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BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 18 affirmed a lower court ruling granting summary judgment to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) regarding purported improper funding of the Chronic Disease Fund (CDF) to subsidize patient copays for a Regeneron macular degeneration drug, finding that in this case of “first impression” regarding a 2010 amendment to the AKS, to show falsity under the amendment, the government must prove “that an illicit kickback was the but-for cause of a submitted claim.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 18 said the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err when it upheld an examiner’s rejection of multiple claims of a patent application for a treatment for the viral infection that causes COVID-19, but the panel partly disagreed with the PTAB and the examiner’s reasoning.
PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Feb. 18 granted final approval of a $17 million class settlement between The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and students who accused the school of charging money for in-person education and on-campus access and services but failing to deliver them in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An application to the U.S. Supreme Court by the federal government challenging a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the removal of Hampton Dellinger from his position as special counsel and requesting an immediate administrative stay should be denied as the government can’t show that the high court is likely to review and reverse a divided appellate panel’s ruling in the case, Dellinger argues in his Feb. 18 opposition.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia in Feb. 18 minute order consolidated three complaints alleging that the formation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 14 upheld a Hawaii federal judge’s finding in a trademark dispute between competing skydiving companies in the state over phrases similar to the appellant’s mark “Skydive Hawaii,” with the panel saying that “the classic fair use defense is apparent on the face” of the complaint.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 15 dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a second appeal by the federal government and dismissed as moot the government’s emergency motion to stay a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the removal of Hampton Dellinger from his position as special counsel.
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 14 affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a qui tam relator’s suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) by a hospice provider and related entities for improper admissions to hospice, finding that though the lower court should have addressed the amended complaint, it correctly dismissed her claims under the first-to-file rule because of a previously filed similar case against some of the same defendants.
AMARILLO, Texas — A Texas federal judge on Feb. 14 again upheld a 2022 U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investment rule concerning environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, rejecting what he called a request by the plaintiff states, companies and individuals “to expand the scope of the Fifth Circuit's limited remand and interpret [Loper Bright Enters. v. Raimondo] to affect standards it does not affect.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal workers suing under pseudonyms who accuse the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of failing to conduct and publish a privacy impact assessment (PIA) before allegedly sending out “test” emails the workers claim are being used to collect information on them failed to show “that they are likely to incur some irreparable injury” without a temporary restraining order (TRO), a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled Feb. 17, denying a renewed TRO motion in the putative class case.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite “serious concerns about . . . privacy,” a federal judge in the District of Columbia on Feb. 14 denied a renewed motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) filed by five unions and one nonprofit think tank in a case over federal records being provided to personnel from the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), finding there was no showing that the “plaintiffs are entitled to the extraordinary relief of a” TRO and that the record indicates that DOGE is a federal agency that “may detail its employees to other agencies consistent with the Economy Act.”