Emory is facing or has recently resolved several significant lawsuits, and the Emory lawsuits drawing the most attention right now involve a mass layoff at Emory Healthcare, a civil rights suit by three professors arrested during a 2024 campus protest, and a string of medical malpractice and regulatory cases. The layoff class action has reached a tentative settlement. The professors’ case is active. The malpractice matters include a $38.6 million jury verdict and a 2025 appeals court ruling reviving an amputation case.
The WARN Act Layoff Class Action
On August 12, 2025, Emory Healthcare eliminated professional coding positions in its Revenue Cycle department, saying the restructuring was “driven by the need to simplify and to establish clearer lines of ownership and accountability for resolving accounts in a timely manner,” with some functions shifted to external management.1Fox 5 Atlanta. Lawsuit Says Emory Illegally Cut 540 Finance Workers
Three days later, former employee Paulette Simmons filed a class-action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, case number 1:25-cv-04641, alleging Emory violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act by failing to give the required 60 days’ written notice.2Becker’s Hospital Review. Emory Healthcare Faces Lawsuit After Layoffs3PACER Monitor. Simmons v. Emory Healthcare, Inc.
How Many Workers Were Cut
The lawsuit says 543 full-time finance employees lost their jobs. Emory disputes that. CEO Joon S. Lee, MD, told employees in an internal email that the restructuring affected 232 workers, less than one percent of the system’s roughly 29,500-person workforce.1Fox 5 Atlanta. Lawsuit Says Emory Illegally Cut 540 Finance Workers The gap matters legally. The WARN Act’s notice requirement kicks in at 500 workers at a single site, or at 50 workers who make up at least a third of the active workforce at that site.4U.S. Department of Labor. WARN Act FAQ Emory has argued the cuts did not meet the statute’s mass-layoff definition because they fell below the 33 percent threshold.5Atlanta News First. Former Emory Healthcare Employee Files Class Action Lawsuit After Wave of Layoffs
Severance Waivers
The complaint also challenges the severance packages Emory offered. According to the suit, those agreements required workers to waive any WARN Act claims in exchange for severance pay that fell short of the 60 days of wages and benefits the Act would require.2Becker’s Hospital Review. Emory Healthcare Faces Lawsuit After Layoffs Simmons asks the court to invalidate those waivers and award back pay and benefits to the full class.5Atlanta News First. Former Emory Healthcare Employee Files Class Action Lawsuit After Wave of Layoffs
Where the Case Stands
Judge Victoria M. Calvert denied Emory’s motion to dismiss in February 2026. After the case was referred to mediation, a May 27, 2026 settlement conference before Magistrate Judge J. Elizabeth McBath produced an agreement. On June 10, 2026, Judge Calvert stayed the proceedings through August 10, 2026, so the parties could finalize the settlement in writing. The terms have not been publicly disclosed, and no class certification ruling was entered before the parties settled.3PACER Monitor. Simmons v. Emory Healthcare, Inc.
Professors’ Suit Over 2024 Protest Arrests
On April 25, 2024, students set up a pro-Palestine encampment on the Emory University quad at about 7:30 a.m.6Scholars at Risk. Emory University Incident Report University President Gregory Fenves summoned the Atlanta Police Department and Georgia State Patrol after the Emory Police Department declared the encampment trespassing.7The Guardian. Emory University Georgia Police Campus Protests Twenty-eight people were arrested, including 20 affiliated with Emory, most charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, criminal trespass, or obstruction.
By October 2025, 24 of the 28 arrested had their charges dismissed, accepted pleas, or entered diversion.8Atlanta Press Collective. Emory Protesters’ First Amendment Rights Violated All charges against the three arrested professors were dropped by September 2025.9Georgia Recorder. Three Current Professors Sue Emory University Over April 2024 Arrests at Campus Protest
On April 23, 2026, professors Noëlle McAfee (philosophy), Emil’ Keme (indigenous studies), and Caroline Fohlin (economics) sued Emory in DeKalb County State Court, case number 26A03017. The complaint alleges wrongful arrest and prosecution, negligence, and breach of the university’s open expression policy.9Georgia Recorder. Three Current Professors Sue Emory University Over April 2024 Arrests at Campus Protest10PACER Monitor. McAfee v. Emory Complaint Fohlin alleges she was thrown to the ground while protesting officers pinning down a student, suffering a concussion and spinal injury. The professors seek repayment of their criminal defense legal fees and punitive damages.11CBS News Atlanta. Emory Professors Lawsuit Over Israel-Hamas War Campus Protest Arrests
Emory spokesperson Laura Diamond called the suit “without merit,” saying the university “acts appropriately and responsibly to keep our community safe from threats of harm.”12The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Emory Sued by Professors Arrested in 2024 Protest The case is active.
Medical Malpractice Cases
The $38.6 Million Heart Transplant Verdict
In November 2023, a jury awarded $38.6 million over the death of 20-year-old Tre’von Falson. His mother, Barbara Brown, alleged that Emory’s surgical team skipped a required pre-surgery CT scan before his November 2017 heart transplant. The scan would have shown that a part of his mechanical heart pump had shifted; without it, surgeons cut into the moving component, causing massive blood loss and organ failure. The verdict broke down to $30 million for the value of life, $6 million for pain and suffering, and $2.6 million for medical expenses. The parties then reached a confidential post-trial settlement, and the case was dismissed in December 2023.13The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Emory Settles $38.6M Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
Moton v. Emory Healthcare
On October 1, 2025, the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s dismissal of claims by Georgia Moton, who alleged Emory nurses improperly administered Dilantin through a small IV in her left hand instead of a larger neck IV, causing tissue necrosis that led to amputation of her hand. The appeals court found that conflicting testimony between a nurse who said she used the neck IV and an Emory corporate representative who said the nurses could not independently recall which site was used created a genuine factual dispute for a jury. The case was returned for trial.14Findlaw. Moton v. Emory Healthcare, Inc., A25A1134
Data Breach and False Claims Act Matters
Emory has also faced older litigation worth knowing about. A 2012 class action in Fulton County Superior Court stemmed from the disappearance of 10 unencrypted backup disks from Emory University Hospital containing Social Security numbers, surgical records, and other data for as many as 315,000 patients treated between 1990 and 2007. That suit sought more than $200 million.15The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Emory Healthcare at Risk for $200 Million-Plus Loss
On the regulatory side, Emory University paid $1.5 million in 2013 to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it improperly billed Medicare and Medicaid for clinical trial services at its Winship Cancer Institute between 2001 and 2010. The case grew out of a 2009 whistleblower lawsuit by former employee Elizabeth Elliott, and Emory admitted no liability.16The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Emory University to Pay $1.5 Million to Settle False Claims Act Investigation A separate $2.4 million False Claims Act settlement involving Emory Healthcare, Inc. was recorded in 2015.17Good Jobs First Violation Tracker. Emory Healthcare Violation Tracker