1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |Court of Federal Claims Permits Affordable Care Act "Risk Corridors" Case to Proceed

Court of Federal Claims Permits Affordable Care Act "Risk Corridors" Case to Proceed

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 12.02.16

In Maine Community Health Options v. U.S. (Dec. 2, 2016) the CFC held that the “existence of separate, active cases” whose outcomes will impact the issues raised by a plaintiff fails to meet the Government’s burden to justify a stay of litigation under Federal Circuit precedent. Plaintiff Maine Community Health Options (represented by C&M) is one of 13 health insurers who have filed suit against the Government under the Tucker Act seeking to recover “risk corridors” payments pursuant to §1342 of the Affordable Care Act.

Insights

Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25

Defining Claim Terms by Implication: Lexicography Lessons from Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

Claim construction is a key stage of most patent litigations, where the court must decide the meaning of any disputed terms in the patent claims.  Generally, claim terms are given their plain and ordinary meaning except under two circumstances: (1) when the patentee acts as its own lexicographer and sets out a definition for the term; and (2) when the patentee disavows the full scope of the term either in the specification or during prosecution.  Thorner v. Sony Comput. Ent. Am. LLC, 669 F.3d 1362, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2012).  The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp. highlights that patentees can act as their own lexicographers through consistent, interchangeable usage of terms across the specification, effectively defining terms by implication....