Healthcare Disputes & Investigations

Healthcare and life sciences companies rely on Goodwin’s expertise, extensive courtroom prowess, business acumen, and comprehensive regulatory experience to effectively defend their interests and achieve optimal results in False Claims Act cases, state and federal government investigations, antitrust matters, intellectual property disputes, and commercial disputes.

We are well-prepared to handle the full range of challenges our clients face, and frequently represent U.S. and multinational companies, as well as boards and executives, in governmental and internal corporate investigations, white collar criminal defense, regulatory compliance and related civil litigation, as well as complex commercial litigation. While we resolve matters quickly and quietly in advance of litigation and public scrutiny where desirable, we are genuine trial lawyers who do not hesitate to try cases to verdict when appropriate.

Government Investigations and Litigation

We have a long track record of defending clients in commercial disputes in the healthcare industry, as well as FCA cases, qui tam litigation, and fraud and abuse investigations. When an enforcement matter arises, our Healthcare Government Enforcement team partners with our deep regulatory bench to advocate and litigate for our clients before government agencies, responding to Civil Investigative Demands, seeking DOJ declination of sealed qui tam cases, and litigating against whistleblowers and federal and state agencies when necessary.

Commercial Disputes

Goodwin’s commercial litigators routinely help our clients through a variety of commercial disputes facing entities and individuals in the healthcare industry. Litigating those disputes requires an understanding of the business issue, the healthcare industry, as well as the regulatory environment. We are committed to developing solutions to help our clients solve their toughest problems, and we approach each new challenge as an urgent business matter to be resolved expeditiously and cost-effectively—whether the dispute involves a post-closing claim, licensing dispute, breach of contract/fiduciary duty litigation, business tort, partnership dispute, privacy & cybersecurity claim, restrictive covenant/trade secret litigation, or a variety of other similar issues that healthcare entities face.  

Securities Litigation

As part of our healthcare litigation practice, publicly-traded clients can rely on our Securities Litigation team’s extensive experience representing healthcare and life sciences companies at all stages of investigation and handling precedent-setting securities class actions and derivative litigation. We have a broad understanding of the issues most often faced by our clients at the pre-clinical, clinical testing, regulatory approval, post-FDA approval and commercial stages. Recent issues handled by our team include litigation involving enrollment delays, serious adverse events, sales and marketing practices, billing and reimbursement issues, regulatory inspections and warnings, and supply and manufacturing issues. Our securities litigators also work with our transactional and regulatory teams to advise clients on disclosures to proactively mitigate risk and, if litigation is unavoidable, to obtain dismissal at the earliest stages. Our ability to leverage our deep industry knowledge in the courtroom is a key differentiator for our healthcare and life sciences clients.

Antitrust

Healthcare companies also look to Goodwin to address all their most important competition-related issues. Our antitrust lawyers are immersed in the legal issues at the forefront of antitrust enforcement, with particular experience in issues involving the interaction of antitrust with intellectual property laws and FDA regulations. We have litigated cases and advised clients on matters involving reimbursement claims, licensing, sham litigation, settlement of IP litigation, reverse payments and patent hold-up with standard-setting organizations, among others.

ERISA

Another aspect of our healthcare litigation capabilities is successfully handling ERISA claims relating to the funding, payment, and coverage of healthcare provided through employer-sponsored benefit plans. Our market-leading ERISA Litigation team handles the most complex, technical, and novel claims involving employer-sponsored benefit plans—including health plans—leveraging our deep healthcare expertise across the firm.

Connect with our Healthcare Disputes & Investigations team and let us know how we help.