A federal judge ruled Tuesday against UnitedHealth Group and its subsidiary United Behavioral Health, saying the insurer used overly restrictive guidelines to improperly deny benefits to thousands of mentally ill insureds. United Behavioral provides “mental health and substance use disorder benefits for commercial welfare benefit plans.” The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit under the Employee Retirement [...]
A federal judge dismissed a criminal wire fraud charges against Barclays Plc during trial Monday, saying the US did not present evidence to prove Barclays owed Hewlett-Packard a duty of trust or confidence in their dealings. Judge Charles Breyer of the US District Court for the Northern District of California said a reasonable jury could not have found [...]
The District of Columbia and 21 states filed lawsuits on Monday and Tuesday against the US Department of Health and Human Services over new rules for family planning under Title X. The California lawsuit was filed on Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. A second lawsuit, led by Oregon Governor [...]
A federal judge ruled Monday that San Francisco’s bail schedule violates poor defendants’ rights without protecting the public. San Francisco’s bail schedule sets bail amounts for each crime and requires a defendant to pay that amount to be released after arrest, even if no charges have been filed. The lead plaintiff in this case was [...]
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday unanimously struck down a law that required sexually dangerous predators to wear and pay for GPS monitoring devices “for the remainder of natural .” This issue was brought before the court by Joseph Park, who “was convicted of child molestation and nine counts of sexual exploitation of a minor” [...]
The US State Department said Monday that the Trump administration has decided to extend the suspension on Title III of the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act for 30 days, but has agreed to allow US citizens to sue Cuban entities and others on Washington’s blacklist. Since its inception, every administration has suspended Title [...]
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari on Monday in a case involving biotech company Nantkwest in its appeal for a patent application and whether they are required to pay attorney’s fees incurred by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in defending its decision to deny in federal court. A provision of the Patent Act, [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC that once a copyright is registered, the owner can recover retroactively for infringement. The Copyright Act of 1976 enabled an owner to have rights over their material, but they were unable to recover for infringements prior to registration of the [...]
The US Supreme Court denied certiorari Monday in Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, a case asking whether the state of New Jersey can use historic preservation funds to repair churches and religious institutions. Morris County, New Jersey, gave around $4.6 million to various churches and religious institutions from the [...]
The US Supreme Court denied certiorari on Monday in the Utah Republican Party’s appeal arguing that a 2014 election law unconstitutionally interfered with the party’s right to choose how it selected party nominees for candidacy. The law in question, SB 54, allowed candidates to get their names on the ballot through either the traditional caucus-convention system [...]
