Chamber Litigation Blog

Suzanne P. Clark, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, announced today that “the Chamber is putting the FTC on notice that we will use every tool at our disposal, including litigation, to stop their abuse of power, stand up for due process, and protect the free enterprise system and America’s vibrant economy.”  The following press release describes actions the Chamber is taking today, including two letters that the Litigation Center sent to the FTC:

https://www.uschamber.com/regulations/u-s-chamber-of-commerce-stands-up-to-ftc-going-rogue 

Michael Paulhus, Isabella Wood, and Maggie Thomas, King & Spalding LLP

This week’s top False Claims Act developments include: a Third Circuit decision regarding standards applicable to government dismissals of qui tam actions; legislative developments related to potential amendments to the FCA; the Department of Justice’s intervention in an FCA action against a Medicare Advantage insurer alleging unsupported diagnoses; an award of attorneys’ fees based on a relator’s harassing behavior; and FCA settlements involving requests for reimbursement alleged to be based on medically unnecessary urine drug testing and Paycheck Protection Program funds.

Seth H. Lundy, Amy Boring, and Katie Harris, King & Spalding LLP

This issue highlights the following top False Claims Act (FCA) developments: (1) a district court’s hesitation to award treble damages and significant penalties for a minor licensing violation; (2) the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) announcement of a new Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative; (3) an FCA settlement relating to valves supplied to the U.S. Navy; and (4) our take on how enforcement practices from the opioid crisis could expand FCA exposure in other areas.

Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, William McClintock, and Isabella Wood, King & Spalding LLP

This week’s top False Claims Act (FCA) developments include: remarks from Christi Grimm, Principal Deputy Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services, regarding the agency’s enforcement priorities; the Department of Justice’s intervention in a Medicare Advantage FCA action involving allegedly unsupported diagnoses; a Supreme Court petition for certiorari filed by a healthcare marketing consultant that seeks review of a Fourth Circuit Anti-Kickback Statute decision; and a large jury verdict in an FCA action in Alabama.

Jason A. Levine, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and Stephen Tagert

The top COVID-19 litigation developments since our last post are: challenges to workplace vaccination mandates by employees in Kentucky, Massachusetts, and New York; a similar challenge to the U.S. Armed Forces’ vaccination mandate; and a decision dismissing a workplace COVID-19 prevention and exposure lawsuit as barred by Texas’s liability shield statute.

Jason A. Levine, Gillian H. Clow, and Giles Judd

This post’s top COVID-19 litigation developments are: Arizona’s lawsuit challenging the Biden Administration’s recent vaccination mandates; a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision broadly applying a prior emergency order that tolled the deadline for civil lawsuits due to the pandemic; StubHub’s settlement of state lawsuits over its pandemic refund policy; and an EEOC lawsuit against an employer for its alleged failure to reasonably accommodate a worker who was allegedly at high risk if she were to contract COVID-19.

Jason A. Levine, Ryan Martin-Patterson, & Stephen Tagert

This week’s top COVID-19 litigation developments are: the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision rendering inoperative the CDC’s moratorium on residential evictions; decisions by several Texas courts against Governor Abbott’s attempt to ban mask mandates; the Ninth Circuit’s decision upholding Los Angeles’ local residential eviction moratorium; Apple’s motion to dismiss a suit over its refusal to sell certain COVID-19-related apps on the “App Store”; and a lawsuit by Ohio hospital workers seeking to invalidate their employers’ vaccine mandates.

Jason A. Levine, Gillian H. Clow, and Giles Judd

This week’s top COVID-19 litigation developments are: Lufthansa’s proposed $60.1 million settlement of ticket-refund litigation; the Texas Education Agency’s announcement that Governor Abbott’s ban on mask mandates in schools is not currently being enforced due to litigation; a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by students against the University of Massachusetts’ vaccine mandate, along with the settlement of a similar suit by a George Mason University professor; and a negligence lawsuit against Walgreens over its accommodations for customers vaccinated at the pharmacy.

Paul Lettow, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center

The U.S. Chamber has submitted a comment letter to the President’s Commission on the Supreme Court that underscores the importance of preserving the Supreme Court—and the rule of law upon which the nation and its private sector depend— against a partisan push to expand the number of Supreme Court justices.