Pursuant to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s declaration of a state of disaster for all Texas counties in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on April 1, 2020, the Texas Supreme Court issued its Eighth Emergency Order. In the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In his most recent Executive Order, Governor Greg Abbott has stopped short of issuing a state wide stay-at-home order for Texas. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent case out of the Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas highlights the challenges in proving liability against a third-party competitor for knowing participation in breach of duty of loyalty/fiduciary...more
As follow-up to our overview “Emergency Childcare: A Guide for Health Care Providers,” below is a deeper dive on some state-specific considerations. There are some impactful measures that some states have already taken which...more
At a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order to postpone all elective surgeries to address a shortage of hospital beds, medical supplies and licensed personnel in Texas, and to...more
As the effects of coronavirus unquestionably impact every aspect of people’s lives, health care employees and other critical first responders are faced with the challenge of taking care of their children as they continue...more
3/22/2020
/ Child Care ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EFMLA ,
EPSLA ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
New Guidance ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Posting Requirements ,
School Closures ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Small Business
As health care institutions move into the uncharted territory of testing and treating patients in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, they are facing mounting opposing pressures for information transparency and remote...more
In Seyfarth’s first installment in its 2020 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, Seyfarth attorneys Robert Milligan, Jesse Coleman, and Joshua Salinas reviewed the noteworthy legislation, cases, and other legal developments from...more
On Monday, March 2, 2020, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in the consolidated cases of Texas v. California and California v. Texas, both of which address the Fifth Circuit’s decision to strike down the...more
On January 23, 2020, the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas retracted its previous ruling in the trade secrets dispute Goldberg, et al. v. EMR (USA Holdings) Inc., et al. and issued a new opinion upon rehearing. ...more
In a bold but conservative 2-1 decision Wednesday, The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the ruling of a federal district judge in Texas striking down the individual mandate of the Affordable Care...more
12/23/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Appeals ,
Article III ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Individual Mandate ,
Life Sciences ,
Remand ,
Repeal ,
Standing
Effective on September 1, 2019, the 86th Texas Legislature’s amendments to the Texas Citizen’s Participation Act, Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code Chapter 27 (“TCPA”) essentially removed the vast majority trade secret...more
In a trilogy of recent cases, the Texas Courts of Appeals have employed the “commercial speech” exception to exclude certain business claims from the scope of the Texas Citizen’s Participation Act (“TCPA”). This trend will...more
The Houston Bar Association and the University of Houston Law Center Health Law & Policy Institute partnered to host the “Guidance on Health Care Fraud Enforcement and Compliance - A Conversation with HHS Counsel and Other...more
12/13/2019
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Physicians ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Stark Law
Seyfarth Synopsis: Knowledge that a competitor or former employee is misappropriating trade secrets is difficult to come by. At the same time, however, once a company has notice that misappropriation may be occurring, the...more
12/4/2019
/ Appeals ,
Children's Toys ,
Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Counterclaims ,
Former Employee ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Mattel ,
MGA Entertainment ,
Misappropriation ,
Misrepresentation ,
Preservation of Rights ,
Retail Market ,
State and Local Government ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Trade Secrets ,
Uniform Trade Secrets Acts
In an effort to modernize and clarify a statute that looms large in the minds of health care providers across the nation, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently...more
11/22/2019
/ ACOs ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Incentives ,
OIG ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Safe Harbors ,
Stark Law ,
Telehealth ,
Value-Based Care
On August 23, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit ruled that the Texas Citizen’s Participation Act, Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code Chapter 27 (“TCPA”), did not apply in federal court. Klocke v....more
11/21/2019
/ Anti-SLAPP ,
Burden-Shifting ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Discovery ,
Evidence ,
Evidentiary Standards ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Motion To Stay ,
Prevailing Party ,
State and Local Government ,
Trade Secrets
As part of a larger “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) recently issued a proposed rule aimed at modernizing and...more
11/18/2019
/ Arms Length Transactions ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Commercial Reasonableness ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Equipment Rentals ,
Fair Market Value ,
Health Care Providers ,
New Guidance ,
Office Space ,
OIG ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Public Comment ,
Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol ,
Stark Law ,
Suppliers
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in every seven jobs created in the U.S. in 2018 came in the healthcare sector. The growth in healthcare demand and jobs is due to coalescing of factors, including an aging...more
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana recently held that, under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1836, et seq., information included in a patent application remains an actionable...more
9/26/2019
/ Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Goods or Services ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Misappropriation ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Public Records ,
Reverse Engineering ,
Trade Secrets ,
Use in Commerce
On August 23, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its long-awaited opinion in Klocke v. Watson, 17-11320, 2019 WL 3977545, at *1 (5th Cir. Aug. 23, 2019), holding that the Texas Citizens...more
9/5/2019
/ Anti-SLAPP ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Defamation ,
Diversity ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Misappropriation ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Sanctions ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Title IX ,
Trade Secrets
A recent editorial authored by two female doctors in the Canadian Medical Association Journal proclaims that, “in the era of #MeToo, it is time for physicians to acknowledge that the medical profession is not immune to...more
2/25/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Co-Workers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Healthcare ,
Hostile Environment ,
Physicians ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment
On November 13, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, affirmed the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas’s denial of prevailing party attorneys’ fees in a matter of first impression...more
The health care industry is racing to adopt cutting-edge technology to provide patients with the best treatment possible at the lowest possible cost. ...more
10/22/2018
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Electronic Medical Records ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Hackers ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Breach ,
Identity Theft ,
Information Technology ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
PHI ,
Popular ,
Risk Management
The Texas Court of Appeals, Third District, issued an opinion in Tejas Vending, LP, et al. v. Tejas Promotions, LLC further delineating the applicability of Texas’s anti-SLAPP statute, the Texas Citizens Participation Act...more
7/12/2018
/ Anti-SLAPP ,
Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Civil Conspiracy ,
Confidential Information ,
Declaratory Relief ,
Gaming ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
State and Local Government ,
Trade Secrets