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
Late last week, the Texas Supreme Court denied a petition for mandamus in which the petitioner sought an order compelling a plaintiff to identify the specific trade secrets it contends were misappropriated, bucking what...more
A key cinematic meme over the past 25 years is an electronic device implanted under your skin that tracks your movements, provides you access to restricted areas, or connects you to a larger virtual community. ...more
On May 19, 2017, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law several amendments to the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“TUTSA”), located in Chapter 134A of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code. The amendments go into...more
The San Antonio Court of Appeals recently held that an applicant for a temporary injunction in a trade-secret-misappropriation case under the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act is not required to show the defendant is actually...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Texas Supreme Court throws out a former employee’s defamation suit under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, finding that communications about his alleged failure to measure a petroleum storage tank...more
3/3/2017
/ Anti-SLAPP ,
Appeals ,
Citizens Participation Acts ,
Defamation ,
Exxon Mobil ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Public Interest ,
Public Safety ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
TX Supreme Court
Applying new Texas Supreme Court precedent, a Texas Court of Appeals recently held that a six-year-old cease-and-desist letter alleging trade-secret misappropriation did not constitute proof of knowledge for purposes of the...more
A Texas Court of Appeals affirmed a summary judgment last month in favor of an ex-employee declaring that a noncompete clause in an asset purchase agreement and separate noncompete agreement did not bar him from competing...more
12/28/2016
/ Appeals ,
Asset Purchaser ,
Competition ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Resignation ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Summary Judgment
On October 27, 2016, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s order denying an application for temporary injunction seeking to enjoin Thomas Musgrave, the former president of Henry F. Coffeen III Management,...more
12/3/2016
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Consideration ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Contract ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Scope and Duration of Restrictive Covenant ,
TRO
A Texas Court of Appeals held on August 22, 2016, that a former employer was entitled to $2.8 million in attorney’s fees against a former employee who used the employer’s information to compete against it. The Court reached...more
9/2/2016
/ Appeals ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Breach of Contract ,
Confidential Information ,
Damages ,
Employment Contract ,
Former Employee ,
Jury Trial ,
Misappropriation ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Remedies ,
Trade Secrets ,
Unfair Competition
In a clash between two major oil companies, the Texas Supreme Court ruled May 20, 2016 that the recently enacted Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“TUTSA”) allows the trial court discretion to exclude a company representative...more
6/1/2016
/ Breach of Contract ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Due Process ,
Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Registered Representatives ,
Trade Secrets ,
TRO ,
TX Supreme Court ,
Writ of Mandamus
On January 13, before the Texas Supreme Court, two major oil-and-gas-services companies disputed whether Texas’s new trade secret laws require a trial court to exclude a party’s corporate representative from a hearing at...more
In a case solely comprised of state-law claims to enforce employment covenants, a United States District Judge in the North District of Texas ruled last week in Leica Microsystems Inc. v. Hernandez et al., No. 3:15-CV-2531-D,...more