HB initials LogoNational healthcare publication Modern Healthcare yesterday announced Husch Blackwell LLP is the seventh-largest healthcare law firm in the U.S. according to its 2015 rankings, up from No. 12 last year. Utilizing differing measurement techniques, American Health Lawyers Association also ranked healthcare practices, placing Husch Blackwell as fifth-largest in the country in its 2015 list, released

BlogChartOn May 7, 2015, Governor Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 239 into law and reinstated damage caps for Missouri medical malpractice cases. While Missouri law previously limited damages in wrongful death actions, healthcare providers faced limitless verdicts in all other medical malpractice lawsuits. Not anymore.

Under the new law, plaintiffs cannot recover more than $400,000 for non-economic damages in medical malpractice actions. If the case involves claims of catastrophic personal injury or wrongful death, the cap is increased to $700,000. The term “catastrophic personal injury” is defined by statute to include cases of quadriplegia, paraplegia, loss of 2 or more limbs, brain injuries involving permanent cognitive impairment, irreversible major organ failure, or severe vision loss.
Continue Reading Missouri tort reform reformed again: medical malpractice damage caps reinstated

Gavel with Flag_000013950634SmallThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed a lower court’s findings Feb. 10, 2015, that the acquisition by St. Luke’s Health System (“St. Luke’s”) of Saltzer Medical Group (“Saltzer”), a physician group consisting mostly of primary care physicians, violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act. This is the first case in which the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) litigated through trial a challenge to a physician acquisition.
Continue Reading UPDATE: FTC victory creates challenge for physician acquisitions

A trash-burning incinerator is installed at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Iraq, through a LOGCAP contract.Despite getting a rare Writ of Mandamus from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals establishing that its internal investigations were covered by the attorney-client privilege, Kellogg Brown & Root must still turn them over. As predicted in our earlier posts on Barko v. Halliburton, Judge James Gwin has ruled that KBR waived the attorney-client privilege that would otherwise have shielded KBR’s internal investigation documents from discovery. His rationale is reflected in three opinions published in November and December 2014.
Continue Reading Barko v. Halliburton: The next (and final?) chapter

Case law regarding written description is in a state of flux so it is beneficial for the patent practitioner to understand some key Federal Circuit decisions involving the written description requirement.

One might ask why a separate written description of the invention is needed in the specification when the claims are there to define the subject matter of the invention. The reason is historical.
Continue Reading The Written Description Requirement

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee answered what it acknowledged was a novel question: whether statistical sampling and extrapolation are appropriate to establish liability under the False Claims Act (FCA). The court found the government could extrapolate from a sample of patient records to prove FCA liability. While the court’s decision approved the use of sampling, it emphasized the defendant could challenge the government’s methodology and that the government was not using sampling to prove all of the elements of the alleged FCA violations.
Continue Reading Tenn. federal court OKs extrapolation to establish liability in False Claims Act case

Husch Blackwell received significant recognition as a top litigation firm in the 2015 edition of Benchmark Litigation’s annual nationwide rankings. The list includes 8 healthcare attorneys from the firm’s Illinois and Missouri offices. Husch Blackwell had 22 attorneys total named on the list.

Husch Blackwell’s Litigation practice received the commendable “Recommended” ranking in Missouri and Nebraska, and the firm was reputed to have “one of the strongest toxic and mass tort practices in the country.”
Continue Reading Husch Blackwell more than doubles its presence on Benchmark Litigation’s 2015 List; 8 healthcare attorneys recognized

Dietary supplements represent a huge sector of the consumer market and changes in both intellectual property law and the regulations governing the market entry and advertising of these products is changing.

The new America Invents Act allows anyone to challenge the validity of patents under the inter partes review (IPR) process. In a Sept. 9 webinar, Husch Blackwell Partner Joseph Cwik, who recently won the first pharmaceutical IPR case, will provide an overview of this new process and explain how it is more cost-effective, efficient and successful than the traditional litigation.
Continue Reading Cutting dietary supplement red tape

The Kentucky Supreme Court issued an opinion Aug. 21, 2014, (Tibbs v. Bunnell, Ky., No. 2012-SC-000603-MR)  in which it held that the incident report developed by the University of Kentucky Hospital (“hospital”), through the hospital’s Patient Safety Evaluation System (“PSES”), following the death of a patient, was not protected as patient safety work product (“PSWP”) under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (the “Act”).
Continue Reading Hospital incident report not privileged, court says

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has always faced tremendous challenges due to the sheer magnitude of both the changes it authorized and the people it will impact. Now two different Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal have made the law’s implementation even more difficult by issuing conflicting rulings on the same day.
Continue Reading Courts issue conflicting rulings on ACA subsidies