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Health
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May 30, 2024
Physician, Health Cos. Spar Over Docs In Fla. Qui Tam Suit
A doctor and several healthcare businesses accused each other of withholding evidence in a Florida federal False Claims Act lawsuit, with the doctor saying several key Zoom meeting records were destroyed, although the businesses have alleged the doctor refused to provide a financial agreement she made with a cohort.
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May 30, 2024
Rite Aid Ch. 11 Timeline Extended To Allow More Plan Review
A New Jersey judge on Thursday lengthened the timeline for Rite Aid to seek an exit from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, pushing the confirmation hearing date out by seven days after insurers and others said the company's schedule would not provide enough time to review its restructuring plan.
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May 30, 2024
FTC, Novant Ask To Delay In-House Trial On Merger Challenge
The Federal Trade Commission and Novant Health have asked to postpone an upcoming administrative hearing over the nonprofit's proposed purchase of two North Carolina hospitals, a purchase that regulators are concerned will dampen competition in the region, according to a notice filed in federal court.
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May 30, 2024
Retired NBA Star Ends Coverage Suit Against BCBS
Former NBA player Rodney Rogers on Thursday dropped claims that Blue Cross Blue Shield abruptly ended at-home nursing care in violation of his policy but kept the door open to refile the claims.
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May 30, 2024
Pa. Court Blocks State's Recall Over Cannabis Vape Additives
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has permanently blocked the state Department of Health from enforcing a 2022 recall of medical cannabis products containing certain additives, on the grounds that the department's reversal on the additives' approval was a "de facto regulation" that was enacted without the proper procedures.
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May 30, 2024
Ozempic Maker Says Texas Pharmacy Selling Knockoff Drug
The manufacturer behind the Ozempic weight loss drug has asked a federal court to prohibit a Houston-area pharmacy from selling compounded, non-FDA-approved medications that claim to contain the drug's key ingredient.
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May 30, 2024
Slapping Groping Patient Isn't Protected Action, 4th Circ. Says
A former certified nursing assistant at a nursing home operator didn't show that smacking the hand of a patient whom she alleged groped her constituted protected activity under West Virginia law, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, affirming the company's win in a lower court.
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May 30, 2024
Sen. Warren Pushes CMS On 'Medical Loss Ratio' Data
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to collect more data to determine whether private healthcare insurers in Medicare Advantage that employ vertical integration are evading a statutory requirement that they spend the bulk of their earnings on medical claims.
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May 29, 2024
Fla. Medicare Companies Get Class Cert. In Suit Against USAA
A Florida state court judge granted certification to a class of Medicare-contracted businesses suing USAA Casualty Insurance Co. over allegations the insurer withheld policy information and intentionally passed its obligation to pay automobile injury claims downstream to other companies, according to attorneys representing the group of businesses.
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May 29, 2024
Benefits Trade Group Urges Changes To New York PBM Regs
A trade group representing large employers who sponsor employee benefit plans warned New York's insurance regulator that a proposal affecting pharmacy benefit managers — which act as intermediaries between pharmacies, drugmakers and insurers — will trigger litigation without changes before they're finalized to eliminate conflicts with federal benefits law.
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May 29, 2024
FDA Sued Over Controversial Lab Test Rule
A clinical lab trade group that has been highly critical of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new final rule on laboratory-developed tests filed a lawsuit late Wednesday, saying the agency doesn't have the authority to regulate the tests as medical devices.
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May 29, 2024
Wash. Panel Ends Quest Diagnostics' COVID Coverage Quest
Quest Diagnostics' insurers don't owe the medical testing lab COVID-19-related business loss coverage, a Washington appeals court said, ruling the company failed to show that the presence of the virus resulted in physical loss or damage to its property.
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May 29, 2024
Conn. Hospital Settles Exonerated Doctor's Race Bias Suit
A Connecticut hospital and a doctor of Nigerian heritage have settled a race and gender discrimination lawsuit that followed a supervisor's assertion during a sexual harassment and assault probe that Nigeria was home to a "typically misogynistic and chauvinistic" culture, according to a Wednesday dismissal order.
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May 29, 2024
Acting Boston US Atty Says Fraud Cases Still High Priority
Prosecuting a range of fraud cases despite finite resources will remain a priority for Massachusetts acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy as he enters his second year in the job, he told reporters on Wednesday in a question and answer session at his office.
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May 29, 2024
Wilson Sonsini Adds 2 Attys In Salt Lake City From Kirkland
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC has continued to expand its growing, three-year-old Salt Lake City, Utah, office with the recent addition of two experienced litigators who moved their practices from Kirkland & Ellis.
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May 29, 2024
Greenberg Traurig Adds Jackson Lewis Litigator In Orlando
Jackson Lewis PC's former Orlando litigation manager has joined Greenberg Traurig LLP as a labor and employment shareholder.
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May 29, 2024
Greenberg Traurig Adds IP Atty From Eversheds Sutherland
Greenberg Traurig LLP has bolstered its California bench of attorneys with an Eversheds Sutherland lawyer who has years of experience advising digital health and medical device companies on intellectual property issues.
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May 29, 2024
Whistleblower Counsel Can't Get 'Exorbitant' $11.5M Fee
A Boston federal judge slashed an "exorbitant" $11.5 million fee request made by counsel for a False Claims Act whistleblower in a case involving lab testing company Fresenius Medical Care, hammering the attorneys for inflated hourly rates, inflated time entries and a host of questionable billing practices.
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May 28, 2024
Pa. Court Says Vaccine Refusal Valid Cause For Firing Nurse
A Pennsylvania Superior Court panel on Tuesday tossed a suit accusing a hospital of wrongfully firing a nurse practitioner who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19, saying the nurse can't invoke the state's medical malpractice statute in a wrongful termination suit.
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May 28, 2024
J&J To Pay $1.25B For Global Rights To Eczema Treatment
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to buy the rights to an experimental treatment for eczema from Baker McKenzie-advised Numab Therapeutics for approximately $1.25 billion, the companies announced on Tuesday.
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May 28, 2024
5th Circ. Flips Cancer-Drug Maker's Defeat In Hair Loss MDL
The Fifth Circuit has vacated a summary judgment ruling in favor of four women who say two drugmakers failed to warn consumers that their chemotherapy drug could cause hair loss, saying it was impossible for the companies to simultaneously comply with federal and state failure-to-warn laws.
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May 28, 2024
Anesthesia Machine Failure Not Med Mal Claim, Panel Rules
An Indiana state appeals court on Tuesday reinstated a wrongful death suit against a hospital over a patient who allegedly died as a result of an anesthesia machine malfunction, saying it was wrongly deemed a medical malpractice case subject to the state's Medical Malpractice Act.
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May 28, 2024
HIV Drug Buyers Fight Bid To Combine 9th Circ. Appeal Briefs
Drug buyers that allege Gilead Sciences Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals delayed generic versions of HIV medications told the Ninth Circuit it would be unfair to grant the companies' call for a single brief addressing the 17 appeals filed after a jury rejected the claims last year.
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May 28, 2024
Healthcare Tech Co. To Pay $1.5M To End Class Wage Claims
A healthcare software consulting company agreed to a $1.5 million deal resolving claims it violated Washington state wage law by requiring its software training staff to work up to 80 hours and seven days a week, according to a motion to approve the deal filed in federal court.
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May 28, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Delaware Court of Chancery watchers shifted their focus last week from the courtroom to Dover's legislative hall, as proposed amendments to Delaware's corporate code were finally introduced to state lawmakers. Hearings, decisions and reversals involved Kraft-Heinz, AMC Entertainment and the merger of cryptocurrency companies BitGo and Galaxy. In case you missed it, here's the latest from Delaware's Chancery Court.
Expert Analysis
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Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch
Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.
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A Recipe For Growth Equity Investing In A Slow M&A Market
Carl Marcellino at Ropes & Gray discusses the factors bolstering appetite for growth equity fundraising in a depressed M&A market, and walks through the deal terms and other ingredients that set growth equity transactions apart from bread-and-butter venture capital investing.
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What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron
With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.
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Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions
Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year ranging from salvage vehicle titling to rate discrimination based on premium-setting software.
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New Federal Bill Would Drastically Alter Privacy Landscape
While the recently introduced American Privacy Rights Act would eliminate the burdensome patchwork of state regulations, the proposed federal privacy law would also significantly expand compliance obligations and liability exposure for companies, especially those that rely on artificial intelligence or biometric technologies, says David Oberly at Baker Donelson.
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The Fed. Circ. In April: Hurdles Remain For Generics
The Federal Circuit’s recent Salix v. Norwich ruling — where Salix's brand-name drug's patents were invalidated — is a reminder to patent practitioners that invalidating a competitor's patents may not guarantee abbreviated new drug application approval, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.
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Tylenol MDL Highlights Expert Admissibility Headaches
A New York federal court's decision to exclude all plaintiff experts in a multidistrict litigation concerning prenatal exposure to Tylenol highlights a number of expert testimony pitfalls that parties should avoid in product liability and mass tort matters, say Rand Brothers and Courtney Block at Winston & Strawn.
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PE-Healthcare Mergers Should Prepare For Challenges
State and federal regulators are increasingly imposing new requirements on healthcare transactions involving private equity partners, with mergers that would have drawn little scrutiny a few years ago now requiring a multijurisdictional risk analysis during the deal formation process, say attorneys at Stinson.
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Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert
As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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Online Portal Helps Fortify Feds' Unfair Health Practices Fight
The Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently launched an online portal where the public can report potentially unfair healthcare practices, effectively maximizing enforcers' abilities to police anti-competitive actions that can drive up healthcare costs and chill innovation, say attorneys at Seyfarth.
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Series
Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Follow The Iron Rule Of Trial Logic
Many diligent and eager attorneys include every good fact, point and rule in their trial narratives — spurred by the gnawing fear they’ll be second-guessed for leaving something out — but this approach ignores a fundamental principle of successful trial lawyering, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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The Art Of Asking: Leveraging Your Contacts For Referrals
Though attorneys may hesitate to ask for referral recommendations to generate new business, research shows that people want to help others they know, like and trust, so consider who in your network you should approach and how to make the ask, says Rebecca Hnatowski at Edwards Advisory.
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Wave Of Final Rules Reflects Race Against CRA Deadline
The flurry of final rules now leaping off the Federal Register press — some of which will affect entire industries and millions of Americans — shows President Joe Biden's determination to protect his regulatory legacy from reversal by the next Congress, given the impending statutory look-back period under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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McKesson May Change How AKS-Based FCA Claims Are Pled
The Second Circuit’s analysis in U.S. v. McKesson, an Anti-Kickback Statute-based False Claims Act case, provides guidance for both relators and defendants parsing scienter-related allegations, say Li Yu at Dicello Levitt, Ellen London at London & Stout, and Erica Hitchings at Whistleblower Law.