Pharma Cos. Seek Early Win In States' Price-Fixing Lawsuit

By Aaron Keller

A collection of states failed to prove an overarching conspiracy among 25 separate pharmaceutical companies to fix the prices of generic drugs, most of them dermatology formulations, the drugmakers argued Wednesday in support of a bid for an early win on one element of dozens of antitrust claims.

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2 Firms Guide Abbott's $23B Deal With Cologuard Maker

By Al Barbarino

Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP are steering Abbott's planned $23 billion acquisition of Exact Sciences, in a deal announced Thursday that will give the medical device maker an immediate foothold in fast-growing U.S. cancer screening markets.

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Analysis

Where Apple And Masimo's Watch Patent Fight Stands Now

By Theresa Schliep

The high-octane fight between Apple and Masimo over smartwatch patents escalated again last week, when a California federal jury hit Apple with a $634 million infringement verdict and the U.S. International Trade Commission agreed to assess whether its redesigned products infringe Masimo's patents.

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Invisalign Buyers Get OK On Sweetened $32M Antitrust Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge who previously rejected Invisalign-maker Align Technologies' $27.5 million antitrust deal with buyers because it included a coupon program said Thursday he will approve a revised deal, which provides for an all-cash $31.75 million payout.

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Teva, Cooper Cos. Argue FDA Approval Barred IUD Update

By Chart Riggall

Teva Pharmaceuticals on Thursday urged a Georgia federal judge to hand it a summary judgment win ahead of a bellwether trial in multidistrict litigation over an IUD's alleged propensity for breakage, arguing a U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval blocks claims over the product's design and warning labels.

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FTC Withdraws In-House GTCR Merger Case

By Matthew Perlman

The Federal Trade Commission withdrew its administrative case challenging GTCR BC Holdings LLC's acquisition of a medical coatings supplier to consider whether to drop the case entirely after an Illinois federal judge refused to put the merger on hold.

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Claims Firms Barred From Misleading Plaintiffs In Pharma MDL

By James Boyle

On the same day that a Philadelphia federal judge approved $58 million in settlements as part of an ongoing generic-drug price-fixing multidistrict litigation, she also ordered several claims recovery firms to correct allegedly false and misleading ads used to attract potential clients seeking to make claims on the settlements.

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Texas Sues Bristol-Myers For Alleged Drug Misrepresentations

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas Office of the Attorney General sued pharmaceutical companies Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi in Texas state court, claiming Thursday the companies failed to disclose that a lucrative blood thinner used to prevent heart attacks and strokes does not work as well on certain minority patients.

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How Cos. Should Prepare For Prop 65 Listing Of Bisphenols

California regulators are moving toward classifying all p,p'-bisphenol chemicals as causing reproductive toxicity under Proposition 65, which could require warning notices for a vast range of consumer and industrial products, and open the floodgates to private litigation — so companies should proactively review their suppy chains, says Gregory Berlin at Alston & Bird.

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IP Ownership Risk Grows In Booming Cancer Drug Market

The ownership of intellectual property has become strategically decisive in deals involving valuable cancer therapeutics known as ADCs, as highlighted by the recent Takeda-Innovent deal, with the commercial value of a license resting on the integrity and defensibility of the underlying technology, say attorneys at Loeb & Loeb.

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Rule Amendments Pave Path For A Privilege Claim 'Offensive'

Litigators should consider leveraging forthcoming amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which will require early negotiations of privilege-related discovery claims, by taking an offensive posture toward privilege logs at the outset of discovery, says David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law.

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Series

My Miniature Livestock Farm Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Raising miniature livestock on my farm, where I am fully present with the animals, is an almost meditative time that allows me to return to work invigorated, ready to juggle numerous responsibilities and motivated to tackle hard issues in new ways, says Ted Kobus at BakerHostetler.

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Worker Says Law Firm Fired Her Over Fraud Concern

By Irene Spezzamonte

Injury law firm Morgan & Morgan PA fired a case manager after she voiced a concern about fraudulent client hospital records she said the firm gave to opposing counsel to snag more favorable settlements and failed to pay overtime, according to a suit in California state court.

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DC Judge Backs Local Grand Jury's Federal Indictment Power

By Jared Foretek

Following a D.C. federal judge's Thursday ruling that the city's unique legal structure allows prosecutors to bring indictments from local grand juries to federal court, a District of Columbia man on Friday asked the court to stay the ruling for five business days.

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Ga. Justices Spell Out How Atty Ads Can Be Misleading

By Emily Johnson

The Georgia Supreme Court has updated the State Bar of Georgia's rule that prohibits attorneys from misleading the public in advertising their services, defining how lawyers' messaging in ads could run afoul of the state's rule and possibly lead to disbarment.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen Clyde & Co. face a claim from Yorkshire firm GWB Harthills, a property developer previously investigated over suspected bribery and corruption sue the general counsel and solicitor to HM Revenue and Customs, and sportswear giant Gymshark bring an intellectual property claim against its co-founder's rival company, AYBL. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Ex-Gordon Rees Atty Reprimanded For Mistakes Blamed On AI

By Rose Krebs

An Alabama bankruptcy judge won't sanction Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLC for a filing submitted by one of its former lawyers that contained mistakes blamed on artificial intelligence, but has reprimanded the attorney and ordered her to notify her clients about the reprimand.

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DOJ Will Speed Some Classified Discovery In Bolton Case

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors agreed Friday to accelerate their classified discovery timeline in the prosecution of John Bolton, as a Maryland federal judge pressed them to move faster.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick PLLC leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a D.C. federal judge rejected a Federal Trade Commission suit accusing Meta Platforms of illegally monopolizing social media through its purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram.

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Bonus Spotlight

Texas Boutique Giving Associates Bonuses Of Up To $135K

By Tracey Read

Texas complex commercial litigation boutique Vartabedian Hester & Haynes LLP announced Friday that it will reward associates with additional year-end bonuses of up to $135,000 by Dec. 31, while more firms said they'd match or exceed the prevailing BigLaw scale.

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Ex-US Trustee Director's Firing Appeal Tossed, For Now

By Clara Geoghegan

The former head of the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog program had her appeal challenging her abrupt firing dismissed, at least for now, while a federal agency mulls questions around executive power in separate cases.

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Fenwick & West Must Face New Claims In FTX Crypto MDL

By Madison Arnold

A Florida federal judge signed off on a bid to file new claims against Fenwick & West LLP by victims of the infamous FTX Trading Ltd. cryptocurrency scam after they argued that new information had emerged about the firm's alleged role in the trading platform's collapse.

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Longtime Administrator Tapped For Conn. Trial Court Bench

By Rose Krebs

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has announced that he will be nominating a lawyer with a lengthy career in policy development and administration who is currently secretary of the state's Office of Policy and Management for a seat on the state's Superior Court bench.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

This week's edition of GC Cheat Sheet explores which top legal officers take home the most money and why. And the general counsel of SolarWinds Corp. can finally leave its data breach regulatory problems behind after the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its unprecedented case against the company and its chief information security officer.

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