Policy & Compliance

  • July 16, 2024

    Vertex Pharma Widens War On Watchdog's Kickback Views

    A lawsuit from gene therapy-drug maker Vertex Pharmaceuticals over fertility treatment access is a new battle over enforcement kickback theories and health officials' interpretation of "inducement."

  • July 16, 2024

    The 2024 Diversity Snapshot: What You Need To Know

    Law firms' ongoing initiatives to address diversity challenges have driven another year of progress, with the representation of minority attorneys continuing to improve across the board, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Here's our data dive into minority representation at law firms in 2023.

  • July 16, 2024

    These Firms Have The Most Diverse Equity Partnerships

    Law360’s law firm survey shows that firms' efforts to diversify their equity partner ranks are lagging. But some have embraced a broader talent pool at the equity partner level. Here are the ones that stood out.

  • July 16, 2024

    Health System Strikes Deal To End EEOC Race Bias Suit

    A Michigan healthcare system has agreed to pay a Black home health aid $30,000 to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit alleging she was immediately fired in contradiction with system policy after a white worker accused her of starting a verbal conflict.

  • July 16, 2024

    North Carolina High Court Has Eyes On Certificate Of Need

    A recent North Carolina Supreme Court decision in a property-owner discrimination suit may have opened the door to new legal challenges to the state's decades-old medical control spending law.

  • July 15, 2024

    Ex-Pfizer Worker Seeks No Time For Paxlovid Insider Trading

    A former Pfizer employee argued that he shouldn't go to prison after a Manhattan federal jury convicted him of insider trading over clinical trial results for the drug Paxlovid, pointing out that a friend of his and co-defendant had dodged a custodial sentence in the case after helping prosecutors.

  • July 15, 2024

    Cigna, Chuck Close Estate Settle Reneged Benefits Suit

    The estate of renowned artist Chuck Close told a New York federal judge that Cigna has agreed to settle a suit claiming the company wouldn't pay for more than $686,000 in at-home skilled nursing care that it claimed was owed to him under his Pace Gallery employee benefit plan.

  • July 15, 2024

    Split 2nd Circ. Nixes Surgeon's Default In Sex Assault Case

    A split panel of the Second Circuit said a Connecticut surgeon should have been fully freed from the default judgment against him in a sex assault suit after a jury concluded his accuser failed to prove the assault happened, with one judge dissenting Monday that parts of the default ruling should remain.

  • July 15, 2024

    Theranos Ex-Exec's Lead Atty Joins Boutique Firm In LA

    A former BigLaw attorney who was lead defense counsel for Theranos' former president Ramesh Balwani has joined Los Angeles boutique Foundation Law Group LLP to lead its white collar practice, the firm announced Monday.

  • July 15, 2024

    Machinery Co. Defends 'Right' To Ax Trans Care In Health Plan

    A turbomachinery company asked to intervene on a transgender worker's New Hampshire federal court claim that its health plan administrators violated Affordable Care Act anti-bias provisions by enforcing a gender dysphoria treatment ban in the company's health plan, arguing that the issue is intertwined with its mission.

  • July 15, 2024

    Wage Cases To Follow As Justices Rein In Agencies

    A trio of U.S. Supreme Court rulings this term that dulled administrative agencies' power are likely to make an impact on how the U.S. Department of Labor enforces wage and hour law. Here, Law360 reviews six cases where their application is already becoming a point of contention.

  • July 15, 2024

    11th Circ. Upholds UMiami's Win In Retaliation Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a Miami federal jury's verdict rejecting claims that the University of Miami fired a compliance officer for his refusal to close an investigation into the college's alleged Medicare overcharging, ruling that the officer had "invited" the jury instruction on which he based his appeal.

  • July 12, 2024

    Law360 Names 2024's Top Attorneys Under 40

    Law360 is pleased to announce the Rising Stars of 2024, our list of 158 attorneys under 40 whose legal accomplishments belie their age.

  • July 12, 2024

    Whistleblower's Attys Get $5.9M After Losing $11.5M Fee Ask

    A Massachusetts federal judge awarded a whistleblower's counsel $5.9 million in fees plus $651,845 in costs and expenses after slashing their prior "exorbitant" $11.5 million fee request in May in a decade-old False Claims Act lawsuit alleging Fresenius Medical Care billed Medicare for unnecessary hepatitis tests.

  • July 12, 2024

    Military's IVF Policy Defense Fails Post-Chevron, Group Says

    A nonprofit that's challenging the U.S. military's in vitro fertilization coverage policy for service members told a New York federal judge that federal agencies cannot claim they're entitled to Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the decades-old precedent.

  • July 12, 2024

    3 Fla. Labs Settle Medicare Overbilling Case For $2.45M

    Three medical labs in Clermont, Florida, have agreed to pay $2.45 million to resolve allegations they were manipulating diagnosis codes, or "code jamming," to submit more lucrative claims to Medicare and Medicaid for reimbursement by having a computer macro tack on extra diagnosis codes before filing the claims with the government.

  • July 12, 2024

    Boston To Pay $1M To End Health Dept. Harassment Case

    A high-profile sexual harassment case against the city of Boston and its former health director settled for $1 million earlier this month, according to a copy of the agreement released Friday.

  • July 12, 2024

    Widower Drops Suit Over Surgical Robot-Related Death

    A widower agreed Thursday to drop his suit against Intuitive Surgical Inc. over an alleged defect in its da Vinci surgical robots that allowed electricity to arc during his wife's surgery, burning her small intestine and leading to her death.

  • July 12, 2024

    7 Gender-Affirming Care Cases To Watch In 2024's 2nd Half

    The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a constitutional challenge by the federal government to Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, while other appeals courts are weighing the constitutionality of states' and employers' restrictions on gender dysphoria treatment. Here are seven cases involving gender-affirming care access that attorneys will be tracking in the second half of the year.

  • July 12, 2024

    Biggest Washington Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report

    The first half of 2024 in Washington courts was punctuated by a fizzled startup's $72 million trial win against The Boeing Co., and Monsanto Co.'s appellate reversal of a $185 million verdict in one of a series of high-profile PCB poisoning cases. Here is a closer look at some of the biggest decisions in Washington state and federal courts in the first half of 2024.

  • July 11, 2024

    Panel Says Kansas BCBS Unit Can't Face Rehab Suit In Colo.

    A Kansas Blue Cross Blue Shield unit can't be sued in Colorado for terminating the coverage of a patient who was receiving treatment for an autoimmune syndrome, a state appellate panel ruled Thursday.

  • July 11, 2024

    9th Circ. Signals Dr.'s Vax-Refusal Case Deserves New Chance

    Ninth Circuit judges signaled Thursday that they were likely to revive a doctor's case claiming he was wrongfully fired from his Washington State University residency for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination, with two judges questioning if the school went far enough to accommodate his religious beliefs.

  • July 11, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Pauses Ouster Of Teva Patents From Orange Book

    Teva can keep challenged asthma inhaler device patents listed on, and protected by, an important government database after the Federal Circuit agreed Wednesday to pump the brakes on the patents' delisting while the Israeli drugmaker appeals an order won by Amneal in an infringement lawsuit.

  • July 11, 2024

    Opiate MDL Judge Flags Evidence Preservation Shortfall

    An Ohio federal judge has said "at least some" of the plaintiff local government entities in four chosen bellwether cases against pharmacy benefit managers for the multidistrict litigation over the opioid epidemic failed to preserve documents and evidence for trial, warning the parties he may replace those cases.

  • July 11, 2024

    Hospital Urges 4th Circ. To Back Win In Worker's Vax Bias Suit

    A Virginia health system told the Fourth Circuit to let its win stand in a former nurse's lawsuit claiming she was unlawfully fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine because of her Christian beliefs, saying the nurse raised only her personal misgivings, not religion, in her exemption request. 

Expert Analysis

  • ESG Around The World: South Korea

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    Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • A Look At Healthcare Timelines Set By Biden's AI Order

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    President Joe Biden's artificial intelligence executive order establishes standards for using AI in the healthcare industry, including a number of staggered deadlines that should help coordinate a more unified federal approach to AI governance, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • A Look At Successful Bid Protests In FY 2023

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    Attorneys at Sheppard Mullin look beyond the statistics in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s recent annual report on bid protests, sharing their insights about nine categories of sustained protests, gained from reading every fiscal year 2023 decision in which the protester had a positive result.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • FDA's Lab-Developed Test Rule May Bring Historic Challenges

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    If finalized, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's proposed rule for regulating laboratory-developed tests will provoke some of the most interesting legal challenges that the agency has faced in decades, with outcomes that will likely reverberate across the agency's product centers, says Stacy Amin at MoFo.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • AI Use May Trigger False Claims Act's Public Disclosure Bar

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    The likely use of publicly available artificial intelligence tools to detect government fraud by combing through large data sets will raise complex questions about a False Claims Act provision that prohibits the filing of claims based on previously disclosed information, say Nick Peterson and Spencer Brooks at Wiley Rein.

  • Beware Privacy Risks In Training AI Models With Health Data

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    Because data used to train artificial intelligence models may be protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or other regulations, users of these models should conduct proper diligence to avoid costly compliance failures, say Neha Matta and Barbara Bennett at Frost Brown.

  • Unpacking GAO's FY 2023 Bid Protest Report

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    The U.S. Government Accountability Office's recent bid protest report reflects an increase in sustained protests, illustrating that disappointed offerors may see little reason to refrain from seeking corrective action — but there is more to the story, say Aron Beezley and Patrick Quigley at Bradley Arant.

  • White House AI Order Balances Innovation And Regulation

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    President Joe Biden’s recently issued executive order on artificial intelligence lays out a sprawling list of directives aimed at establishing standards for safety, security and privacy protection, and may help strike the balance between the freedom to innovate and the need to impose regulation in this rapidly evolving space, say Kristen Logan and Martin Zoltick at Rothwell Figg.

  • Reading Between The Lines Of HHS' National Lab Opinion

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    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General recently rejected a national laboratory's request to pay a referring lab to process specimens, but the request might have been an attempt to exploit the OIG's advisory opinion process for a competitive advantage, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health Law.

  • A Closer Look At Proposed HHS Research Misconduct Rule

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    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' proposed updates to its policies on research misconduct codify many well-known best practices, but also contain some potential surprises for the research community and counsel, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.