On February 1, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced enforcement action for the first time under its Health Breach Notification Rule[1]. The complaint against telehealth and prescription drug discount provider GoodRx Holdings Inc. (“GoodRx”), alleges its failure to notify consumers and others of its unauthorized disclosures of consumers’ personal health information to Facebook, Google and other companies ...
The Supreme Court has this week (8 February 2023) handed down a judgment considering whether landlords have management discretion to vary service charge percentages in residential leases. S.27A(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (the Act) gives the First-tier Tribunal (FtT) the ability on application to make various decisions about service charges in residential dwellings, including whether it is payable or not ...
February 9, 2023 By: Michael Flynn According to a Chicago federal district court, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act’s loan discrimination provisions to not extend to alleged discrimination against prospective applicants. Relying on the express language of the ECOA statute, this ruling rejected a decades-old Regulation B rule that stated that ECOA did apply to conduct toward prospective applicants ...
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) withdrew three longstanding healthcare antitrust enforcement policy statements on the afternoon of Friday, February 3, 2023. The move follows a series of White House antitrust initiatives ...
At the end of 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (“CMS”) issued a proposed rule that would amend the standard imposed on Medicare providers to report and return overpayments. If finalized, the proposed rule would replace the 60-day overpayment rule’s current “reasonable diligence” standard with the False Claims Act “knowingly” standard ...
As reported by various news outlets, the State Medical Board of Ohio (“Board”) has, and will continue, to ramp up investigations and enforcement actions related to alleged violations of ethical and professional guidelines. In particular, professional boundaries and sexual misconduct issues will be a primary focus for the Board, as it has been since the revelations of the Dr. Richard Strauss case became public ...
This week marks Children's Mental Health Week (6-12 February 2023). The focus on mental health has been increasing in recent years, with one in six children aged between five and 16 likely to have experienced mental health challenges. As a result, there are a growing number of workdays lost by parents, guardians, carers, and those with childcare responsibilities, to support and manage such challenges ...
On January 1, 2023, the Ohio Board of Nursing joined the multi-state Nurse Licensure Compact (“NLC”), allowing nurses who hold an Ohio nursing license to apply for a multi-state license. Ohio has joined at least 37 other states that participate in the multi-state license ...
In re: Google LLC, Appeal No. 2023-101 (Fed. Cir. 2023) In the Federal Circuit’s only precedential patent opinion this week, the Court granted mandamus reversing yet another decision by Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright refusing to transfer a patent case out of his court, which (like several of Judge Albright’s prior decisions) denied transfer to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ...
In a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) release, HMRC announced that it has nine live corporate criminal offence investigations, with a further 26 live opportunities currently under review. The investigations span 11 different business sectors, including software providers, labour provision, accountancy and legal services and transport. No charging decisions have yet been made ...
A landmark judgment was handed down yesterday (1 February 2023) by the Supreme Court in Fearn and others (Appellants) v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery (Respondent) [2023] UKSC 4. In its judgment, the Supreme Court has allowed the appeal by the residents of Neo Bankside, meaning that the Tate is liable to them in nuisance. Background The case centred around glass-walled flats high above the South Bank in London ...
On April 27, 2022,Republic Act No. 11712, or thePublic Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances for Health Care Workers Act(“RA 11712”), was signed into law in recognition of the critical role of health care workers in providing quality health care and ensuring disease prevention in the general population, especially during the pandemic. It seeks to promote the welfare of health care workers through the grant of mandatory benefits and allowances with utmost efficiency ...
As previously discussed in our January 5, 2023 legal alert, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (“Pennsylvania DHS”) issued a Medical Assistance Bulletin (the “Bulletin”) in late December, 2022 that had the potential to put 340B savings at risk in Pennsylvania ...
In Case C-633/20 of the European Court of Justice (the ‘Court’) delivered on the 29th September 2022, the First Chamber of the Court produced a judgment (the ‘Judgment’) in response to a reference for a preliminary ruling concerning the definition of ‘insurance intermediary’ in the context of Directive 2016/97 (the ‘Insurance Distribution Directive’ or the ‘IDD’) and Directive 2002/92 (the ‘Insurance Mediatio
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a Proposed Rule that would prohibit employers from enforcing non-compete agreements against former employees, contractors, and other workers. Dinsmore & Shohl’s Labor and Employment Group’s legal alert on January 5, provides general information about the changes envisaged in the Proposed Rule ...
With the decreasing number of positive COVID-19 cases, more employees are now returning to on-site work and new COVID-19 testing protocols are in place. The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (“IATF”) provided guidelines for COVID-19 testing requirements for unvaccinated and partially vaccinated employees through its Resolutions No. 148-B and 149. Also, the National COVID-19 Immunization Program opened to the general public nationwide ...
The end of the first month in 2023 also marks the end of the next quarter in our case law update series. Here we highlight the most significant employment law cases since November 2022 and the lessons that employers should take from them. Redundancy pool Deciding on which employees to include in a redundancy pool is usually straightforward. However, problems can arise, particularly where the pool includes just one person, as the case of Teixeira v Zaika Restaurant Ltd and another demonstrated ...
July 2022 saw the formal commencement of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. Opened by Inquiry Chair Baroness Heather Hallett, we later witnessed preliminary hearings for Modules 1 and 2, held in October and November. As a reminder, Modules 1 and 2 cover the overarching topics of the UK’s pandemic preparedness and resilience, and core political and administrative decision-making throughout the UK (incorporating sub-modules for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), respectively ...
In a landmark decision delivered on the 11th January 2023, in the names ‘Av. Jonathan Abela Fiorentino noe vs Eolia Limited’ (case no. 68/2022 ISB), the Civil Court (Commercial Section) rejected the application filed by defendant company demanding the Court to order a retrial of the liquidation proceedings that led to the company being placed into liquidation ...
Personalized Media Communications, LLC v. Apple, Inc., Appeal No. 2021-2275 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 20, 2023) Our Case of the Week focuses on the doctrine of prosecution laches. Following a bench trial on the issue held shortly after the Federal Circuit’s decision in Hyatt v. Hirshfeld, 998 F.3d 1347 (Fed. Cir. 2021), the district court found Personalized Media Communications’ patent unenforceable under the doctrine ...
To help further the objectives of the Women’s Health Strategy for England (published by the Department of Health and Social Care in July 2022) £1.97m has been awarded to help women in the workplace who are experiencing reproductive health issues. The grant will be shared between 16 charities which include, amongst others, Fertility Network UK, Sands, Tommy’s and Mind ...
The Supreme Court has upheld a summary judgment against a tenant in respect of payment of service charge where the demand was referred to in the lease as being “conclusive" once certified by the landlord - but also held that this does not prevent the tenant from then bringing a counterclaim in relation to its underlying liability. The tenant is therefore required to pay immediately, and then challenge disputed elements of the costs ...
On January 10, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a long-awaited opinion which will allow the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to determine the means by which it will repay inappropriate cuts it levied against 340B participating hospitals’ Medicare reimbursement.[i] The District Court’s decision comes on the heels of the United States Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in American Hospital Association v. Becerra, 142 S. Ct ...
