In January 2018, HHS unexpectedly announced a newly proposed regulation entitled “Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Healthcare,” which proposes new prohibitions and notice requirements for institutional healthcare...more
The Georgia Court of Appeals has affirmed the right of private companies to exclude weapons at properties they lease from the government. The Court’s decision on March 14, 2018 in GeorgiaCarry.org, Inc., et al. v. The Atlanta...more
In a class-action lawsuit, the Northern District of Illinois has deepened a pre-existing district-court split on a key legal question under Section 1557 of the ACA and, in doing so, explicitly rejected a pivotal HHS OCR...more
In a momentous decision that will certainly garner national attention and be subject to appeal, a district court for the Southern District of California has ruled that Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits...more
On July 10, 2017, the Northern District of Texas stayed its much-watched Section 1557 case (known as the Franciscan Alliance case) pending HHS’s decision to revisit or revise its regulation under Section 1557.
At issue in...more
On May 8th, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion with broad implications for healthcare providers, confirming the importance of ensuring effective communication with deaf or hearing-impaired patients....more
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR), the office tasked with enforcing Section 1557 of the ACA, has a new Director and Deputy Director for Civil Rights. The new Director, Roger...more
This month, twelve deaf individuals filed a federal suit against Banner Health in Arizona alleging discrimination under Section 1557 of the ACA because of an alleged failure to provide effective auxiliary aids. Specifically,...more
On New Year’s Eve, a federal court in the Northern District of Texas granted a nationwide preliminary injunction against two related HHS interpretations of the final Nondiscrimination rule issued under Section 1557 of the...more
This article is the first in a series addressing the new risks facing healthcare providers under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
By now, healthcare providers undoubtedly know about Section 1557 of the Affordable...more
On August 23, 2016, several States and three faith-based healthcare providers filed suit in the Northern District of Texas against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) over HHS’s interpretation of “sex” in...more
Potential plaintiffs and freshly sued defendants often discount the importance of damages analysis when it comes to litigation planning and execution. After all, disputes over liability receive far more attention during...more
6/8/2016
/ Compensatory Damages ,
Consequential Damages ,
Damages ,
Employment Discrimination ,
GA Supreme Court ,
Guarantors ,
Indemnity ,
Rule 30(b)(6) ,
SCOTUS ,
Statistical Sampling ,
Tyson Foods v Bouaphakeo
On March 22, 2016, the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, 136 S. Ct. 1036 (2016), addressing the question of when statistical sampling evidence may be used to establish class-wide...more
Litigation is inherently results-oriented. Too often, however, even those experienced in litigation tend to blur the lines between subtly different categories of damages. Perhaps it’s time to go back to Damages 101....more
In earlier articles, I have called Section 1557 “the future of healthcare discrimination litigation” and the “legal side of health equity.” HHS/OCR’s final rule under Section 1557—which will go into effect on July 18,...more
This week marks the end of National Minority Health Month and its 2016 theme of “Accelerating Health Equity for the Nation.” This month, the HHS Office of Minority Health’s goal was to “raise awareness of the health...more
On January 7, 2016 the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida took the rare step of dismissing (with leave to amend) the government’s Complaint in Intervention in a False Claims Act Case. This case...more
On September 8, 2015, HHS published its proposed regulations implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. In a previous article on Section 1557, entitled “The Future of Healthcare Discrimination Litigation,” we...more