peaden and Alexander Koskey at Baker Donelson.

  • What Justices' Pork Ruling Means For Interstate Cannabis

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent National Pork v. Ross ruling added a new wrinkle to dormant commerce clause jurisprudence as the nation’s federal courts grapple with a novel paradox raised by interstate cannabis commerce, and pending appellate cases may shed additional light on these issues later this year, say Tommy Tobin and Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie.

  • How High Court Is Assessing Tribal Law Questions

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's four rulings on tribal issues from this term show that Justice Neil Gorsuch's extensive experience in federal Native American law brings helpful experience to the court but does not necessarily guarantee favorable outcomes for tribal interests, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

  • Complex Hemp Processes Need Nimble Regulatory Approach

    Author Photo

    Since the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp and certain hemp-derived products, THC limits have presented different issues at each stage of the complex production process, revealing the need for continued adjustments and flexible regulations as Congress deliberates the 2023 Farm Bill, says David Kouba at Arnold & Porter.

  • 4 New State Geofencing Bans And How They Differ

    Author Photo

    Washington, New York, Connecticut and Nevada have now enacted laws prohibiting geofencing around locations that provide certain health care services, but these new laws vary widely, with Washington taking the broadest and most restrictive approach, say Andreas Kaltsounis and Nichole Sterling at BakerHostetler.

  • Noncompetes Hold Atty Privilege Pitfalls For Health Industry

    Author Photo

    Providers negotiating with medical professionals bound by enforceable restrictive covenants must tread carefully due to not only risk of breaching physicians' covenants but also risk of wrongful conduct that pierces attorney-client privilege, says Scott O'Connell at Holland & Knight.

  • What Came Of Texas Legislature's Long-Promised Tax Relief

    Author Photo

    Following promises of historic tax relief made possible by a record budget surplus, the Texas legislative session as a whole was one in which taxpayers that are large businesses could have done somewhat better, but the new legislation is clearly still a positive, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • What Companies Must Know About Product Recalls

    Author Photo

    Recent recalls of asthma inhalers and Baby Shark toys provide an ideal opportunity to review the most essential steps companies should take when planning and conducting their own product recalls — from notifying government agencies and retaining experts to properly communicating with the public, say Kelly Jones Howell and Judi Abbott Curry at Harris Beach.

  • It's Not You, It's Me: Breaking Up With Mass. FCA Prosecutors

    Author Photo

    A recent Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office settlement, which required a hospital to admit to certain facts, continues a state trend away from traditionally defense-friendly nonadmission language and may complicate the prospects of amicably resolving future False Claims Act cases, say Jonathan York and Scott Memmott at Morgan Lewis.

  • 11th Circ. Ruling May Impede Insurers' Defense Cost Recoup

    Author Photo

    The Eleventh Circuit's recent Continental Casualty v. Winder Laboratories ruling that insurers cannot obtain reimbursement of defense costs from their insureds where the policy itself does not require such reimbursement is likely to be cited as persuasive authority in Georgia and other states without clear precedent on the issue, say Christy Maple and Robert Whitney at Phelps Dunbar.

  • Benefits Ruling Has ERISA Review Standard Red Flags

    Author Photo

    The Eighth Circuit’s recent McIntyre v. Reliance Standard decision, reversing a nurse's disability benefits win, applies a deferential standard of review that conflicts with rulings issued by other federal circuit courts, and raises concerns about whether the law’s intent is being met, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • Cannabis Cos. Must Heed PFAS Risks In Products, Packaging

    Author Photo

    Cannabis businesses and ancillary service providers will have to grapple with evolving PFAS enforcement, litigation and regulations – most recently enacted in Minnesota – and take steps to mitigate risks posed by forever chemicals in their products and packaging, say Malina Dumas and Amy Rubenstein at Dentons.

  • Insurance Insights From 5th Circ. Blue Bell Coverage Ruling

    Author Photo

    The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling that denied Blue Bell insurance coverage for the defense costs incurred from a shareholder lawsuit underscores the importance of coordination of different coverages and policies across programs, and the potential perils of seeking recovery for losses under nontraditional policies, say Geoffrey Fehling and Casey Coffey at Hunton.

Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Healthcare Authority Other archive.