As of April 29, at least two federal courts have dismissed suits filed by insurers alleging fraud in the arbitration process created by the No Surprises Act (NSA), rejecting the insurers’ bids to impose judicial review over the administrative arbitration process established by Congress when it enacted the NSA.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument April 29 on the standard for the inducement of infringement in medical patent cases, including ones that involve “skinny label” generic versions.  A bioequivalent manufacturer told the high court that recent precedent emphasized that an entity must take active steps to induce infringement, while a patent-owning pharmaceutical company maintained that statements made by the bioequivalent maker did not clearly disclaim patented cardiovascular uses, thus inducing infringement.

SEATTLE — A Washington federal magistrate judge on April 29 denied a motion to disqualify the U.S. law firm representing a Chinese law firm in its bid to enforce a confirmed arbitral award worth more than $765,000 in unpaid attorney fees against the Chinese firm’s former client, finding that an attorney who transitioned from the defendant’s firm to the plaintiff’s firm was not involved in the plaintiff’s case; the judge also declined to award fees incurred litigating the motion.

BALTIMORE — A household member who suffers an injury from exposure to asbestos brought home on work clothing qualifies as a bystander, and state law does not impose a duty element for a strict liability claim, the Maryland Supreme Court said in answering a certified question from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals panel on April 29 reversed a trial court’s denial of an insurer’s motion to sever and stay a claim alleging violation of the New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA) after determining that staying the IFCA claim until after the insured’s claim for underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits is resolved promotes judicial efficiency and protects the interests of both parties.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Health policies in Maryland, with the exception of policies issued to small employers, must “cover expenses arising from IVF [in vitro fertilization] procedures to the same extent as expenses arising from other pregnancy-related procedures,” a divided Maryland Supreme Court ruled, affirming an appellate panel’s reinstatement of putative class claims by insureds seeking coverage for embryo thawing and agreeing that a class case can’t be mooted by reimbursing the insureds after the complaint was filed and before class certification was sought.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — No judicial review of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s decision to terminate the temporary protected status (TPS) for Syria and Haiti is permitted under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the U.S. solicitor general told the U.S. Supreme Court April 29 during oral arguments in two putative class cases consolidated by the high court after it treated the government’s applications to stay orders postponing the TPS terminations as petitions for writ of certiorari before judgment and granted them.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 28 affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a putative class action suit against Meta Platforms Inc. alleging that anti-Rohingya content on Facebook incited violence against the plaintiffs and their villages in Myanmar and that Meta breached its duty of care to avoid injury to others, finding that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act barred the plaintiffs’ claims because the content at issue was third-party content.