Religion Didn't Drive Ex-CTA Worker's Vax Refusal, Jury Hears

By Celeste Bott

A former Chicago Transit Authority electrician hasn't met his burden of proving religious discrimination was behind his termination when he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and his refusal was based on personal preference and health and safety concerns about the jab, an Illinois federal jury heard Thursday.

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DOJ Seeks Kroger Patient Data In Opioid FCA Probe

By Gianna Ferrarin

The U.S. Department of Justice urged an Ohio federal court to order The Kroger Co. to turn over patient names and other health information the supermarket chain has redacted in responses to the government throughout a False Claims Act investigation into its opioid dispensing practices.

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AstraZeneca Challenges Colo. Law Over Drug Pricing Rules

By Zach Dupont

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca told a Colorado federal judge Wednesday that a recently passed state law aiming to extend a federal drug discount program to certain pharmacies is preempted by the same law that created the program.

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Local Gov'ts Seek Win In Suit Over HHS-Canceled Grants

By Tom Lotshaw

Four local governments and a union asked a D.C. federal judge on Wednesday to declare that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services acted unlawfully when it canceled $11 billion in grants awarded to improve public health systems around the country.

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'Still A Mess': Colo. Special Session Fails To Deliver AI Clarity

By Allison Grande

During its recently concluded special session, the Colorado Legislature extended the implementation deadline for the state's groundbreaking artificial intelligence law but failed to make any substantial changes to the legislation, leaving companies to face continued uncertainty on the scope of liability and other pressing issues.

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Kimberly-Clark To Pay $40M Over Adulterated Surgical Gowns

By Katryna Perera

Kimberly-Clark agreed to pay up to $40 million to resolve federal prosecutors' criminal charge that the multinational consumer goods and personal care company sold adulterated surgical gowns and conducted fraudulent testing on the gowns to avoid having to submit a new premarket notification to the FDA.

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Baltimore Med Mal Atty Appeals $25M Extortion Conviction

By Parker Quinlan

A medical malpractice attorney in Baltimore who was convicted in federal court in April of attempting to extort $25 million from the University of Maryland Medical System has asked the Fourth Circuit to review his conviction, saying he was unfit to represent himself at trial.

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Mylan Must Face Generic Drug Price-Fixing Claims In MDL

By Jared Foretek

A Pennsylvania federal judge shot down most of Mylan's request for an early win in multidistrict litigation claiming price-fixing of the generic antidepressant clomipramine, finding sufficient evidence for the company to have to face direct buyers' claims at trial, but trimming claims that it inflated the drug's price at CVS.

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FTC Unpauses Administrative Case Over Insulin Prices

By Matthew Perlman

The Federal Trade Commission has restarted its in-house case accusing Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx of artificially inflating insulin prices, now that two commissioners are able to consider the claims.

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Pa. Hospital Fraud Suits Barred By $19M Deal, Panel Says

By Y. Peter Kang

A split Pennsylvania appellate panel on Thursday tossed two suits accusing a hospital of fraudulently inducing plaintiffs to settle a bad birth suit for $19 million by failing to disclose a key document, saying the settlement's release of claims bars the suits.

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Judge OKs Deal With Mich. To Boost Kids' Mental Healthcare

By Carolyn Muyskens

The state of Michigan has agreed to systemic reforms to increase access to mental health services available to Medicaid-eligible children and youth under a settlement approved by a federal judge Wednesday.

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J&J Unit Can't Shake $442M Loss In Catheter Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A California federal judge has refused to upend the $442 million trial loss of Johnson & Johnson's Biosense Webster health tech unit to Innovative Health, finding the jury was presented with sufficient evidence to fault Biosense for conditioning product support for its cardiac mapping systems on the purchase of cardiac catheters.

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Bid For DQ From FCA Suit Over AI Use 'Drastic,' Relator Says

By Emily Sawicki

The unexpected disclosure that an expert witness misused artificial intelligence should not be enough to essentially doom a False Claims Act fraudulent billing suit, the case's relator told a Salt Lake City federal judge, arguing a sanctions bid brought by the anesthesiologist defendants is "grossly disproportional" to the error he already sought to rectify.

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Unions Urge Judgment Blocking DOGE's Agency Access

By Tim Ryan

Unions and advocacy groups asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge Thursday for a win before trial in their lawsuit claiming agencies unlawfully provided Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency access to sensitive data, saying the agencies departed from their usual data access procedures without explanation.

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DOJ Right On Anti-Vax Group's AP Boycott Claims, Court Told

By Bryan Koenig

The anti-vaccine group founded by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday latched onto the arguments raised by the Justice Department backing its lawsuit alleging The Associated Press, the Washington Post, Reuters and the BBC colluded with social media platforms to censor rivals.

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Fed. Circ. Won't Upend Toss Of Flu Vaccine Injury Claim

By Mike Curley

The Federal Circuit won't revive a man's vaccine injury claim after it was rejected by a special master at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, finding the decision that his injuries were caused by a separate infection was not arbitrary or capricious.

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Healthcare Cos. Want Akerman's 'Indefensible' Fee Suit Nixed

By Madison Arnold

Rennova Health Inc. and others asked a Florida state judge to dismiss Akerman LLP's unpaid fees case against the company, calling it "facially time-barred, factually flawed and legally indefensible."

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Telehealth Co. Faces Investor Suit Over Revenue Reversal

By Emilie Ruscoe

Telemedicine company LifeMD Inc. and two of its executives face a proposed investor class action alleging they "recklessly" raised revenue expectations for the 2025 fiscal year in May, only to lower their forecast three months later after seeing increased costs affecting the company's men's health and weight management offerings.

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Brief

SC Ends Sandoz, Novartis Price-Fixing Claims For $2.4M

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut federal judge on Thursday approved South Carolina's request to dismiss its generic drug price-fixing claims from three multistate lawsuits against Sandoz Inc., Sandoz AG, Novartis AG and Fougera Pharmaceuticals Inc., four months after the parties filed a notice of settlement.

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Brief

Sycamore Closes $24B Walgreens Deal, Replaces CEO

By Al Barbarino

New York-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners has completed its $24 billion acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., and the pharmacy chain named a new CEO, the companies announced Thursday.

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Bradley Arant Taps Parker Hudson Healthcare Atty In Atlanta

By Madison Arnold

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced Thursday that it continued its Atlanta growth with the addition of a new healthcare practice group partner from Parker Hudson Rainer & Dobbs LLP.

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Barnes & Thornburg Adds Corporate Attys In Dallas, Nashville

By Lynn LaRowe

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has deepened its corporate bench with a partner in Nashville who joined from Polsinelli PC and a counsel in Dallas who came aboard from Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

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Structuring Noncompetes In License And Collaboration Deals

As companies grappling with coming patent cliffs look to mergers and acquisitions to compensate, contracting parties assessing biopharma license and collaboration agreements should prepare to agree on noncompetes that ensure the parties' respective objectives are met and that their incentives are aligned, both under their collaboration and beyond, says Jeff Jay at Freshfields.

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Series

Coaching Cheerleading Makes Me A Better Lawyer

At first glance, cheerleading and litigation may seem like worlds apart, but both require precision, adaptability, leadership and the ability to stay composed under pressure — all of which have sharpened how I approach my work in the emotionally complex world of mass torts and personal injury, says Rashanda Bruce at Robins Kaplan.

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Chancery Says Docket For 'Routine' Matters Shows Success

By Rose Krebs

As it continues to pursue ways to streamline its docket and ease burnout concerns for its judges, Delaware's Chancery Court announced this week that a new procedure for handling "routine matters" is already showing success.

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First Chief PTAB Judge Remembered As Industrious Leader

By Theresa Schliep

Colleagues and loved ones of James Donald Smith — the first chief judge of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board who died this spring — remembered him as a superb leader, talented violist and dear friend at a memorial service on Saturday that featured a reading of a letter from former President Barack Obama.

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Wash. Sen. Opposes Full-Term Role For State's New US Atty

By Courtney Bublé

The newly installed interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington at this juncture has not been nominated for the full-term role, but one of the state's Democratic senators is already vowing to prevent his confirmation.

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Ex-Katten Partner's $67M Age Bias Suit Stayed For Arbitration

By Lauren Berg

A Manhattan federal judge stayed a $67 million discrimination lawsuit brought by a former Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP partner alleging the firm pushed him out of the aircraft-finance practice group, pressured him to resign and then fired him because of his age, saying there is an arbitration agreement at play.

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LA Atty Convicted Of Laundering $2.1M From Swiss Oil Co.

By Craig Clough

A Los Angeles federal jury on Thursday found a divorce and immigration attorney guilty of money laundering, tax evasion and obstruction of justice related to a $2.1 million payment he received from a Swiss oil company while working in a government position in Nigeria that prosecutors allege was a bribe.

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Email Excluded From Harassment Suit Against Paxton Deputies

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge on Thursday struck an email from a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against the founders of a law firm founded by former top attorneys in the Texas attorney general's office, but said the plaintiff could conduct discovery regarding the email.

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Ga. Atty Sues Former Firm For Failing To Pay Final Wages

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia attorney has filed suit against her former employer, John Foy and Associates PC, over "threatening emails" she said she received after she was fired and a final paycheck that she reportedly never got.

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