Health

March 11, 2025
Trump Admin Drops Suit Over COVID Nasal Spray Ads Claims

The U.S. Department of Justice quietly moved Monday to drop a Utah federal court lawsuit filed on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission accusing a sinus nasal spray company of falsely claiming its products could help prevent and treat COVID-19.
March 11, 2025
Software Co. Says Ex-Employees Stole AI Trade Secrets

A software company that uses artificial intelligence to automate appeals when insurers deny a healthcare provider's payment request has sued two former staffers, alleging they used confidential information gathered through their employment to launch a competing company.
March 11, 2025
CEO, Staff Charged After Fatal Oxygen Chamber Explosion

Three people, including the CEO of a treatment center, have been charged with murder in connection with a hyperbaric oxygen chamber explosion that killed a 5-year-old boy, Michigan's attorney general announced Tuesday.
March 10, 2025
Justices Seen Resolving Circuit Split Over Med Mal Law

The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether a Delaware medical malpractice statute requiring an expert affidavit can apply in federal court, which experts said will give the justices the opportunity to reassess the so-called Erie doctrine and the relationship between state and federal courts.
March 10, 2025
Alsup Refuses To Vacate Hearing Into OPM Mass Firings

U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Monday denied the Trump administration's request to vacate an upcoming evidentiary hearing into the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's mass firings of probationary federal employees, and required OPM director Charles Ezell to appear in person or else be deposed.
March 10, 2025
Calif. Pharma Exec Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading

A California medical doctor has pled guilty to insider trading in the securities of biopharmaceutical company Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. while serving on Acadia's drug safety team, admitting to trading on confidential information that helped him avoid $1.3 million in losses.
March 10, 2025
11th Circ. Urged To Find Qui Tam Cases Unconstitutional

A group of defendants accused of Medicare Advantage fraud urged the Eleventh Circuit on Monday to uphold a decision finding the False Claims Act's whistleblower provision unconstitutional, saying the statutory clause violates the Constitution in multiple ways.
March 10, 2025
Latham-Led Physical Therapy Startup Hinge Health Files IPO

Artificial intelligence-focused physical therapy startup Hinge Health Inc. on Monday filed plans for an initial public offering, represented by Latham & Watkins LLP and underwriters counsel Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, joining a growing number of IPO prospects.
March 10, 2025
Insurer Says CarePoint's Ch. 11 Plan 'Fatally Flawed'

An insurer has asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to reject CarePoint Health Systems' Chapter 11 plan, saying it is designed to unfairly benefit the debtor's landlord with liability releases.
March 10, 2025
DOJ Wants In On Invisalign Monopoly Arguments At 9th Circ.

The U.S. Department of Justice wants to be there when orthodontists and consumers who purchased clear teeth aligners face off with the company behind Invisalign at the Ninth Circuit next month, so it can tell the appellate judges where the lower court went wrong in killing their monopoly suits.
March 10, 2025
Michigan Told To Take A Stance On Clinic's Gender Policies

A federal judge said Monday that Michigan can't stay mum on whether a religious medical clinic's pronoun, gender transition and faith-based hiring policies violate state law, as the clinic sues to block the law's enforcement.
March 10, 2025
Ga. Health System Says 'Vague,' 'Disorganized' Bias Suit Fails

A Georgia urologists' practice group on Monday hit back at a civil rights lawsuit from three doctors who said they were the victims of anti-Indian discrimination, arguing that their "shoot first and aim later" complaint fails to tie the company at all to their allegations.
March 10, 2025
CVS PBM Caused Up To $330M In Part D Damages, Judge Told

A CVS-owned pharmacy benefits manager caused anywhere from $240 million to $330 million in damages by overbilling the government for Medicare Part D sponsored drugs, counsel for a whistleblower told a Pennsylvania federal judge at the beginning of a False Claims Act bench trial on Monday.
March 10, 2025
AFL-CIO, Unions Defend Fight Against DOGE Access

The AFL-CIO and a group of unions sought to keep alive their claims that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency can't legally access data from the U.S. Department of Labor and other federal agencies, telling a D.C. federal judge they have standing to file their suit.
March 10, 2025
DOJ Defends Musk's Influence Against States' Challenge

The U.S. Department of Justice is defending Elon Musk's influence in the federal government against a constitutional challenge brought by 14 states, telling D.C. federal court that the "special government employee" does not occupy an official office that would be subject to the Constitution's appointments clause.
March 10, 2025
GAO Says NIH Treated Bidders Disparately On $20M IT Deal

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has sustained a protest over a $19.9 million National Institutes of Health software development task order, finding the NIH unreasonably treated similar aspects of the protester's and awardee's bids differently.
March 10, 2025
AI's Growing Influence On M&A Creates A High-Stakes Game

For mergers and acquisitions attorneys, 2025 is shaping up to be the year when AI becomes a business imperative across industries, turning the dealmaking landscape into a high-stakes chess match of technological innovation.
March 10, 2025
High Court Will Review Colo.'s Conversion Therapy Ban

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will review a challenge to Colorado's ban on licensed therapists providing conversion therapy to transgender minors, in a case that asks whether the state's law is a permissible regulation of professional conduct or an unconstitutional restriction of speech.
March 10, 2025
NC Doctor Says Ex-Partners Were Overpaid By SC Practice

Two doctors were overcompensated in the four years leading up to their separation from a medical practice and have refused to reconcile the alleged overpayments, their former business partner said in a newly designated North Carolina Business Court complaint.
March 10, 2025
Ex-Magellan CEO Pleads Guilty Over Faulty Lead Tests

The former CEO of Magellan Diagnostics Inc. admitted Monday to selling faulty devices that tested blood lead levels, the final of three defendants to plead guilty ahead of a jury trial scheduled for April.
March 10, 2025
Justices To Weigh If Del. Expert Law Applies In Federal Court

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review whether federal courts must apply a Delaware state law requiring an expert affidavit for all medical malpractice complaints.
March 07, 2025
FDA Can Take Eli Lilly Weight Loss Drug Off Shortage List

A Texas federal judge has refused to issue an injunction that would allow compounding pharmacies to produce a lucrative weight loss drug, ruling that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was within its authority when it removed the medication from the drug shortage list.
March 07, 2025
Orlando Health Can't Duck Suit Over Sharing Of Patients' Data

A Florida federal judge has refused to release Orlando Health Inc. from a proposed class action accusing it of unlawfully sharing patients' private information with Meta Platforms and Google through ad tracking software, allowing several wiretap and contract claims to proceed while axing a single invasion of privacy allegation.
March 07, 2025
Contractor Can't Bury Medical Marijuana Discrimination Suit

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday denied a Cleveland construction company's bid to escape a prospective employee's suit alleging that the company violated Pennsylvania's medical cannabis law when it rescinded his job offer, saying there are questions of fact about whether he would have been able to do the job.
March 07, 2025
AGs Say Anti-Trans Admin Puts $367M Hospital Grants At Risk

Attorneys general from Washington and three other states told a federal court that the Trump administration has canceled thousands of dollars in grant funding for gender-affirming care — and threatened to strip up to nearly $370 million more — in violation of court injunctions.

Expert Analysis

5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2025

Lawyers and their clients must be prepared to navigate an evolving litigation funding market in 2025, made more complicated by a new administration and the increasing overall cost of litigation, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.
FTC Privacy Enforcement Takeaways From 2024

In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission distinguished three prominent trends in its privacy-related enforcement actions: geolocation data protections, data minimization practices, and artificial intelligence use and marketing, say Cobun Zweifel-Keegan at IAPP and James Smith at Dechert.
Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win

Attorneys have a tendency to overestimate litigation risk before summary judgment and underestimate risk after it, but an eight-stage litigation framework can clarify risk at different points and help litigators reassess what true success looks like in any particular case, says Joshua Libling at Arcadia Finance.
Issues To Watch In 2025's ERISA Litigation Landscape

Whether 2024’s uptick in new Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases will continue this year will likely depend on federal courts’ resolution of several issues, including those related to excessive fees, defined contribution plan forfeitures, and pleading standards for ERISA-prohibited transaction claims, say attorneys at Groom Law.
How DOGE's Bite Can Live Up To Its Bark

All signs suggest that the Department of Government Efficiency will be an important part of the new Trump administration, with ample tools at its disposal to effectuate change, particularly with an attentive Republican-controlled Congress, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
2024 Was A Significant Year For HIPAA Compliance

The Office of Civil Rights' high level of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act activity in 2024 and press releases about its specific focus on certain cybersecurity issues make it abundantly clear that the OCR is not going to tolerate widespread compliance complacency, says Nathan Kottkamp at Williams Mullen.
5 Notable Information Security Events In 2024

B. Stephanie Siegmann at Hinckley Allen discusses 2024's largest and most destructive data breaches seen yet, ranging from ransomware disrupting U.S. healthcare systems on a massive scale, to tensions increasing between the U.S. and China over cyberespionage and the control of U.S. data.
Series

Playing Rugby Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My experience playing rugby, including a near-fatal accident, has influenced my legal practice on a professional, organizational and personal level by showing me the importance of maintaining empathy, fostering team empowerment and embracing the art of preparation, says James Gillenwater at Greenberg Traurig.
How 2025 NDAA May Affect DOD Procurement Protests

A bid protest pilot program included in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act shifts litigation costs onto unsuccessful bid protesters and raises claim-filing thresholds, which could increase risks to U.S. Department of Defense contractors who file protests, and reduce oversight of DOD procurement awards, say attorneys at Venable.
Looking Back At 2024's Noteworthy State AG Litigation

State attorneys general across the U.S. took bold steps in 2024 to address unlawful activities by corporations in several areas, including privacy and data security, financial transparency, children's internet safety, and other overall consumer protection claims, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
Opinion

No, Litigation Funders Are Not 'Fleeing' The District Of Del.

A recent study claimed that litigation funders have “fled” Delaware federal court due to a standing order requiring disclosure of third-party financing, but responsible funders have no problem litigating in this jurisdiction, and many other factors could explain the decline in filings, say Will Freeman and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.
Liability Risk For AI In Medical Devices Demands Greater Care

As regulators push for legal reform surrounding artificial intelligence and cases implicating product liability for AI in medical technology continue to rise, manufacturers must adapt and implement new strategies to accommodate evolving risks, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
Top 10 Noncompete Developments Of 2024

Following an eventful year in noncompete law at both state and federal levels, employers can no longer rely on a court's willingness to blue-pencil overbroad agreements and are proceeding at their own peril if they do not thoughtfully review and carefully enforce such agreements, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.
5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.
What 2024 Tells Us About Calif. Health Transaction Reviews

Looking back at the California Office of Health Care Affordability's first year accepting notices for material healthcare transactions reveals critical lessons on what the OHCA's review process may mean for the future of covered transactions in the state, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.