Nursing Home Asks Ill. Justices For Broad COVID Immunity

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois nursing home facing wrongful death suits over an outbreak of COVID-19 told the state's highest court Wednesday that plaintiffs were trying to have it "both ways," by claiming Gov. J.B. Pritzker's grant of pandemic-related immunity to healthcare facilities was both clear and ambiguous.

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Boies Urges Judge To Rethink Precedential Cannabis Case

By Sam Reisman

Attorney David Boies, representing a group of cannabis companies challenging federal marijuana prohibition, told a Massachusetts federal judge Wednesday that his clients' case should proceed because a U.S. Supreme Court case governing marijuana policy is out of date.

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Analysis

Justices' CFPB Alliance May Save SEC Courts, Not Chevron

By Katie Buehler

A four-justice concurrence to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme last week carries implications for other cases pending before the court that challenge the so-called administrative state, or the permanent cadre of regulatory agencies and career government enforcers who hold sway over vast swaths of American economic life.

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Anti-Abortion Activist Gets Two Years For DC Clinic Blockade

By Ali Sullivan

An anti-abortion activist convicted of invading and blockading a Washington, D.C., reproductive health clinic was sentenced to two years of incarceration Wednesday, becoming the ninth defendant to get prison time in the D.C. federal court case.

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Doc Gets 3 Mos. For Alexion Trades Despite 'Meaningful Job'

By Rachel Scharf

A doctor was sentenced to three months in prison Wednesday for insider trading on an Alexion Pharmaceuticals acquisition, with a Manhattan federal judge saying the defendant's treatment of critically ill, underserved kidney disease patients does not amount to a "get out of jail free card."

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NC Panel Revives Retention Claim In Faulty Back Surgery Suit

By Mike Curley

A North Carolina appeals court has revived a family's negligent retention claim against a clinic over a doctor who was ousted from the profession for unnecessary and faulty surgeries, finding the claim does not fall under the state's four-year statute of repose for medical malpractice claims.

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FDA Must Act On Sexual Side Effects Of SSRIs, Suit Says

By Jonathan Capriel

The Food and Drug Administration should be forced to warn the public about the serious sexual side effects of a certain class of depression medications after sitting on a petition asking it to do just that for more than six years, a new lawsuit says.

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Ga. Hospital Says Own Bylaws Are Not Grounds For Suit

By Chart Riggall

Counsel for a major Georgia hospital urged a state appellate court Wednesday to shut down a lawsuit from a doctor who said the medical center poached his patients, arguing that the hospital gets to "enjoy broad authority" about whom its doctors treat.

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NJ Law Firm Sued For Allegedly Botching Med Mal Action

By James Mills

New Jersey law firm Bramnick Rodriguez Grabas Arnold & Mangan LLC has been hit a legal malpractice lawsuit in state court from a former client alleging the firm botched a medical malpractice action by failing to submit an expert report.

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Mo. Court Upholds Dentist's Malpractice Trial Win

By Jonathan Capriel

A patient who sued a St. Louis-area dentist over alleged injuries she suffered during removal of her wisdom teeth can't upend a jury verdict in favor of the surgeon, a Missouri appeals court ruled, saying the trial court was right to deny efforts to impeach a witness on nonessential issues.

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Wash. Health System Wants $230M Worker Class Win Axed

By Rachel Riley

A Washington hospital system is seeking to derail a nearly $230 million judgement in favor of workers in a class wage case, contending the plaintiffs' key expert who testified at a state court trial recommended that jurors calculate damages based on a flawed equation that didn't account for differences in pay classifications.

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Covington Reps As Biogen Makes $1.8B Bet On HI-Bio

By Al Barbarino

Biogen Inc. said Wednesday it has agreed to purchase Human Immunology Biosciences, or HI-Bio, a San Francisco-based biotechnology company working on targeted therapies for severe autoimmune diseases, in a deal that could see Biogen pay up to $1.8 billion.

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Dallas-Based PE Firm Clinches $285M Fund Above Target

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Dallas-based private equity shop Riata Capital Group on Wednesday announced that it clinched its second private equity fund above target with $285 million in tow.

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Opinion

USPTO's Proposed Disclaimer Rule Would Harm Inventors

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s recently proposed rule on terminal disclaimers will make the patent system less available to inventors and will unfairly favor defendants in litigation, say Stephen Schreiner at Carmichael IP and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.

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Series

Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

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Law360 Names Attys Who Moved Up The Firm Ranks In Q1

A promotion to partner or election to practice group chair means a slew of new responsibilities and also lots of well-deserved recognition. Law360 reveals the list of attorneys whose commitment to legal excellence earned them highly coveted spots in the law firm leadership ranks. Find out if your old legal friends — or rivals — moved up in the fourth quarter of last year.

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200th Lifetime Judge Confirmed Under Biden

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate voted 66-28 on Wednesday to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Angela M. Martinez as U.S. district judge in the District of Arizona, marking the 200th lifetime federal judicial confirmation under President Joe Biden.

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NY Judicial Nominee Defends Record Amid GOP Criticism

By Courtney Bublé

A judicial nominee for a New York federal court stood by her ruling allowing an inmate convicted of sex offenses to transfer from a male to female prison, amid concerns from Republicans that led to some dramatics Wednesday in a congressional hearing room.

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'Appeal To Heaven' Flag Flew At Alito's Vacation Home: Report

By Hailey Konnath

Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday called for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to immediately recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and face censure after The New York Times reported that flags tied to Donald Trump supporters had flown outside two homes owned by the justice in 2021 and again last year.

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DA Willis, Trump Judge, And Justice All Roll To Victory In Ga.

By Chart Riggall

The judge and district attorney at the center of former President Donald Trump's Georgia prosecution easily fended off their electoral challengers Tuesday night, while an abortion-rights candidate for the Peach State's highest court fell well short of the mark.

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Feature

Spencer Fane Lures In Big-Name 'Misfits' For Patent Group

By Dani Kass

Spencer Fane LLP has spent the past two years building up what it hopes to be a top-tier intellectual property group, pulling together a "band of misfits" from firms like Fish & Richardson PC and McKool Smith, according to the group's co-leader.

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NY Federal Reserve Associate GC Rejoins Covington

By Jack Rodgers

A former Covington & Burling LLP associate who left the firm 13 years ago to join the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has returned to work as of counsel, the firm announced Tuesday.

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Texas Attys Get Green Light To Charge Subscription Fees

By Lynn LaRowe

An opinion recently issued by the Professional Ethics Committee of the State Bar of Texas gives Lone Star State lawyers the go-ahead to offer subscription-based legal services so long as the arrangement doesn't result in the charging of an "unconscionable fee."

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Feds To Extend Plea Offer To Oath Keepers Atty In Jan. 6 Case

By Ali Sullivan

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they plan to extend a plea offer to an attorney for the far-right Oath Keepers group charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, but the specifics of the offer could depend on the U.S. Supreme Court's stance on a federal statute often used to prosecute alleged Capitol rioters.

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NC County Sued Over 'Faithful Slaves' Courthouse Monument

By Adrian Cruz

A group of residents of North Carolina's Tyrrell County has sued the county's board of commissioners in North Carolina federal court over an allegedly racist monument outside a courthouse that commemorates "faithful slaves" deemed loyal to the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

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