Medical Equipment Co. Inks $14.3M Deal In Overbilling Suit

By Matthew Santoni

Pennsylvania-based AdaptHealth Corp. will pay $14.3 million to settle claims that it violated the North Carolina Debt Collection Act by overcharging and trying to collect debts from patients who had returned medical equipment to the company, according to details of a deal released this week.

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Derailment Litigants Say Flawed Tests Should Undo EPA Deal

By Matthew Santoni

A pair of Ohio residents want a federal court to reject or significantly revise a proposed $350 million settlement between Norfolk Southern and the federal government over the 2023 East Palestine derailment, contending the deal was built on the flawed premise that the fiery train wreck and chemical spill did not leave behind significant contamination.

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Patent Suit Puts Drum Carrier Function Over Form, Court Told

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Counsel for a Japanese musical instrument manufacturer asked a Pennsylvania federal judge Wednesday to toss a patent infringement case it's facing from drum-maker Pearl Musical Instrument Co. Ltd. over marching band drum carriers, arguing that Pearl wrongly focused on the functionality of its competitor's carrier rather than its looks.

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Conrail Freed From Bridge Work Order Vexed By Missing Comma

By Carla Baranauckas

A Pennsylvania appellate court on Wednesday vacated a state agency order that assigned responsibility for inspecting and maintaining the drainage system on a Philadelphia railroad bridge to Consolidated Rail Corp., rejecting an interpretation that relied on the omission of a comma in a 60-year-old regulatory directive.

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Tribes Renew $23.3B Boarding School Claims Against Feds

By Crystal Owens

A group of Indigenous nations has amended allegations against the federal government that seek an accounting of how much of Native American tribes' money was used in connection with federal Indian boarding school programs, telling the court that $23.3 billion barely scratches the surface of their losses.

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Judge Questions Terms Of Student Loan Forgiveness Change

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge considering whether to block a new Trump administration rule that could kick millions of public sector and nonprofit employees out of a student loan forgiveness program repeatedly pressed a government lawyer Wednesday on the precise criteria the U.S. Department of Education would use to decide who is no longer eligible.

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Mass. Judge Says DOJ Trans Care Memo Suit Can Proceed

By Chris Villani

A challenge to a Trump administration directive calling for providers of gender-affirming care to be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice will proceed after a Massachusetts federal judge said Wednesday that the states that filed suit have already demonstrated harm from the federal government's actions.

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3rd Circ. Nixes DOL's $35.8M Nursing Home Wage Win

By Benjamin Morse

Federal wage law doesn't allow workers to recover pay for nonovertime hours during weeks when they logged more than 40 hours, the Third Circuit held Wednesday as a matter of first impression, partially undoing a $35.8 million win for the U.S. Department of Labor against bankrupt nursing homes.

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Holland & Knight Adds Ex-Buchanan Ingersoll Litigator In Pa.

By Kevin Penton

Holland & Knight LLP has added a white collar defense attorney previously with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC as a partner in its Philadelphia office, the firm has announced.

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5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

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BigLaw Insider Trading Defendants Have Big-Name Legal Help

By Chris Villani

An insider trading case involving nonpublic information prosecutors say was stolen from some of the largest law firms in the U.S. has ensnared more than two dozen defendants, many of whom have turned to lawyers with notable clients including Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Luigi Mangione.

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Hueston Hennigan Follows Milbank's Lead In Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

The race to match Milbank LLP's attorney pay hikes is officially on, with trial firm Hueston Hennigan the latest to announce it will increase associate pay by $10,000 to $20,000 annually.

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Analysis

The Plaintiffs Atty Now 5-0 At Supreme Court With No Dissents

By Jeff Overley

It's true that Jennifer Bennett is undefeated at the U.S. Supreme Court, but it's also an understatement. Bennett's five wins, including two recent ones, were all unanimous decisions. They showed that the plaintiffs bar can still persuade a conservative supermajority. And they turned the tide after a spree of decisions keeping workers and consumers out of court.

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Goldstein Cites Addiction To Avoid Time, DOJ Seeks 8 Years

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors recommended a 97-month prison sentence for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein, telling a Maryland federal court he has bilked the government out of more than $9.5 million in unpaid taxes. Goldstein, meanwhile, asked for a suspended sentence and supervised release, citing a "severe and longstanding gambling addiction."

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Rocade Capital Buys LFG To Create Combined $2B Lit Funder

By Ryan Boysen

Rocade Capital LLC has acquired fellow litigation funder Law Finance Group LLC, creating a combined platform that has deployed more than $2.3 billion and specializes in $10 million to $50 million deals, including post-judgment financing, portfolio deals and lending to plaintiff's firms.

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Court Reporter Shortage A 'Crisis,' Calif. Supreme Court Told

By Bonnie Eslinger

Two legal nonprofits urged the California Supreme Court to issue an order entitling low-income civil litigants to electronic recording if a live court reporter is not available, saying at a hearing Wednesday that a court reporter shortage in the Golden State has created a "crisis."

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9th Circ. Suspends 2 Attys For 6 Months Over AI Hallucinations

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday temporarily suspended two California immigration attorneys from practicing before the appellate court for filing briefs in a deportation relief case containing artificial intelligence-generated hallucinations, finding no excuse for their "extraordinary confession" of not vetting citations used by unlicensed brief writers.

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Tenn. Firm Sanctioned For AI Misuse In Baker Donelson Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Tennessee federal judge has sanctioned a Memphis, Tennessee, law firm over its misuse of artificial intelligence amid a malpractice suit against Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, ordering the regional firm to reimburse costs associated with the matter and report the misconduct to the state's disciplinary counsel.

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Feature

'Read The Cases': Conn. Judge Offers AI Advice To Attys

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge told a gathering of attorneys Tuesday that his law clerks are not allowed to use generative artificial intelligence for any purpose involving legal research, his interns are barred from using it at all, and lawyers must be careful when relying on the material that the tools produce.

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Atty Can't Shake $120M Verdict In RICO, Defamation Dispute

By Carolina Bolado

An Alabama federal judge refused to disturb a $120 million verdict against a former Conrad & Scherer LLP managing partner, ruling there was enough evidence at trial for a jury to find the attorney liable on Drummond Co.'s racketeering and defamation claims.

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Graham Pushes Federal Tort Path After DOJ Drops $1.8B Fund

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice seemed, at least briefly, to support a Republican senator's alternative solution to the "anti-weaponization" $1.8 billion fund that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday the department is abandoning.

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DOJ Sets New Healthcare Fraud Convictions Record

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced that its Health Care Fraud Unit secured six jury trial convictions across the country in less than three weeks, with the cases involving more than $1.1 billion in fraud losses.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Dardarian Ho's Linda Dardarian

By Lynn LaRowe

Despite being on the other side of a disability rights case that will cost his municipality at least $150 million, Kevin McLaughlin, city attorney for Oakland, California, believes that if more lawyers were like Linda Dardarian, there would be far less lamenting about civility in the legal profession.

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