Intuitive Doesn't Owe 'Free-Riding' Firm $140M, Expert Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

Robotic surgery pioneer Intuitive Surgical isn't a monopolist since it competes with other surgery options and a "free-riding" surgical repair company isn't due up to $140 million in profits allegedly lost due to Intuitive blocking its unauthorized part-refurbishment service, an economist testified Friday in a California antitrust trial.

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Pfizer To Pay $59M Over Unit's Migraine Drug Kickbacks

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that Pfizer has agreed in New York federal court to pay $59.7 million to resolve allegations that one of its subsidiaries caused false Medicare claims by paying kickbacks to physicians to induce prescriptions of migraine drug Nurtec ODT.

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Justices To Clarify Article III Standing For Certified Classes

By Dorothy Atkins

The U.S. Supreme Court granted LabCorp's request on Friday to clarify federal law regarding whether district courts can certify class actions when some members of the proposed class may lack a cognizable injury in fact.

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Del. Justices Reject Investor Suit Over Dropped Drug Prospect

By Sydney Price

Delaware's Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Court of Chancery decision dismissing a Ception Therapeutics Inc. stockholder suit alleging breaches of an agreement to use commercially reasonable efforts before Cephalon Inc., which acquired Ception, and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. abandoned a new drug prospect.

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Analysis

Senate Bill Not Seen As Death Knell For Skinny Label Suits

By Ryan Davis

A Senate bill aiming to protect generic-drug makers from patent suits when using so-called skinny labels could give the law more clarity if passed, but it likely wouldn't halt such cases since they involve issues that are more complex than lawmakers may realize, attorneys say.

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Ill. Justices OK Workers' Injury Suits Over Dormant Diseases

By Dorothy Atkins

The Illinois Supreme Court answered the Seventh Circuit's call on Friday to clarify the state's Workers' Occupational Diseases Act in a widow's wrongful death lawsuit against Goodrich Corp., finding the statute can apply to claims for asbestos-related cancer and other diseases that manifest belatedly despite the statute's other temporal restrictions.

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Biotech Co. Defends Antitrust Counterclaims Against Rival

By Jared Foretek

Biotech company Zymo Research Corp. is defending its claims that German diagnostic competitor Qiagen GmbH's infringement suit is nothing more than an attempt to discredit a competitor, saying Zymo offered to prove it wasn't ripping off Qiagen's tech, only to have Qiagen bury "its head in the sand" and file suit.

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IVF Patients Want CooperSurgical Embryo Loss Suits Joined

By Brian Steele

Four product liability lawsuits targeting the maker of recalled culture media for in vitro fertilization should be consolidated and sent to the Connecticut Superior Court's complex litigation docket, the parties have agreed, but defendant CooperSurgical Inc. wants them kept out of Stamford.

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Venture-Backed IPO Recovery Could Be Muted, Report Says

By Tom Zanki

The expected recovery for venture-backed initial public offerings in 2025 will likely be muted, a capital markets research firm said Friday, given investors' persistent concerns about valuation and delayed interest rate cuts that may not happen until midyear.

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Lessons From The Pharma Industry On Patent Cliffs

In the next five years, patents for drugs that have generated billions in global sales are set to expire, and companies that view this imminent patent cliff as an opportunity for strategic renewal rather than a challenge will be best positioned to maintain market leadership, says Keegan Caldwell at Caldwell Law.

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Mentorship Resolutions For The New Year

Attorneys tend to focus on personal achievements or career milestones when they set yearly goals, but one important area often gets overlooked in this process — mentoring relationships, which are some of the most effective tools for professional growth, say Kelly Galligan at Rutan & Tucker and Andra Greene at Phillips ADR.

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Analysis

Companies Risk White House Wrath By Keeping DEI Programs

By Sarah Jarvis

For companies pushing forward with their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives amid a torrent of attacks from President Donald Trump and his allies, there are myriad potential risks ahead — and murky questions about the legal parameters of Trump's anti-DEI agenda.

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Law Students Scramble As Federal Gov't Yanks Job Offers

By Alison Knezevich

Law students across the country are scrambling to figure out their next steps after a range of federal agencies yanked job and internship offers this week because of the new hiring freeze imposed by the Trump administration.

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Mass Tort Atty Files Ch. 11 Owing $202M To Litigation Funders

By Hilary Russ

A Houston plaintiffs attorney has filed for personal Chapter 11 protection with more than $202 million of litigation funding liabilities, according to his petition in the Southern District of Texas.

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Feud Heats Up Over Estate Of Wife Killed By Ex-BigLaw Atty

By Emily Johnson

The godson of a Georgia woman killed by her husband, former Fisher Phillips partner Claud "Tex" McIver, has said her cousins shouldn't get proceeds from a settlement of an underlying wrongful death suit, calling them "strangers" to her and claiming "the redistributive windfall" they're asking for "has no place in Georgia law."

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Boston Firm Says IT Vendor Holding Computers 'Hostage'

By Julie Manganis

Boston-based law firm Melick & Porter LLP says a company it hired to manage its information technology is now holding its computer network and data "hostage" by refusing to cooperate with the transition to a new vendor unless Melick pays it $380,000.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Phillips Black Inc., Ridley McGreevy & Winocur PC and King & Spalding LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court revived claims from a woman on death row in Oklahoma that prosecutors unfairly sex-shamed her and relied on gender-based stereotypes to convince a jury that she had killed her estranged husband for insurance money.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

A new Law360 Pulse survey shows that more than 90% of in-house counsel have no regrets about their decisions to join companies. In litigation stemming from Purdue Pharma's sales of OxyContin that fueled the opioid crisis, the Sackler family would lose control of Purdue and pay $6.5 billion in the latest proposed settlement. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.​

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen Axa Insurance and Admiral face a claim from a former lawyer recently exposed for personal injury fraud, the owner of Reading Football Club sue a prospective buyer and mobile network Lycamobile tackle action by Spanish network Yogio. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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