On October 19, 2021, United HealthCare Services, Inc. filed a direct action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota alleging an anticompetitive conspiracy to monopolize the market for combination antiretroviral therapy (“cART”) drugs used to treat HIV infection. The complaint echoes the allegations made in class action complaints and retail pharmacy complaints pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

On October 13, 2021, Allergan announced a $30 million preliminary settlement with a certified class of end payors of Allergan’s dry-eye drug Restasis. Approximately 18 months ago, Allergan had settled four direct purchaser actions for a total of $51 million.

On September 22, 2021 U.S. District Judge William Alsup preliminarily approved settlements with Bausch Health Cos. Inc., Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Assertio Therapeutics Inc. worth $454 million.

On September 22, 2021, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreen, Kroger, Albertsons, and H.E.B. filed direct purchaser actions alleging an anticompetitive conspiracy to monopolize the market for combination antiretroviral therapy (“cART”) drugs used to treat HIV infection in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

On September 9, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts mostly denied a motion to dismiss a DOJ action alleging that Teva willfully violated the Anti-Kickback statute through copayment assistance donations that ended up exclusively subsidizing prescriptions for its multiple sclerosis drug, Copaxone. The court found that the government had alleged in sufficient detail a scheme by which Teva practically guaranteed that its own donations would result in the submission of Medicare claims for Copaxone.

A class of cryptocommodities purchasers represented by Selendy & Gay PLLC, Roche Freedman LLP, and Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky LLP will be allowed to proceed with a lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to manipulate the crypto markets, following a decision on the defendants’ motion to dismiss issued on September 28, 2021.

On August 4, 2021, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court ruling that a Schneider Wallace represented gas station employee was not subject to forced arbitration, and that the employee can pursue a wage-and-hour class action in court. The three-judge panel held unanimously that the Schneider Wallace case can proceed despite the fact that Defendant claimed that it was subject to mandatory arbitration, because the court found that the language in the Newcomb Oil Co LLC’s employee handbook was not enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act.

Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois appointed Amy Eskin of Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky LLP as State Court Liaison Counsel for California and a member of the 15 member Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee supervising  the In re Paraquat Products Liability Litigation. MDL No. 3004.

On July 8, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, holding that Connecticut violated the Individuals With Disabilities Act (“IDEA”) by terminating special education services for students prior to their 22nd birthday while offering public education to non-disabled adults. They also held that Connecticut’s violation entitled class members who are no longer receiving special education to compensatory education to remedy the past unlawful termination of their services.

Prudential Security faces a lawsuit brought by security guards represented by Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky for the company’s alleged unlawful wage and hour policies and practices. The class action complaint was filed in Illinois state court, Cook County on April 6, 2021.