Teva's Inconsistent Args In IUD Trial 'Troubling,' Judge Says

By Chart Riggall

Teva Pharmaceuticals quickly ran afoul of a Georgia federal judge Wednesday in its first trial over alleged defects in its Paragard IUD, as the court chastised the drugmaker's attorneys over "very troubling" inconsistencies in their opening statements to jurors.

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Experts Can Testify On Cancer Link In J&J Talc Suits

By Emily Field

A special master has said experts for the tens of thousands of women whose suits in New Jersey federal court allege that Johnson & Johnson talc products caused their ovarian cancer can testify at trial about the causal connection between their disease and use of the products.

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Feds Say Medicare Steering Case Meets FCA Legal Bar

By Julie Manganis

The government said Wednesday that its False Claims Act complaint accusing insurers and brokers of participating in a kickback scheme to steer customers to Medicare Advantage plans doesn't conflict with a First Circuit decision last year setting out the standard for such cases.  

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Brief

Texas AG Launches Investigation Into Vaccine Incentives

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas attorney general launched what it characterized as a sweeping, multi-industry investigation into financial incentives for medical providers to recommend childhood vaccines, saying providers regularly dish out vaccines that "are not proven to be safe or necessary."

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FTC Mulling Deal With Express Scripts In PBM Case

By Matthew Perlman

The Federal Trade Commission is considering a potential settlement with Express Scripts in the agency's case accusing the country's three largest pharmacy benefit managers of inflating insulin prices through rebate schemes.

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Holmes Seeks Trump Clemency For Theranos Fraud Sentence

By Rae Ann Varona

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has asked President Donald Trump to commute an 11-year prison sentence she's been serving for defrauding investors with bogus blood-testing technology, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney.

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Former Ga. State Rep. Cops To COVID Loan Fraud

By Chart Riggall

A former Georgia Democratic lawmaker pled guilty Wednesday to charges that she fraudulently obtained pandemic-era unemployment benefits, the Department of Justice said.

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Del. Justices Urged To Revive Telemedicine Co. SPAC Suit

By Jeff Montgomery

An attorney for special purpose acquisition company investors in a $1.35 billion take-public deal that preceded an affiliate bankruptcy, heavy losses and fraud claims urged Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday to reject arguments that the statute of limitations on the claims started ticking at the time of the alleged misrepresentation.

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Midwives Challenge Miss. Practice Limits In Antitrust Suit

By Gianna Ferrarin

The American College of Nurse-Midwives launched a suit seeking to permanently block Mississippi rules requiring certified nurse-midwives to obtain collaboration agreements with physicians, arguing the rules unlawfully restrict competition and exacerbate public health challenges in the state.

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Medtronic 'Blocked' Surgical Device Competition, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

An executive at Applied Medical Resources Corp. on Tuesday told a California federal jury considering antitrust claims against Medtronic Inc. that a surgical device his company introduced a decade ago had great success in Europe but was "blocked" in the U.S. by Medtronic's practice of "bundling" products.

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CVS, UnitedHealth, Express Scripts Duck PBM Antitrust Suit

By Lauren Berg

A Missouri federal judge has thrown out a proposed class action accusing the country's three largest pharmacy benefit managers — owned by CVS, UnitedHealth Group and Cigna Group — of inflating prescription costs through their rebating practices.

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Healthcare Workers Seek $12.2M From $28.5M No-Poach Deal

By Benjamin Morse

Nearly 12,000 healthcare workers in a $28.5 million settlement with two hospitals that were accused of agreeing not to poach each other's doctors and nurses urged a Pennsylvania federal court to grant approximately $12 million in attorney fees, costs and service awards.

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Fla. Dispensary Exposed Patient Data Via Google, Suit Says

By Mike Curley

A Florida man is suing a dispensary website in federal court, alleging it has violated federal health confidentiality laws by using Google Analytics Pixel on its website, which he said intercepts and collects private information for use in advertising.

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Whole Foods Can't Escape Workers' Tobacco Fee Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

A Texas federal judge refused to toss a proposed class action against Whole Foods from employee health plan participants who challenged a surcharge on workers who used tobacco, ruling allegations should proceed to discovery that the fees violated multiple provisions of federal benefits law.

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Cresco Accused Of Withholding Revenue Share From Partner

By Sam Reisman

An Ohio company that claims it helped cannabis giant Cresco Labs LLC build its medical and retail marijuana operations in the Buckeye State alleges in a new federal lawsuit that the company bilked it out of promised fees when it expanded its business into adult-use cannabis.

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BCBS Says Bankrupt Hospital Can't Leave $3B Antitrust Deal

By Matthew Perlman

Blue Cross Blue Shield is opposing a bankrupt Alabama hospital's bid to opt out of a $2.8 billion antitrust class action settlement to pursue its own claims in bankruptcy court, arguing the hospital has no excuse for missing the deadline.

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Willkie Hires Chicago Restructuring Partner From Kirkland

By Joyce Hanson

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP has announced it has engaged an attorney from Kirkland & Ellis LLP to join the firm as a partner based in its Chicago office, where it anticipates he will make a successful contribution to a growing corporate restructuring platform.

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How A 1947 Tugboat Ruling May Shape Work Product In AI Era

Rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence test work-product principles first articulated in the U.S. Supreme Court’s nearly 80-year-old Hickman v. Taylor decision, as courts and ethics bodies confront whether disclosure of attorneys’ AI prompts and outputs would reveal their thought processes, say Larry Silver and Sasha Burton at Langsam Stevens.

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Ex-Baker McKenzie Atty Alleges Assault In New DC Lawsuit

By Alison Knezevich

A former Baker McKenzie associate who was sued for defamation over a series of social media posts accusing the firm's Washington, D.C., managing partner of sexual assault has brought her own lawsuit, marking the first time she publicly detailed her allegations in court records.

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Trump Calls For Prosecution Of Jack Smith Post-Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Shortly after former special counsel Jack Smith gave his first public congressional testimony on the Trump cases, in which he warned the rule of law should not be taken for granted, President Donald Trump said he should be prosecuted.

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ABA Outlines Limited Atty Duty To Give Info To Former Clients

By Lynn LaRowe

The American Bar Association said attorneys have a limited responsibility to convey information to former clients or successor counsel that was not within the client's file, when doing so is necessary to protect a client's interests and reasonably practicable, according to a new ethics opinion.

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Proposed Subpoena Rule Change Raises Victim Privacy Fears

By Brandon Lowrey

A proposal to loosen restrictions on the use of federal criminal subpoenas would endanger and further traumatize victims of crime, most of whom lack legal representation to fight the invasive demands, victims' rights advocates told a federal rules advisory committee on Thursday.

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Pa. Justices Say Judge's Partisan Posts Warrant Suspension

By Hayley Fowler

Pennsylvania's highest court has adopted a balancing test for restricting a sitting judge's free speech outside the context of an election and, in doing so, affirmed the suspension of a state court judge who it said damaged the court's appearance of impartiality by making political posts on social media.

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Brief

Courthouse News Drops Access Suit Against DC Court Clerk

By Emily Sawicki

National litigation news outlet Courthouse News Service has voluntarily and permanently dropped claims against a Washington, D.C., Superior Court clerk and the executive officer of the D.C. courts over filing delays, with both sides agreeing to pay their own costs.

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