9th Circ. Revives $140M Robo-Surgery Antitrust Case

By Jared Foretek

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived a surgical instrument repair company's antitrust suit accusing the makers of the da Vinci surgical robot of illegally blocking third parties from repairing its instruments, ruling that a district judge erred in applying the U.S. Supreme Court's Kodak factors to the dispute.

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Albertsons Didn't Flag Suspicious Opioid Orders, Judge Hears

By Ben Adlin

Albertsons failed to report its pharmacies' unusual opioid orders to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration despite explicit instructions from the agency to do so, the retailer's vice president of pharmacy compliance testified Thursday during a bench trial in Washington's lawsuit accusing the chain of exacerbating the state's opioid epidemic.

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First Baby Formula MDL Trial To Kick Off In Chicago

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal jury will soon be asked to decide whether Mead Johnson baby formula causes a serious abdominal condition in premature infants, as the first case to make it to trial in multidistrict litigation is set to begin with the parties' opening statements on Monday.

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Lilly Claims 6 Vendors Illegally Sold Obesity Drug Candidate

By Gianna Ferrarin

Eli Lilly & Co. hit a medical spa business, compounding pharmacy and a group of chemical suppliers with claims they're illegally selling an obesity drug candidate Lilly is researching, telling California and Texas federal courts the alleged "black market" sales threaten public health.

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3rd Circ. Upholds Dismissal Of Lipitor Pay-To-Delay Case

By George Woolston

The Third Circuit on Thursday backed the dismissal of an antitrust suit alleging Pfizer Inc. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. conspired to delay the market entry of a generic version of the cholesterol drug Lipitor, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing.

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Brief

Employers Expecting Bump In Health Plan Costs, Survey Says

By Grace Elletson

GLP-1 medications and catastrophic coverage claims are two leading factors employers anticipate will push health plan costs up 10% in 2027, according to new data released Thursday by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

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4th Circ. Won't Undo Block Of Gilead-Branded Drug Imports

By Adam Lidgett

The Fourth Circuit on Thursday refused to undo a lower court's order in a trademark suit that blocked a vendor, used by health plans to cut medication costs, from importing Gilead-branded medications into the U.S.

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Glenmark Will Pay $15.3M To End Humana's Price-Fixing Claims

By Brian Steele

The U.S. arm of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has agreed to settle generic-drug price-fixing claims brought by Humana Inc. in three lawsuits centralized in Pennsylvania-based multidistrict litigation, according to a filing with Indian stock exchanges.

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Bristol-Myers Can't Duck UMB Suit Targeting Drug Approvals

By Rae Ann Varona

The Second Circuit on Thursday revived UMB Bank's suit alleging Bristol-Myers Squibb's slow-walking of the drug approval process caused investors to miss out on billions of dollars, rejecting the pharmaceutical giant's contention that the bank lacked standing to sue.

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J&J Says No To Reviving Stelara Case

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Johnson & Johnson has asked the Fourth Circuit not to revive CareFirst's antitrust suit alleging the company tried to monopolize the market for the immunosuppressive drug Stelara.

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Brighthouse Strikes $9.25M Deal In Life Policy Rate Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

A proposed class on Wednesday asked a New York federal court to preliminarily approve a $9.25 million settlement to resolve allegations that Brighthouse Life Insurance breached contracts by failing to lower cost of insurance rates despite improvements in mortality data on which the insurer purportedly relied to determine costs.

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Judge Tosses Suit Over Pharmacy Match Program, For Now

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A Maryland federal judge has dismissed a suit from pharmacy school graduates over the match system used by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, saying they failed to show that teaching hospitals and the professional pharmacy organization worked together to keep resident wages low.

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NC Biz Court Bulletin: Judges Retire, HCA Suit Heads To Trial

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Business Court dropped a host of heavy-hitting opinions in July ahead of two judicial retirements and a new chief judge rising in the ranks.

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P&G, Arm & Hammer Sued Over Unscented Deodorant Claims

By Mike Curley

Two New Yorkers are suing Procter & Gamble and the maker of Arm & Hammer in federal court, alleging that each company's "unscented" deodorants actually have fragrance ingredients, which makes their claims false advertising.

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Series

Going To Hardcore Shows Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While government contracts law and the hardcore scene may seem entirely unrelated, in my experience, both are about community, focus, being prepared for the unexpected and managing chaos, says Isaac Natter at Fluet.

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Anti-DEI Group Asks FTC To Probe Law Fellowship Program

By Dorothy Atkins

An advocacy organization against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives filed an antitrust complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday, accusing Sponsors for Educational Opportunity of engaging in anticompetitive practices by allegedly colluding on DEI metrics and falsely advertising its program.

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Baker Botts Atty Cleared Of Defamation In Inventor's Suit

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge on Thursday tossed a defamation claim against a Baker Botts LLP patent attorney after agreeing with a magistrate judge's conclusion that an inventor had not shown that the lawyer's comments to a reporter were defamatory.

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NYC Bar Committee Calls For Nationwide AI Rules Framework

By Andrea Keckley

A New York City Bar Association committee concluded in a policy paper published Wednesday that artificial intelligence tools "may assist legal work but cannot substitute for professional legal judgment," calling for a national framework to be built into the Model Rules of Professional Conduct governing its use.

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Trump Picks Ex-Arkansas SG, Walmart Lawyer For 8th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has announced that he's looking to elevate Judge Lee Rudofsky of the Eastern District of Arkansas to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

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State Farm Attys Admit Filing Motions Full Of AI Hallucinations

By Jonathan Capriel

A law firm representing State Farm has admitted that its pretrial motions contained citations to nonexistent cases and legal quotes, errors that were seemingly "hallucinations" generated by AI software designed for lawyers and caught by the plaintiff's attorneys as they prepared for trial in a California state court case about fire damage coverage.

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Brief

DOJ Fraud Division To Reach 500 Staffers This Month

By Courtney Bublé

By the end of the month, there will be about 500 attorneys and staff in the U.S. Department of Justice's new fraud division, with more to come as time goes on.

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JP Ward Attorney Exodus Delays Pa. Labor Trafficking Suit

By Matthew Santoni

A "staffing disruption" at the Pittsburgh law firm J.P. Ward & Associates led the firm to request a stay of a labor-trafficking case against hotels in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, after the firm was reduced to one attorney and two staff members, according to court filings.

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