More Healthcare Coverage
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May 28, 2025
3rd Circ. Pauses J&J Unit Appeal In Talc Study Libel Case
The Third Circuit on Wednesday granted a bid by Johnson & Johnson's talc liability unit to stay briefing in its appeal seeking to revive a libel case over a scientific article linking talcum power to mesothelioma.
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May 28, 2025
Amtrak Worker Admits To Part In $11M Benefits Fraud Scheme
A New Jersey-based Amtrak employee has pled guilty to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the passenger railroad's health plan for an estimated $11 million in benefits, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced Wednesday.
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May 28, 2025
Mallinckrodt Investors Get Initial OK For $5.5M Settlement
Investors of drugmaker Mallinckrodt received preliminary approval of their $5.5 million settlement with two executives and a director of the company Wednesday, ending the investors' claims they were misled into believing Mallinckrodt had recovered from bankruptcy and would make a $200 million payment to opioid claimants.
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May 28, 2025
Fla. Ambulance Co. Must Make Missed Payments In OT Deal
An ambulance service will have to shell out the remaining $42,500 it owes to a group of emergency medical technicians and paramedics to settle their overtime after having missed payment deadlines several times, a Florida federal court ordered Wednesday.
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May 28, 2025
Vt. Judge To Order Release Of Harvard Researcher
A Vermont federal judge on Wednesday said a Harvard Medical School researcher and Russian national accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States is entitled to release from immigration custody while she challenges her detention.
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May 28, 2025
China Can't Duck PPE Hoarding Claims By Fla. Medical Pros
A Florida federal judge won't fully dismiss claims from a group of medical professionals alleging that China, through a New Jersey company, hoarded personal protective equipment to create a monopoly at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, finding the allegations fall within the commercial activity exception to sovereign immunity.
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May 27, 2025
Philly Children's Hospital Can't Undo $11.6M Med Mal Award
A Pennsylvania appeals court panel on Tuesday affirmed an $11.6 million award in a suit accusing the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia of partially causing the death of a 4-year-old boy, saying there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict.
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May 27, 2025
NC Justices Say Doc Is Employee, Not Official With Immunity
The North Carolina Supreme Court has overturned an appeals court decision that a University of North Carolina professor had public-official immunity in a defamation suit over an investigation into a colleague's going-away party, holding he is an employee of a public agency, not a public official entitled to immunity.
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May 23, 2025
Texas Nonprofits Can Be Sued For Doc Med Mal, Justices Rule
The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that nonprofit health organizations can be sued for the alleged medical malpractice of one of their physician employees, in a dispute over an allegedly botched brain surgery.
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May 22, 2025
Ex-Harvard Morgue Manager Cops To Trafficking Body Parts
A former manager of Harvard Medical School's morgue pled guilty on Wednesday to trafficking human remains donated for research, including brains and skin, that he stole from the morgue as part of a nationwide scheme that prosecutors said had many body parts resold.
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May 22, 2025
Source Code Inventor Hits Wellness Tech Co. With IP Suit
The developer of source code that uses "structured energy patterns, photonic collision and dynamic linguistic displays" as a medical treatment accused a Las Vegas wellness technology company Thursday of infringing his code's copyright and reaping more than $100 million in sales as a result.
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May 22, 2025
Sutter Health's $228.5M Antitrust Deal Gets Initial OK
A California federal judge on Thursday preliminarily approved Sutter Health's $228.5 million deal settling a 13-year case over claims the hospital chain boosted costs by pushing all-or-nothing networks on insurers, saying that after a trial and a Ninth Circuit reversal, "it's nice that we didn't have to try this case twice."
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May 22, 2025
Mich. Judge Says Red Cross Can Depose Ex-Nurse's Husband
A Michigan federal judge on Thursday clarified that he intended to allow the American Red Cross to depose the husband of a nurse who alleges she was wrongfully denied a religious exemption from the organization's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, putting to rest a bout between the parties about the order's interpretation.
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May 22, 2025
Calif. County Gets Vax Exemption Bias Class Disbanded
A California federal judge dissolved a class of county workers who alleged their requests for religious exemptions from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate were handled differently from other employees' medical exemption bids, finding the group was not as similar as she had previously believed.
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May 21, 2025
Court Won't Revive Mental Health Class Suit Against Fla. Blue
A Florida appeals court Wednesday declined to revive a proposed class suit by state employees enrolled in a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida healthcare plan alleging the insurer designed a claims process to obstruct approval and payment of claims for mental health care.
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May 20, 2025
Health Clinics Say Fake Trash Fee Scheme Cost Them Millions
Republic Services Inc. got hit with a proposed class action by health clinics in Michigan and Ohio that claim the waste disposal company breached its contracts with them by charging "tens of millions" in excess fees without any legal justification.
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May 20, 2025
Red Cross Seeks Clarity On Deposition Order In Vax Bias Case
The American Red Cross asked a Michigan federal judge on Monday to clarify that an April ruling allows the organization to depose the husband of a Christian nurse alleging she was fired for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine, saying the worker's attorneys refused to make him available.
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May 20, 2025
Doctor's Disability Bias Claim Too Late, Mass. Court Says
A former Brigham and Women's Hospital anesthesiologist and Harvard Medical School faculty member is time-barred from pursuing disability bias claims for actions by the hospital that he was aware of as early as 2006, an intermediate Massachusetts appellate court has concluded.
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May 19, 2025
Bluebird Beats Patent Case Over Blood Disease Therapies
A Delaware federal judge has tossed a lawsuit against Bluebird Bio alleging two of its multimillion-dollar gene therapy treatments for blood disorders infringed patents held by San Rocco Therapeutics LLC, after the dispute had been narrowed by a previous claim construction ruling.
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May 19, 2025
Twins' Doc Not Liable For Ball Player's Death, Fla. Court Told
A Minnesota Twins physician told a Florida state court Monday that he can't be sued for negligence over the death of a minor league player he treated during spring training, arguing that Minnesota employment law shields him from liability even when treating players outside the state.
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May 19, 2025
9th Circ. Backs Family's Win In Suit Over Denied Benefits
The Ninth Circuit declined to upend a guild member's win in his lawsuit challenging his healthcare plan's decision to deny coverage for his son's mental health treatments, but said a lower court was wrong to award the family additional damages on their breach of fiduciary duty claim.
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May 19, 2025
Doc Loses 4th Circ. Fight Over $5.5M Order After FCA Deal
A North Carolina district court was right to reject a doctor and his wife's request to overturn or modify a $5.5 million judgment against them for allegedly hiding assets after settling a previous False Claims Act case with the government, the Fourth Circuit ruled Monday.
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May 15, 2025
'Our Father' Fertility Doc Must Face Bio Daughter's Suit
An Indiana appellate panel on Thursday revived a suit accusing the rogue fertility doctor featured in the "Our Father" Netflix documentary of causing his biological daughter's emotional distress, saying a dispute over whether the suit was filed too late is for a jury to decide.
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May 15, 2025
Spinal Implant Co. CEO Pleads Guilty Ahead Of Kickback Trial
The head of a Massachusetts medical device company pled guilty Thursday to a false statements charge days before he was set to face a jury over claims that he and another executive bribed surgeons with sham consulting deals to get them to use the company's spinal implants.
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May 15, 2025
Hillrom Says Missing Attachment Could End Antitrust Case
Hill-Rom Holdings Inc. told an Illinois federal court Thursday that a missing attachment from an email turned over by Linet Americas Inc. should show the rival hospital-bed maker waited too long to file its antitrust case.
Expert Analysis
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How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients
Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.
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J&J's Failed 3rd Try Casts Doubt On Use Of 'Texas Two-Step'
A Texas bankruptcy court recently rejected Johnson & Johnson's third attempt to use Chapter 11 to resolve liabilities from allegations of injuries from using talcum powder, suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court's limitations on nondebtor releases, from 2024's Purdue Pharma ruling, may prove difficult to evade, say attorneys at Cadwalader.
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Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law
Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.
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Legal Ethics Considerations For Law Firm Pro Bono Deals
If a law firm enters into a pro bono deal with the Trump administration in exchange for avoiding or removing an executive order, it has an ethical obligation to create a written settlement agreement with specific terms, which would mitigate some potential conflict of interest problems, says Andrew Altschul at Buchanan Angeli.
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10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks
The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.
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Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions
The first quarter of 2025 was filled with the refinement of old theories in the property and casualty space, including in vehicle valuation, time to seek appraisal and materials depreciation, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.
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Power To The Paralegals: The Value Of Unified State Licensing
Texas' proposal to become the latest state to license paraprofessional providers of limited legal services could help firms expand their reach and improve access to justice, but consumers, attorneys and allied legal professionals would benefit even more if similar programs across the country become more uniform, says Michael Houlberg at the University of Denver.
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GC Nominee Likely Has Employer-Friendly NLRB Priorities
President Donald Trump’s nomination of Crystal Carey as general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board indicates the administration's intent to revive precedents favorable to employers, including expansion of permissible employer speech and reinstatement of procedural steps needed for employees to achieve unionization, say attorneys at Vorys.
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10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master
As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.
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An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future
Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.
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Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance
Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols
Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Law School's Missed Lessons: Preparing For Corporate Work
Law school often doesn't cover the business strategy, financial fluency and negotiation skills needed for a successful corporate or transactional law practice, but there are practical ways to gain relevant experience and achieve the mindset shifts critical to a thriving career in this space, says Dakota Forsyth at Olshan Frome.