More Healthcare Coverage

  • April 01, 2024

    Ford Can Keep Pursuing Narrowed BCBS Antitrust Suit

    A Michigan federal judge has trimmed some of Ford Motor Co.'s time-barred claims alleging Blue Cross Blue Shield engaged in an anti-competitive scheme to drive up prices, but said the auto giant established it had standing to pursue allegations it was injured by market-restricting agreements among insurance licensees.

  • April 01, 2024

    Swedish Match Sued Over Allegedly Youth Targeted Zyn Ads

    Philip Morris International and its subsidiary Swedish Match North America LLC have been hit with a putative class action from an unnamed California man alleging he became addicted to the company's Zyn smokeless oral nicotine pouches when he was a minor because of the product's marketing campaign.

  • April 01, 2024

    Fla. High Court Says Voters Will Choose Whether To Legalize Pot

    Florida voters will have the opportunity to legalize recreational marijuana at the ballot box this November, after the state Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge brought by the state's attorney general and ruled that the proposal didn't violate a state rule restricting ballot measures to only one subject.

  • March 29, 2024

    4th Circ. Revives Data Breach Suit Against Medical Center

    The Fourth Circuit on Friday revived a proposed class action alleging that Sandhills Medical Foundation Inc. failed to protect the personal information of patients whose data was leaked following a cyberattack, saying the health care provider is not shielded under federal immunity and that the government cannot be substituted as a defendant.

  • March 29, 2024

    Hedge Fund Beats Vaxart Investor's 'Short-Swing' Profits Suit

    A New York federal judge has granted a win to hedge fund Armistice Capital LLC and its managing member in a derivative suit brought by a shareholder of biotechnology company Vaxart Inc., which sought disgorgement of short-swing profits that allegedly were wrongfully obtained by the investment adviser.

  • March 29, 2024

    8 States Seek $122M After Robocaller Allegedly Ignored Ban

    Attorneys general from eight states urged a federal judge to modify an existing injunction barring a businessman from engaging in robocalling or telemarketing campaigns, asserting he has violated that order, should be held in contempt and must pay $122 million.

  • March 28, 2024

    Ohio Justices Split On Attorney's Sanction For Hiding His Past

    The Ohio Supreme Court has given a Cleveland attorney a six-month stayed suspension for omitting information in his application for a physician assistant license about multiple name changes and prior proceedings against him for having child pornography on his computer, which he had created via photo editing to demonstrate a point while serving as a defense expert.

  • March 28, 2024

    Mercy Taps Seasoned Health System GC To Lead Legal Team

    St. Louis-based hospital system Mercy has revealed it will have a new lawyer heading up its legal team starting Monday, with the addition of an experienced in-house healthcare industry counsel who brings more than 30 years of legal experience.

  • March 28, 2024

    Olympus Names New Corporate GC With Deputy Promotion

    Medical technology company Olympus announced that its deputy general counsel was promoted to corporate general counsel of the company's American unit, as part of a major change in leadership that includes the appointment of a new CEO.

  • March 27, 2024

    US Trustee Opposes New Official Committee In Talc Ch. 11

    The U.S. trustee has objected to a bid by an ad hoc group to form an official committee of unsecured commercial creditors in the bankruptcy of talc supplier Whittaker Clark & Daniels, arguing the ad hoc group largely consists of law firms that defended the debtor before it filed its Chapter 11 petition.

  • March 27, 2024

    Discovery Halted Pending Home Health Co.'s Dismissal Bid

    A New York federal judge agreed to stay discovery pending a home healthcare company's forthcoming bid to toss a home health aide's lawsuit alleging the company failed to pay its aides on a weekly basis as required for manual workers in the state.

  • March 27, 2024

    Cleveland Clinic Recruits Texas Health System Atty As CLO

    An experienced healthcare in-house attorney is leaving her post at Texas' Memorial Hermann Health System to join Cleveland Clinic as its top attorney, the Ohio-based healthcare organization announced Wednesday.

  • March 26, 2024

    Pharmacy Owner Gets 42 Months For $25M Kickback Scam

    A medical equipment pharmacy owner was sentenced to 42 months in prison Tuesday for carrying out a $25 million kickback scheme with a patient-leads broker as part of a scheme to falsely bill the federal government for care.

  • March 26, 2024

    Conn. Fertility Doctor Says Law Doesn't Support Distress Claim

    A retired fertility doctor facing a lawsuit for allegedly impregnating a patient with his own sperm wants a Connecticut state court judge to dismiss a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress, arguing that the accusation amounts to medical malpractice and the plaintiff failed to clear a mandatory procedural hurdle.

  • March 26, 2024

    3rd Circ. Says EMS Transport Without Consent Is Med Mal

    A patient who was transported to a Pennsylvania hospital against his will was effectively making a medical malpractice claim against the emergency medical services technicians and needed to file a "certificate of merit" to back up such a claim, a split Third Circuit panel ruled Tuesday.

  • March 26, 2024

    Nashville Settles Trooper's HIV Bias Suit Over Pulled Job Offer

    Nashville will pay $145,000 to settle a state trooper's disability bias suit alleging the city's police department illegally yanked back a job offer after it found out he was HIV positive, according to an agreement resolving the Tennessee federal court case.

  • March 25, 2024

    COVID 'Cure' Claims Can't Sustain Fraud Suit, 9th Circ. Rules

    A biopharmaceutical company's "enthusiastic" statements to Fox News and others about a potential COVID-19 cure do not amount to fraud and cannot sustain a shareholder lawsuit accusing the company and its top executives of deceiving the market by pretending that a breakthrough was much more consequential than it actually was, the Ninth Circuit ruled on Monday.

  • March 25, 2024

    Fla. Pharmacy Says It Was Cut From Federal PrEP Program

    A Florida pharmacy says it was abruptly shut out of a federal program that provides free access to preexposure prophylaxis HIV-prevention medication, asking a D.C. federal judge on Monday to force the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and two contractors to reinstate the pharmacy to the program.

  • March 25, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Rethink AbbVie Privilege Ruling

    The Third Circuit refused Monday to reconsider a ruling that found AbbVie was unable to show a lower court went against precedent or made errors when ordering the drugmaker to turn over attorney communications from a patent case allegedly meant to delay an AndroGel rival.

  • March 22, 2024

    Robitussin Buyers' Lack Of Receipts Dooms Labeling Cert.

    A New York federal judge on Thursday denied class certification in litigation claiming GlaxoSmithKline lied about the "Maximum Strength" label on certain Robitussin cough syrup products, saying although the plaintiffs' lack of receipts does not warrant GSK's bid for summary judgment, it's enough to dismiss the customers' request for certification.

  • March 22, 2024

    Watchdog Calls To Redo $896M Migrant Transport Deal

    The U.S. General Services Administration must redo an $896 million contract to transport unaccompanied migrant children, after a federal watchdog determined that the deal was awarded to a company whose proposed contract lead may be unqualified to oversee the contract.

  • March 22, 2024

    Md. University Says Psilocybin Trade Theft Suit Belongs In US

    A London-based biochemical company cannot be allowed to escape across the pond with trade secrets related to using psilocybin as a mental health treatment, the University of Maryland, Baltimore, told a federal court, saying the company's minimum contacts with the state was its "months-long fraudulent scheme" to swipe intellectual property.

  • March 22, 2024

    Patient Asks NC Justices To Skip Immunity Review Of Virus Law

    A patient who claims she nearly died from a botched hysterectomy urged the North Carolina Supreme Court to ignore a hospital's bid to expand the immunity healthcare providers can receive under the state's COVID-19 emergency law, arguing the medical providers conflate common law and statutory immunity.

  • March 22, 2024

    Kaiser's Ozempic Coverage Denial Is Discriminatory, Suit Says

    Two Kaiser plans' refusal to cover new prescription weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy is "without any medical or scientific basis," a Washington state resident told a state court, alleging disability discrimination.

  • March 22, 2024

    Detroit Hospital, Deaf Patient Can't Avoid Trial In Disability Suit

    Detroit's Henry Ford Health System may face a jury trial in a deaf patient's lawsuit claiming she was denied an American Sign Language interpreter, with a Michigan federal judge refusing to grant summary judgment to either the hospital or the patient.

Expert Analysis

  • Ohio Voters Legalize Cannabis — What Comes Next?

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    This month, voters approved a citizen-initiated statute that legalizes marijuana for recreational use in Ohio, but the legalization timeline could undergo significant changes at the behest of the state's lawmakers, say Daniel Shortt and David Waxman at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • A Telecom Attorney's Defense Of The Chevron Doctrine

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    The Chevron doctrine, which requires judicial deference to federal regulators, is under attack in two U.S. Supreme Court cases — and while most telecom attorneys likely agree that the Federal Communications Commission is guilty of overrelying on it, the problem is not the doctrine itself, says Carl Northrop at Telecommunications Law Professionals.

  • FTC Orange Book Move Signals New Pharma Patent Scrutiny

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent dispute against improper listing of drug patents in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book indicates heightened surveillance of the pharmaceutical industry, particularly where competition-related consequences of patent or regulatory processes are concerned, say attorneys at Fenwick.

  • Consider Immigration Issues When Hiring Int'l Medical Grads

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    As health systems across the U.S. struggle to meet patient demand, recruiting international medical graduates can help alleviate some strain, although sorting through the requisite visa processes may require some extra legwork depending on the qualifications of both the graduate and the employer, say Nora Katz and Vinh Duong at Holland & Knight.

  • A Look At DOJ's New Nationwide Investment Fraud Approach

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    Investment fraud charges are increasingly being brought in unlikely venues across the country, and the rationale behind the U.S. Department of Justice's approach could well be the heightened legal standards in connection with prosecuting investment fraud, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • FDA's Off-Label Comms Guidance Is A Reluctant Step Forward

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's latest draft guidance expands its safe harbor for health care providers that communicate information about their products' off-label uses, but does not fully resolve the First Amendment disconnect between federal courts and the agency's regulatory goals, say Jeffrey Shapiro and Lisa Dwyer at King & Spalding.

  • How Biden's AI Order Stacks Up Against Calif. And G7 Activity

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    Evaluating the federal AI executive order alongside the California AI executive order and the G7's Hiroshima AI Code of Conduct can offer a more robust picture of key risks and concerns companies should proactively work to mitigate as they build or integrate artificial intelligence tools into their products and services, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • ITC Ban On Apple Watch Could Still Be Reversed

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's recent final decision that the Apple Watch infringed two patents owned by Masimo Corp. was a rare instance of a popular consumer product being hit with an absolute importation ban, but it's possible that President Joe Biden could assert his power to reverse the ITC decision, says Benjamin Horton at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Class Action Defense: Don't Give Up On Bristol-Myers Squibb

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    Federal appellate court decisions in the six years since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Bristol-Myers Squibb show that it's anyone's ballgame in class action jurisdictional arguments, so defendants are encouraged to consider carefully whether, where and when arguing lack of specific personal jurisdiction may be advantageous, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • State Regs Sow Discord Between Cannabis, Hemp Industries

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    Connecticut, Maryland and Washington are the latest states choosing to require intoxicating hemp products to comply with the states' recreational marijuana laws, resulting in a widening rift between cannabis and hemp as Congress works on crafting new hemp legislation within the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill, say attorneys at Wilson Elser.

  • Questions Linger After FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Proposal

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently proposed rule regarding its plan to regulate lab-developed tests is light on details, leaving many fundamental questions about the agency's authority and ability to execute its plans, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Lessons For Biosimilar And Biologic Antitrust Litigation

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    Aaron Marks at Cohen Milstein considers emerging ways in which biosimilar markets differ from traditional small-molecule drug markets, and recommends how pharmaceutical antitrust litigators can account for these market dynamics in biosimilar-delay cases.

  • Balancing Justice And Accountability In Opioid Bankruptcies

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    As Rite Aid joins other pharmaceutical companies in pursuing bankruptcy following the onslaught of state and federal litigation related to the opioid epidemic, courts and the country will have to reconcile the ideals of economic justice and accountability against the U.S. Constitution’s promise of a fresh start through bankruptcy, says Monique Hayes at DGIM Law.

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