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January 01, 2025
2025 Michigan Cases To Watch
Attorneys predict the new five-justice Democratic majority on the Michigan Supreme Court this year could put teeth into a once-strong consumer protection statute, continue to tweak the state's premises liability law and could take on a federally posed question of the constitutionality of medical malpractice caps.
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January 01, 2025
Native American Cases To Watch In 2025
2024 brought lawsuits and rulings in state, federal district and appellate courts that will play out into 2025 with some uncertainties for Native American tribes on voting rights, protections for historical worship sites and land trust decisions.
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January 01, 2025
Patent Cases To Watch In 2025
The Federal Circuit has taken on a rare en banc patent case looking at damages, while the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to review when foreign damages can be incorporated into patent awards. Here's what you need to know about these cases and others that attorneys are keeping an eye on in 2025.
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January 01, 2025
Federal Rules Impacted Tribes In 2024, With More To Come
U.S. federal agencies issued a slew of final rules that impacted Indigenous communities in 2024, giving their members greater autonomy over healthcare, environmental and energy regulations and land trust decisions.
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January 01, 2025
Trials To Watch In 2025
The coming year will bring the first bellwether trials in the closely watched federal baby formula mass litigation, the first courtroom battle over a COVID-19 vaccine patent and six major retailers' case against Visa and Mastercard over card swipe fees.
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January 01, 2025
5 Policy Changes Benefits Attys Should Watch For In 2025
With President-elect Donald Trump poised to return to the White House, experts are bracing for potential changes including shifts from the U.S. Department of Labor on who qualifies as a regulated fiduciary under benefits law to whether retirement plans can consider environmental and social factors when picking investments. Here, Law360 looks at five employee benefits policy issues to keep an eye on in the new year.
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January 01, 2025
Cannabis And Hemp Lawsuits To Watch In 2025
A California litigator alleging the unconstitutionality of multiple state and local cannabis licensure programs is pushing his actions through the federal circuit courts, hemp industry stakeholders are alleging that states have overstepped their authority with policies meant to rein in intoxicating products, and a coalition of marijuana companies' challenge to the federal ban on prohibition had its day in federal appellate court.
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January 01, 2025
Cannabis Advocates Hone Their Policy Goals For 2025
With Republicans set to control the legislative and executive branches, cannabis advocates predict that federal cannabis reforms in 2025 are still achievable, but note they will likely be more incremental than holistic, with an emphasis on public safety and states' rights.
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January 01, 2025
Pa. Legislation To Watch: Noncompetes, Funding Solutions
A new Pennsylvania law restricting noncompete agreements for certain healthcare workers has left some employment law attorneys with questions, while perennial public transit funding issues signal that revenue-generating regulations could appear on next year's legislative agenda.
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January 01, 2025
Pa. Cases To Watch In 2025: Climate Change And Skill Games
President-elect Donald Trump's impending return to the White House casts a new light on certain pending cases in Pennsylvania courts with federal implications, such as a suburban Philadelphia county's climate change claims against oil companies that contend the suits are preempted and the U.S. Department of Justice's entrance into monopoly allegations against University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
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January 01, 2025
NC Cases To Watch In 2025: NASCAR Fight, Healthcare Rows
NASCAR is fighting antitrust claims in North Carolina even after removing a controversial exclusivity clause from its race team contracts, and the Tar Heel State's medical industry could see massive shake-ups from a challenge to a healthcare competition law and alleged impropriety in a major hospital system acquisition.
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January 01, 2025
Connecticut Cases To Watch In 2025: Ethics, Mergers & Actors
A suit over McCarter & English LLP's municipal loan advice and a Yale-owned heath network's legal battle over a beleaguered acquisition deal are just two multimillion-dollar cases that will keep Connecticut courts busy next year.
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December 23, 2024
HHS Can't Enforce Abortion Privacy Rule Against Texas Doctor
A Texas federal judge has granted a Lone Star State doctor a reprieve from a new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule that aims to protect the privacy of abortion providers and patients, saying that the rule likely exceeds the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's statutory authority.
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December 23, 2024
EEOC, Ala. Medical Center Get OK For Deal In ADA Suit
An Alabama medical center will shell out $60,000 to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit claiming the organization showed an employee the exit door after requesting to switch departments following a back injury she sustained at work.
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December 23, 2024
Thompson Coburn Data Breach Plaintiffs Aim To Consolidate
Plaintiffs seeking restitution from Thompson Coburn LLP over a data breach filled a motion Friday to consolidate the group's eight proposed class actions, as well as appoint three attorneys to interim class counsel over the potential master case.
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December 20, 2024
TD Bank, Boeing And Medicare: Compliance Headlines In 2024
Corporate compliance lessons were never far from the headlines in 2024, as regulatory challenges and headaches facing industries ranging from healthcare to aerospace played front and center, including TD Bank's historic $3.1 billion money laundering settlement that federal prosecutors billed as one for the risk-management textbooks.
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December 20, 2024
Proskauer Beats DQ Bid In NJ Hospital Antitrust Fight
A New Jersey federal judge refused to disqualify Proskauer Rose LLP from defending healthcare network RWJBarnabas Health Inc. in an antitrust lawsuit brought by competitor CarePoint Health Management Associates LLC, saying the present case wasn't substantially related to work the law firm previously did for CarePoint.
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December 20, 2024
Sens. Aim To Protect Generics With Skinny Labels In New Bill
A bipartisan group of senators from Colorado, Arkansas, Vermont and Maine have introduced a bill that would shield generic-drug and biosimilar manufacturers from infringement liability when using approved "skinny labels."
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December 20, 2024
Independent Health Inks $98M Deal For Medicare Overcharges
Independent Health Association Inc. has agreed to pay up to $98 million to resolve a decade-old False Claims Act whistleblower suit alleging it knowingly submitted invalid diagnosis codes for Medicare Advantage Plan enrollees to boost payments that the insurer received from Medicare, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
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December 20, 2024
South Korean Needle Operation Secures Patent Win At ITC
The U.S. subsidiary of a South Korean dermatologist's needle business has convinced a judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission that several rivals in the marketplace for selling microneedles to plastic surgeons are infringing patents.
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December 20, 2024
3rd Circ. Denies Challenge To Pa. Autism Settlement
A Third Circuit panel on Friday rejected claims a settlement requiring around-the-clock care for a woman with autism is too impractical to be enforced, reversing a lower-court decision and handing a victory to the Pennsylvania woman's family.
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December 20, 2024
Hagens Berman Settles Suit Over Effexor Deal Atty Fees
A pharmaceutical reseller's in-house counsel and founder moved Friday to drop a Mississippi federal court breach of contract suit accusing Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP of stiffing him on his share of a $13 million attorney fees award from an antitrust class settlement, citing a resolution to the dispute.
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December 20, 2024
Insurer Gets Out Of Ga. Sperm Bank's Bad Seed Claims
A Georgia federal judge said Allied World Surplus Lines Insurance Co. has no duty to defend a sperm bank that has been sued in Canada and the United States for allegedly selling semen from a donor with genetic abnormalities.
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December 20, 2024
Court Opens Window For Patient To Pierce COVID Immunity
A Michigan appellate court said Wednesday medical malpractice claims from a patient seeking help for pandemic-related stress were barred because her hospital admittance and alleged injuries had a connection to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the court directed a lower court to consider letting the patient plead a gross negligence exception to the state's pandemic response immunity.
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December 20, 2024
Medical Records Co. Wants Rival's Antitrust Suit Tossed
Epic Systems Corp. told a New York federal court that an antitrust case lodged by Particle Health Inc. is really just payback for revealing concerns that Particle allowed its customers to inappropriately access personal medical records.
Expert Analysis
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3 Healthcare FCA Deals Provide Self-Disclosure Takeaways
Several civil False Claims Act settlements of alleged healthcare fraud violations over the past year demonstrate that healthcare providers may benefit substantially from voluntarily disclosing potential misconduct to both the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, say Brian Albritton and Raquel Ramirez Jefferson at Phelps Dunbar.
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Series
After Chevron: ERISA Challenges To Watch
The end of Chevron deference makes the outcome of Employee Retirement Income Security Act regulatory challenges more uncertain as courts become final arbiters of pending lawsuits about ESG investments, the definition of a fiduciary, unallocated pension forfeitures and discrimination in healthcare plans, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.
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Opinion
Expert Witness Standards Must Consider Peer Review Crisis
For nearly two decades, the so-called replication crisis has upended how the scientific community views the reliability of peer-reviewed studies, and it’s time for courts to reevaluate whether peer review is a trustworthy proxy for expert witness reliability, say Jeffrey Gross and Robert LaCroix at Reid Collins.
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Takeaways From High Court's Tribal Health Admin Cost Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent determination that the government must reimburse two Native American tribes for administrative healthcare costs will help tribes maintain equal footing with the Indian Health Service when administering programs, and continues a pattern of how the current court aligns on tribal concerns, say attorneys at Lewis Roca.
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Justices' Intent Witness Ruling May Be Useful For Defense Bar
At first glance, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Diaz v. U.S. decision, allowing experts to testify to the mental state of criminal defendants in federal court, gives prosecutors a new tool, but creative white collar defense counsel may be able to use the same tool to their own advantage, say Jack Sharman and Rachel Bragg at Lightfoot Franklin.
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Eye On Compliance: New Pregnancy And Nursing Protections
With New York rolling out paid lactation breaks and extra leave for prenatal care, and recent federal legislative developments enhancing protection for pregnant and nursing workers, employers required to offer these complex new accommodations should take several steps to mitigate their compliance risks, says Madjeen Garcon-Bonneau at Wilson Elser.
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How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market
Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.
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FTC Focus: Private Equity Investments In Healthcare
As the Federal Trade Commission is tightening its scrutiny of private equity investment in healthcare, the agency is finding novel grounds to challenge key focus areas, including rollup acquisitions, the flip-and-strip approach and minority investments in rival providers, say attorneys at Proskauer.
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High Court's Expert Ruling May Help Health Fraud Defendants
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Diaz v. U.S. appears to give the government a powerful new tool in calling its own agents as expert witnesses, but it could also benefit defense counsel in criminal healthcare fraud and other white collar criminal cases that arise in complex legal or regulatory environments, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Patent Lessons From 5 Federal Circuit Reversals In June
A look at June cases where the Federal Circuit reversed or vacated decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or a federal district court highlights a potential path for branded drugmakers to sue generic-drug makers for off-label uses, potential downsides of violating a pretrial order offering testimony, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.
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Unpacking HHS' Opinion On Cell Therapy Refund Programs
A recent advisory opinion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, determining that a biopharma company's refund program for its cell therapy will not be penalized, indicates an encouraging willingness to engage, but the regulator's assumptions about the program's limited term warrant a closer look, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health.
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Series
Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.
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How 5 States' Deal Notification Laws Are Guiding Healthcare
Healthcare transaction notification laws at various stages of implementation in California, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon and Washington are shaping sector mergers and acquisitions, with significant transparency, continuity of care and compliance implications as providers tackle complex regulatory requirements, says Melesa Freerks at DLA Piper.
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Contract Disputes Recap: Preserving Payment Rights
Stephanie Magnell and Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth examine three recent decisions that together illustrate the importance of keeping accurate records and adhering to contractual procedures to avoid inadvertently waiving contractual rights to cost reimbursements or nonroutine payments.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step
From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.