More Healthcare Coverage
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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February 21, 2024
Doc Keeps Trial Win In Suit Over Patient's Medication List
A New York state appeals panel on Wednesday declined to grant a new trial to a widow who alleged her husband's doctor failed to tell his surgeon about his essential medications, saying the trial court did not allow the doctor to impermissibly pass the blame to defendants who'd already been dismissed from the case.
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February 21, 2024
Morgue Manager's Wife Cops To Role In Body Part Sales
The wife of a Harvard University morgue manager will cop to interstate transport of stolen goods for her role in the alleged scheme to steal and sell human remains to a nationwide network, prosecutors said Wednesday.
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February 21, 2024
'Loser Pays' Arbitration Pact Spurs Age Bias Case's Revival
An Ohio state appeals court revived a fired orthodontist's age bias suit claiming she was sacked after complaining that a younger colleague harassed her, ruling that a trial court was too quick to kick the case to arbitration in light of the contract's potentially problematic "loser pays" clause.
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February 21, 2024
Conn. Court Pauses Refund Plan For Ex-Nursing Students
Over the objections of the Connecticut attorney general, a judge has temporarily halted a state agency's plan to refund some tuition money that students paid to the now-shuttered nursing school Stone Academy, siding with a proposed class of affected students who want to avoid waiving their legal rights in order to receive the payments.
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February 21, 2024
Juror Misconduct Warrants New Trial In Birth Injury Suit
A Tennessee appeals panel has revived a woman's claims that her obstetrician caused birth injuries to her newborn by failing to administer an EpiPen when she had an allergic reaction to a medication, saying a juror likely polluted the verdict by bringing in outside information to deliberations.
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February 20, 2024
Ill. Cardiologist Keeps Trial Win In Med Mal Death Suit
An Illinois state appeals court on Tuesday declined to upend a trial victory for a cardiologist and his employer in a suit alleging he misdiagnosed the severity of a heart condition in a patient who later died, saying the trial court was not wrong to allow certain defense testimony or limit the plaintiff's evidence.
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February 20, 2024
Permanent Need Dooms Request For H-2B Home Health Aides
A U.S. Department of Labor appeals board has upheld the rejection of a business's request to hire four home health aides under the H-2B temporary foreign worker program, determining a certifying officer did not act arbitrarily and capriciously in finding the company failed to show its need for workers was temporary.
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February 20, 2024
Justices Decline Malpractice Dispute Over $6M Settlement
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear the appeal of a Massachusetts legal malpractice suit in which Lubin & Meyer PC was accused, and cleared by a lower court, of pressuring a family into accepting a $6 million settlement that the family claims could have been higher.
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February 16, 2024
Judge Seeks Briefing On New Expert Proposed In Tylenol MDL
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote signaled Friday that she's willing to consider a new expert witness proposed in the multidistrict litigation alleging prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes ADHD, directing the parties to propose a briefing schedule on whether the expert's opinion is admissible.
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February 16, 2024
Family Of 23-Year-Old Who Died From Ulcer Gets $30M
A Florida state jury awarded $30 million to the family of a 23-year-old woman who died from an untreated ulcer at a Tampa hospital after finding the two doctors entrusted with her care liable for negligence.
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February 16, 2024
Va. Couple Sues CooperSurgical Over Destroyed Embryos
CooperSurgical Inc. has been hit with a product liability action in California federal court by a Virginia couple alleging they went through the arduous process of in vitro fertilization only for the company's defective culture media to destroy their irreplaceable embryos.
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February 16, 2024
Fired Hospital Worker Can't Keep Fighting PTO Denial
A maintenance worker who lost an administrative case alleging his ex-employer owed him money for unused paid time off when he was fired cannot try again to get a judgment in state court against the hospital where he worked or Michigan labor regulators, an appellate panel has found.
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February 16, 2024
Littler Hit With DQ Bid For Wielding Mistakenly Produced Doc
Littler Mendelson PC has gained an "unfair advantage" and should be booted from defending a Florida pharmacy services company for using an inadvertently produced, privileged document in a deposition last week, a woman suing the company for whistleblower retaliation said.
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February 15, 2024
Petition Watch: Classes, Litigation Changes & Fraud Theories
The U.S. Supreme Court receives thousands of petitions for review each term, but only a few make the news. Here, Law360 looks at four petitions filed in the past three weeks that you might've missed, including questions over how courts should analyze class certification bids and regulations restricting specific speech for content-neutral reasons, whether plaintiffs must reestablish standing after amending lawsuits, and what constitutes fraud.
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February 14, 2024
Colo. Hospital Sued For Denying Gender Dysphoria Surgery
A patient is suing the Children's Hospital Colorado for discrimination and allegedly violating state law after a new policy barred surgical treatment for gender dysphoria, leading to the immediate cancellation of all surgeries for transgender patients, according to a suit filed Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Case Law Is Mixed On D&O Coverage For Gov't Investigations
As the Fourth Circuit’s recent decision in Brown Goldstein v. Federal Insurance Co. demonstrates, federal appeals courts take different approaches to determine whether government investigations are covered by directors and officers liability insurance, so companies and individuals must review their policy language, say Chloe Law, Jan Larson and Caroline Meneau at Jenner & Block.
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ALI's Medical-Monitoring Proposal May Encourage Claims
If the American Law Institute's Third Restatement of Torts is updated to embrace a minority view regarding claims for medical monitoring in the absence of present bodily harm, it would raise a number of troubling issues and accelerate the already rising rate of such claims, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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Preparing For FDA's Surprise Foreign Drug Inspection Regime
Foreign drug manufacturers face an increased likelihood of unannounced inspections under a recently expanded U.S. Food and Drug Administration pilot program, so they should take several steps to prepare — or face the risk of an import alert blocking their product from the U.S. market, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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SuperValu's Lesson: Always Be Building An FCA Defense
The recent U.S. v. SuperValu decision confirming that scienter is an essential element of False Claims Act liability should motivate government contractors to prepare for allegations of material misrepresentation by building a record of their honorable efforts toward regulatory compliance, say David Resnicoff and Andrew Patton at Riley Safer.
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Next Steps For Ill. Tort Defendants After Cotton V. Coccaro
While an Illinois appeals court's ruling in Cotton v. Coccaro recently upheld the constitutionality of the state's law imposing prejudgment interest in personal injury and wrongful death actions, defendants can still raise constitutional challenges to the law pending Illinois Supreme Court review, says Melissa Murphy-Petros at Wilson Elser.
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NBA Players Must Avoid Legal Fouls In CBD Deals
The NBA’s recently ratified collective bargaining agreement allows athletes to promote CBD brands and products, but athletes and the companies they promote must be cautious of a complex patchwork of applicable state laws and federal regulators’ approach to advertising claims, says Airina Rodrigues at Brownstein Hyatt.
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What Purdue Ch. 11 Means For Future Of Third-Party Releases
The Second Circuit’s highly anticipated ruling approving Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan establishes stringent factors that lower courts must consider before approving nonconsensual third-party releases, but the circuit split on the matter means the issue is far from resolved, say Gregory Hesse and Kollin Bender at Hunton.
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Preparing For Md. Adult-Use Cannabis: Operations And More
As a new regulatory body takes the reins before Maryland’s adult-use cannabis market launches on July 1, industry stakeholders should understand key provisions related to management agreements, secured creditors and receiverships, dispensary operations, and hemp, say Seth Gitner and Jonathan Havens at Saul Ewing.
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Takeaways From Tribes' High Court Adoption Case Victory
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Haaland v. Brackeen, upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act, leaves the door open for individuals to bring equal protection claims, but generally bodes well for future tribal issues that reach the court, says Sarah Murray at Brownstein Hyatt.
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High Court Underscores DOJ's Role In Policing FCA Litigation
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Polansky v. Executive Health Resources reaffirms that the government has final say in False Claims Act cases, allowing for meaningful guardrails that deter private litigators from seeking to regulate industries that Congress has delegated to expert administrative agencies, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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What The Data Says About FDA Responses To FOIA Requests
A statistical evaluation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's response times to Freedom of Information Act requests in the last decade shows that the FDA handles the majority of requests within a reasonable time frame, but its slowest response times are somewhat concerning, says Bradley Thompson at Epstein Becker.
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Despite Its Plan Objections, UST Also Won In Purdue Ch. 11
The Second Circuit’s recent decision approving Purdue Pharma’s reorganization plan is a win even for the dissenting Office of the U.S. Trustee because the decision sets extremely stringent guidelines for future use of nonconsensual third-party releases, say Edward Neiger and Jennifer Christian at Ask.
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What Courts Say About Workers' Comp And Medical Marijuana
Whether employers and insurance carriers are required or allowed to reimburse employees for out-of-pocket costs for treating work-related injuries with medical marijuana has spawned a debate, and the state courts that have addressed this matter are split on a number of issues, say Alexandra Hassell and Anthony Califano at Seyfarth.