More Healthcare Coverage
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May 30, 2024
Full 9th Circ. Won't Rehear Immigration Attys' Privacy Row
The full Ninth Circuit on Thursday declined a request from a filmmaker and two immigration attorneys to rehear a panel decision finding that a purportedly covert government surveillance program tracking journalists and advocates tied to a migrant caravan didn't harm them.
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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 29, 2024
5th Circ. Sends Hain Toxic Baby Food Suit To State Court
Grocery store chain Whole Foods Market Inc. and international food company Hain Celestial Group Inc. can't escape a lawsuit seeking to hold them liable for the mental and physical decline of a toddler, allegedly caused by tainted baby food they sold, the Fifth Circuit ruled, saying the case was improperly removed to federal court.
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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
May Roundup: 11 Wage Rulings on Class, Collective Actions
The month of May brought plenty of rulings in cases with one or two workers trying to assert claims on behalf of others. Whether it's collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act or class actions under state law where the bar to clear is higher, here are 11 rulings on group wage and hour litigation to know from May.
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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
Workplace Civil Rights Suit Gets Full Mich. High Court Hearing
The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to again consider whether employers can use contracts to limit the ability of aggrieved workers to sue, after hearing mini oral arguments last year, though two justices said they would not have advanced the case.
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May 24, 2024
Petition Watch: Forum Shopping, Monopolies & Gun Safety
Law360 looks at four U.S. Supreme Court petitions filed in the past two weeks, including the FDA's request that the justices curb an increase in forum shopping at the Fifth Circuit, and two veterinarians who want the justices to allow plaintiffs to pursue antitrust claims for actions allegedly leading to the creation of a monopoly.
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May 23, 2024
Charges Tossed For Army Doc, Wife In Russia Data Leak Case
A Maryland federal judge dismissed all charges against a U.S. Army physician and her wife who were accused of trying to leak military patients' medical information to Russia, finding the government violated the Speedy Trial Act and bungled the defense's request for access to classified information.
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May 23, 2024
Conn. Marketing Co., Competitor Settle Exec Poaching Suit
The Connecticut-based healthcare marketing firm Primacy LLC has reached a settlement with a competitor it accused of poaching a top executive, weeks after bringing a trade secrets lawsuit in federal court.
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May 23, 2024
Ex-Physical Therapy Clinics Owner Gets 2 Yrs. In Billing Scam
The former owner of eight physical therapy clinics in the Boston area was sentenced Thursday in Massachusetts federal court to just over two years in prison for a years-long scheme to bill insurance companies for nonexistent treatments, including for himself.
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May 23, 2024
LA Jury Awards $58M To Train Yard Worker Injured In Slip
A train yard worker was awarded over $58 million this week by a Los Angeles jury due to an injury that he says occurred when he slipped on top of a wet train car, which resulted in a fractured foot and a diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome.
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May 22, 2024
Nursing Home Asks Ill. Justices For Broad COVID Immunity
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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May 22, 2024
Inventor To Take $102M IP Malpractice Row To Ga. High Court
A neurosurgeon pursuing a nearly $102 million legal malpractice case against FisherBroyles LLP and a legal services contractor over a missed patent filing deadline said Wednesday that he is planning to take the dispute to the highest court in the Peach State.
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May 22, 2024
NJ Law Firm Sued For Allegedly Botching Med Mal Action
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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May 22, 2024
Calif. Court Rejects Arbitration Pact Stacked Against Workers
The arbitration pact an eyeglass retailer provided to a former employee was procedurally and substantively unconscionable and therefore unenforceable, a California state appeals court ruled, affirming a trial court's decision in a worker's wage and hour suit.
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May 21, 2024
Hawaii Wins $916M From Bristol-Myers, Sanofi Over Plavix
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Sanofi owe more than $916 million to the state of Hawaii for not warning patients of East Asian or Pacific Island ancestry of potential health risks associated with their blood thinner Plavix, a state judge ruled Tuesday, following a trip to the state's highest court.
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May 21, 2024
MetLife Workers Tell 3rd Circ. Higher Premiums Give Standing
A group of MetLife Group Inc. retirees insisted to the Third Circuit on Tuesday that they would have had lower health insurance premiums had MetLife not kept millions in pharmacy rebates, and that MetLife's actions gave them standing to sue — or at least to seek more information on how the company should spend the money.
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May 21, 2024
Prime Healthcare Atty Jumps Back To Genova Burns As Partner
A former Genova Burns LLC associate has rejoined the firm in New Jersey as a labor and employment partner this week after an in-house stint as associate general counsel for 50,000-employee health system Prime Healthcare, Genova Burns confirmed on Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Ex-Workers Drop Gender Bias Suit Against Ga. Medical Cos.
Two female former human resources workers for a medical management company and a podiatrist center told a Georgia federal court they had agreed to drop their lawsuit accusing their ex-employers of discriminating against them based on gender, reclassifying them as hourly and firing them for complaining.
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May 20, 2024
Justices Turn Away Hospital Construction Feud
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a case that centers on a $180 million project to expand a Mississippi children's hospital, once again declining to resolve whether parties that agree to certain arbitral rules have also agreed to delegate jurisdictional questions to the arbitrator.
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May 20, 2024
Judge Tosses Acuitas' COVID Biotech IP Suit
A New Jersey federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit from a maker of a component of a COVID-19 vaccine relating to patent infringement litigation brought by two other companies against Pfizer and BioNTech.
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May 20, 2024
Rite Aid Settles Trademark Suit Over New Logo
Rite Aid has reached an agreement with Brand Design Co. to end a lawsuit claiming that the drugstore chain misused the design firm's font for a new logo, the parties have told a Pennsylvania federal court.
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May 17, 2024
VA Deal Winner Says Protest Not Based On Common Sense
The winner of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mail-order pharmacy deal urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to toss a competitor's protest of the award, saying the protester's challenge was based on an incorrect reading of applicable regulations.
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May 17, 2024
Philly Surgeon Settles Sex Bias Case With Jefferson Hospital
An orthopedic surgeon who sued Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for gender discrimination over its handling of sexual assault allegations has settled his case with the hospital after a $15 million award in his favor was erased.
Expert Analysis
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A 'Deliberate Indifference' Circ. Split For Prison Medical Cases
Allison Becker and Kendra Stark at Gordon & Rees examine the circuit split over how a patient's incarceration status affects the applicable standard for “deliberate indifference” in correctional medical lawsuits, noting an uptick in cases related to outbreaks and staffing shortages at correctional facilities during the pandemic.
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Prepping For OSHA Standard On Violence Risk In Health Care
Though the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has yet to create a new standard to address violence against health care workers, employers can prepare for coming federal regulatory changes by studying existing state rules and past OSHA citations, then taking steps to improve their safety programs, say attorneys at Ogletree.
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Sales Reps In The Operating Room: How To Manage The Risks
While having a medical device sales representative providing advice during a surgery can be helpful, especially as medical technology continues to advance, their presence can also create exposure to tort claims and litigation alleging unauthorized practice of medicine, say attorneys at Sidley.
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DC Circ. Ruling Puts Issue Class Cert. Under Microscope
The D.C. Circuit's recent Harris v. Medical Transportation Management decision, which pushed back against lax application of Rule 23(c)(4) to certify issue classes as an end-run around the predominance requirement, provides potentially persuasive fodder for seeking to limit the scope of issue classes in other circuits, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Can Class Actions Guide AI Risk Mitigation Efforts?
The speed at which artificial intelligence is developing will likely outpace the legislative response, and two recently filed class actions naming OpenAI as a defendant raise the question of whether existing laws may be used to place some meaningful guardrails on the development of AI, says Thomas Carey at Sunstein.
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Standing Issues Prevail In Wake Of Calif. Competition Ruling
Courts and litigants may grapple with uncertainty in the wake of the California Supreme Court's recent California Medical Association v. Aetna Health decision broadening standing to sue under the state's unfair competition law, and additional litigation will likely be required to develop its contours, say attorneys at Skadden.
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EU's AI Act Is A Glimpse Into Future Compliance Landscape
As the EU's groundbreaking Artificial Intelligence Act moves to the final stage of adoption, its proposed language provides valuable insight into the substantial compliance hurdles that companies across all jurisdictions will face in using generative AI, so U.S. organizations should consider what they can be doing now, say Vivien Peaden and Alexander Koskey at Baker Donelson.
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What Justices' Pork Ruling Means For Interstate Cannabis
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent National Pork v. Ross ruling added a new wrinkle to dormant commerce clause jurisprudence as the nation’s federal courts grapple with a novel paradox raised by interstate cannabis commerce, and pending appellate cases may shed additional light on these issues later this year, say Tommy Tobin and Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie.
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How High Court Is Assessing Tribal Law Questions
The U.S. Supreme Court's four rulings on tribal issues from this term show that Justice Neil Gorsuch's extensive experience in federal Native American law brings helpful experience to the court but does not necessarily guarantee favorable outcomes for tribal interests, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.
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Complex Hemp Processes Need Nimble Regulatory Approach
Since the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp and certain hemp-derived products, THC limits have presented different issues at each stage of the complex production process, revealing the need for continued adjustments and flexible regulations as Congress deliberates the 2023 Farm Bill, says David Kouba at Arnold & Porter.
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4 New State Geofencing Bans And How They Differ
Washington, New York, Connecticut and Nevada have now enacted laws prohibiting geofencing around locations that provide certain health care services, but these new laws vary widely, with Washington taking the broadest and most restrictive approach, say Andreas Kaltsounis and Nichole Sterling at BakerHostetler.
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Noncompetes Hold Atty Privilege Pitfalls For Health Industry
Providers negotiating with medical professionals bound by enforceable restrictive covenants must tread carefully due to not only risk of breaching physicians' covenants but also risk of wrongful conduct that pierces attorney-client privilege, says Scott O'Connell at Holland & Knight.
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What Came Of Texas Legislature's Long-Promised Tax Relief
Following promises of historic tax relief made possible by a record budget surplus, the Texas legislative session as a whole was one in which taxpayers that are large businesses could have done somewhat better, but the new legislation is clearly still a positive, say attorneys at Baker Botts.