More Healthcare Coverage
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January 31, 2024
Architect Says Steward Owes $2M For Work On Mass. Hospital
Financially troubled Steward Health Care and its landlord owe nearly $2 million for architectural and other professional services on a project to replace one of its Massachusetts hospitals after a 2020 flood, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.
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January 31, 2024
Baylor Wants Nurse's Age, Disability Discrimination Suit Tossed
Baylor University Medical Center has argued a former nurse failed to make any age-related allegations in her discrimination charge and can't establish that she's disabled, asking a Texas federal judge to grant its summary judgment motion.
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January 31, 2024
Doctor In NBA Fraud Case Moves To Ditch Atty, Yank Plea
A Seattle-based physician accused of generating false invoices for a group of NBA players to submit to the league's healthcare plan has asked a Manhattan federal judge to let him drop his attorney, citing a difference of opinion over his trying to back out of his plea agreement.
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January 31, 2024
Mich. Hospital 'Didn't Do Its Job' For Deaf Patient, Judge Says
A Michigan federal judge on Wednesday pressed counsel for Henry Ford Health System to explain why a deaf patient was not provided with any communication aids during a surgery, seemingly skeptical of the hospital system's defense that the chaos of the early pandemic justified the lapses.
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January 31, 2024
NJ Law Firm Seeks Sanctions In Malpractice Suit Led By Rival
Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman LLC asked a New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday to impose "a substantial monetary sanction" against former-colleague-turned-rival Bruce Nagel and his firm Nagel Rice LLP, arguing that their most recent filing in its legal malpractice suit alleging Mazie Slater overcharged clients in multidistrict litigation over the blood pressure drug Benicar contains frivolous claims and baseless conclusions.
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January 31, 2024
Juror Misconduct Claim Sends Med Mal Case Back To Court
An Indiana appeals panel on Wednesday reversed a trial court's denial of an evidentiary hearing following a jury verdict in favor of a doctor in a medical malpractice case, saying the lower court judge must explore an allegation of juror misconduct.
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January 30, 2024
1st Circ. Backs Doctor In Row Over Patent Evidence
The First Circuit has backed a lower court jury's finding in favor of a doctor accused of fraud for not obtaining the proper consent from a patient who received an experimental therapy, rejecting an argument that the lower court didn't include evidence involving a patent.
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January 30, 2024
CDC Patent Apps Lead Gilead To Victory In HIV Research Feud
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's repeated citation of research for HIV prevention treatments in its patent applications was key to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims concluding the government violated contracts with research partner Gilead, according to an opinion unsealed Tuesday.
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January 30, 2024
Philips Halts Sales Of Sleep Apnea Devices In US After Recall
Koninklijke Philips NV revealed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday that it is halting sales of sleep apnea breathing machines in the U.S. after it began a recall in 2021 over potential health risks posed by the breakdown of sound-insulating foam.
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January 30, 2024
Chancery Denies Injunction Bid In Senior Housing Deal Feud
A chancellor in the Delaware Court of Chancery on Tuesday rejected an investment firm's attempt to block a real estate company's ability to pay itself returns from a senior housing deal that went south, saying she wasn't convinced that the private equity shop would face irreparable harm otherwise.
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January 30, 2024
Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Satellites And AI Fighter Jets
The federal government opened the new year with contracts seeking various military satellite capabilities, all while the U.S. Air Force pushed forward its $5.8 billion campaign for a fleet of autonomous military aircraft. These are Law360's most significant contracts in January.
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January 30, 2024
Most Claims In $1.76B Vt. Hospital 403(b) Suit Can Proceed
A Vermont federal judge on Tuesday declined to toss the bulk of a proposed class action federal benefits lawsuit from ex-workers for the University of Vermont Medical Center alleging their $1.76 billion retirement plan was saddled with underperforming funds and higher fees, but agreed to drop injunctive relief claims.
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January 30, 2024
7th Circ. Won't Revive School Staffers' COVID-Testing Suit
The Seventh Circuit on Monday refused to reinstate a lawsuit brought by public school personnel challenging the Illinois governor's orders that they be tested regularly for COVID-19 unless they had been vaccinated, saying the plaintiffs improperly filed one suit in state court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and a second in federal court seeking damages.
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January 30, 2024
UNC Prof Says He's Immune From Suit Over Party Pics Probe
A University of North Carolina medical school professor has told the state Supreme Court that he's immune as a state official from a lawsuit alleging that he initiated a vindictive investigation into a bawdy going-away party resulting in an outgoing physician's pay being delayed.
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January 30, 2024
Man Asks 11th Circ. To Reduce Sentence For Med Device Fraud
A businessman who received a 10-year prison sentence for buying discounted medical devices intended for Afghanistan but instead reselling them in the U.S. told the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday that the district court overstated the loss to the medical device makers and erroneously enhanced his sentence as a result.
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January 30, 2024
Pfizer Says Moderna Telling FDA One Thing, PTAB Another
Pfizer has told the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that the language Moderna used to quickly gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its COVID-19 vaccines should doom its efforts to defend its patents at the board, accusing it of pursuing a "litigation-driven one-eighty."
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January 30, 2024
Colo. Worker Says Pa. Staffing Agency Shorted Wages
A Pennsylvania staffing agency has been underpaying its Colorado workers, slashing overtime wages by paying them only for their scheduled hours rather than hours they worked and rounding their time sheets to the nearest full hour, according to a proposed class action in Pennsylvania state court.
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January 30, 2024
Calif. County Workers Get Class Status In Vax Exemption Suit
A California federal judge partly granted class certification to county workers who claim their religious exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine were handled differently from other employees' health exemptions, saying that allegations of a common bias could help determine liability but that any damages calculations must be handled individually.
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January 29, 2024
Hearing Aid Co. Eargo Investors Ask 9th Circ. To Revive Suit
Investors of Eargo Inc. have told the Ninth Circuit that a lower court erred in dismissing their class action against the hearing aid company since they sufficiently alleged the firm and its top brass acted with intent to commit insurance billing fraud.
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January 29, 2024
Insurer-Backed Docs Must Show Tax Records For Bias Check
A split Michigan appellate court panel has said a car crash victim seeking coverage for his injuries can force the medical examiners hired by his insurer to turn over tax documents, finding the records are relevant to determine potential bias that couldn't be discovered otherwise.
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January 29, 2024
The Top Attys In Clinton's Impeachment Trial, 25 Years Later
One of them just went to federal prison, and another famously beat a federal indictment. One has been seeking the White House, and another has been steering a BigLaw powerhouse. Each was among the two dozen attorneys who litigated President Bill Clinton's historic impeachment trial 25 years ago this month — and then saw their lives go in dramatically different directions.
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January 29, 2024
NYU Langone Wants Out Of Bias Suit Over Israel-Hamas Posts
NYU Langone Health urged a New York state court to toss a suit claiming the healthcare system fired the head of its cancer center because he's Jewish and spoke out online about the Israel-Hamas war, arguing the offensive content of his social media posts warranted his removal.
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January 29, 2024
McCarter & English Urges Against Updating Malpractice Suit
McCarter & English LLP has condemned a New Jersey biopharmaceutical company's latest attempt to amend its malpractice complaint against the firm, telling the court in a letter that some of the claims were time-barred or impossible to prove.
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January 29, 2024
Shumaker Can't Get Double Fees For Appeal, Wilkes Says
An unpersuasive argument doesn't make an appeal frivolous or sanctionable, Wilkes & Associates PA has told a Florida federal court, urging it to reject Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP's request to double a bankruptcy court's fee award.
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January 29, 2024
Akerman Health Pro Jumps To Carlton Fields In Atlanta
An Akerman LLP partner with more than three decades of life sciences experience under his belt has joined Carlton Fields in Atlanta, the firm announced Monday.
Expert Analysis
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What Cannabis Cos. Must Know About Strict Product Liability
To evaluate the traditional product liability risks of their products, cannabis companies should understand the common tests used by courts to determine strict liability, as well as how marijuana consumers are educated about product risks, says Ian Stewart at Wilson Elser.
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FCA Knowledge Element: NY Already Got It Right
In April, when the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in U.S. v. Supervalu and U.S. v. Safeway concerning the federal False Claims Act's knowledge component, it should consider the reasoning of a New York state court ruling that already reached the correct understanding, says Randall Fox at Kirby McInerney.
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Evaluating Workplace Accommodations For Service Animals
In Bennett v. Hurley Medical Center, a Michigan federal court ruled in favor of the hospital after a nursing intern filed a disability discrimination lawsuit regarding her service dog, highlighting the importance of engaging in interactive processes and individualized actions in workplace accommodation decisions, say Keith Anderson and Anne Yuengert at Bradley Arant.
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Fla. Bill Would Rein In Personal Injury Litigation Excesses
A recently proposed bill in the Florida House that would change bad-faith laws and the admissibility of medical bills for services performed under a letter of protection would provide reasonable checks on practices that are far too common in personal injury cases in the Sunshine State, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.
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Bankruptcy Ruling Affirms High 9th Circ. Evidentiary Standard
The Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel's recent ruling in Groves demonstrates that Section 363 — which allows a debtor-in-possession to sell their property in order to generate cash — fails as a tool when it’s used to turn a nondebtor entities' property into property of a debtor's bankruptcy estate, says Brian Shaw at Cozen O'Connor.
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Absent Federal Action, Tribal Cannabis Laws Remain In Limbo
Many Native American tribes have proceeded with cannabis legalization efforts despite inconsistent federal enforcement and a confusing jurisdictional landscape, but until the federal government takes action, tribal sovereignty on this issue will remain ad-hoc and uncertain, says Anna Wills at Duane Morris.
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J&J Ch. 11 Dismissal Ignores Mass Tort Bankruptcy Principles
The Third Circuit's recent dismissal of LTL Management's Chapter 11 petition due to insufficient financial distress — even as the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary defends thousands of tort claims — runs contrary to decades of precedent in mass tort bankruptcies, says Douglas Smith at Aurelius Law.
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Don't Assume AI Is Smart Enough To Avoid Unintended Bias
As companies increasingly incorporate artificial intelligence decision models into their business practices, they should consider using statistical and qualitative analyses to evaluate and reduce inadvertent discrimination, or disparate impact, induced by AI, say Christine Polek and Shastri Sandy at The Brattle Group.
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Circuit Split Complicates US Discovery In Foreign Tribunals
Differences between the Second and Fourth Circuits' interpretations of when litigants in foreign tribunals may obtain discovery in U.S. courts are substantial, making companies' decisions about where to file a Section 1782 application complex, say attorneys at Finnegan.
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State, Federal Disconnect Sows Confusion For CBD Industry
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s renewed focus on CBD-infused foods, and its recent announcement that it would not develop rules for hemp-derived CBD, exposes a divide between state and federal regulation, resulting in market confusion that will need to be resolved by Congress, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Omar Figueroa.
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Fielding Remote Work Accommodation Requests Post-COVID
The Eighth Circuit's recent decision in Mobley v. St. Luke's may indicate how a court will analyze whether remote work is a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act in an instance where an employee successfully performed work remotely during the pandemic, providing a road map for employers, says Kenneth Winkler at Berman Fink.
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Texas' Medical Cannabis Program May Soon Be Sittin' Pretty
A number of recently filed bills in Texas signal serious momentum for the state’s anemic medical cannabis program, and though its precise future is still hazy, a robust industry in the Lone Star State would have a profound impact on the national market, say Slates Veazey and Whitt Steineker at Bradley Arant.
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The Terms Every Monitorship Agreement Should Include
Little of the recent discussion around corporate compliance monitorships has focused on how they should be structured, but drafting a clear and comprehensive agreement at the outset is crucial to maximizing a monitorship’s success, says Scott Garland at Affiliated Monitors.