On March 25, 2019, the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP), Pennsylvania’s largest hospital association, filed a motion in the Middle District of Pennsylvania to intervene in University Pittsburgh...more
Below is a summary of UPMC-Highmark dispute as of March 4, 2019. This information is limited to litigation proceedings with no discussion about prior contracts or negotiations....more
Below is a summary of UPMC-Highmark dispute as of February 22, 2019. This information is limited to litigation proceedings with no discussion about prior contracts or negotiations....more
Patent infringers take note: clever defenses by ingenious litigation counsel may come too late to save you from an award of exemplary damages. On Monday, June 13, in Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics and Stryker Corp. v....more
The decision, which affects enhanced patent infringement damages, restores the statutory discretion of district courts, whose exercise of discretion should be channeled by sound legal principles limiting the award of enhanced...more
On June 13, 2016, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously, in an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, that an award of enhanced damages pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 284 should be within the sound discretion of a district court, albeit...more
The aphorism that "[t]he race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet," variously attributed to Damon Runyon, Franklin P. Adams, and Hugh Keough, could readily be updated to include...more
In a unanimous decision issued on June 13, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc., relaxed the standard for awards of enhanced damages under 35 U.S.C. § 284. In so ruling, the Court...more
The dust has yet to settle on the landmark decision of High Point Bank & Trust Co. v. Highmark Properties, LLC, 776 S.E.2d 838 (N.C. 2015). Before delving into the decision that should serve as a harbinger of imminent and...more
In This Issue: - Another Perspective: We interviewed Michelle Crook, CFO of the Bank of Botetourt, and Chris Snodgrass, CFO for Bank of Marion, for our Community Banking Excellence this quarter. We wanted to know...more
The following issues have been resolved over the last month, at least through June 30, 2019, which is the expiration date of the Consent Decrees entered into with the approval of the Commonwealth Court by the parties in June...more
PBGH just recently sent out a client alert regarding UPMC/Highmark Continuity of Care Settlement as follows: UPMC and Highmark have announced a settlement agreement that addresses the Consent Decrees’ Continuity of Care...more
In a case of first impression, a Pennsylvania court recently ruled in favor of 12 independent community hospitals (the “Hospitals”) that sued health insurer Highmark Inc. (“Highmark”) for passing on its 2 percent Medicare...more
Plaintiff Files Third Amended Antitrust Claim Against Highmark - A long running antitrust dispute in Western Pennsylvania continued on October 1, when a Pennsylvania hotel (Cole’s Wexford Hotel) filed a third amended...more
Since the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) was enacted in 2010, the health care industry has been on the edge of its proverbial seat waiting to see which care delivery models are best suited to sustain all the changes: to...more
FEDERAL CIRCUIT CASES - Newsgroup Post Held to be A Printed Publication and Anticipatory Prior Art - On May 27, 2014, the Federal Circuit affirmed a decision granting summary judgment of invalidity by the...more
Efforts by the U.S. Senate to pass an alternative to the Innovation Act, which aims to reform abusive patent litigation, have stalled. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who is leading the effort, has announced that his committee is tabling...more
The recent Octane Fitness and Highmark, Inc. opinions, both authored by Justice Sotomayor after unanimous holdings by the United States Supreme Court, were a welcome development for corporate defendants in patent infringement...more
As we indicated last week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments next week in two cases involving the Attorney Fees provision at 35 U.S.C. § 285. That section provides that a district court may award reasonable attorney fees...more