On Nov. 14, 2023, STAT News published an investigation into how a UnitedHealth subsidiary used an algorithm to shape the length of Medicare Advantage rehab stays. By the end of the same day, a class-action complaint against UnitedHealth was on file in federal court. It cited STAT reporting from its March and November articles repeatedly, in some circumstances adopting framing strikingly similar to that used by the journalists themselves. STAT then wrote about the lawsuit, and many involved touted it online.

I don’t know whether anyone picked up a phone or how the claims advanced in the litigation were independently corroborated. A recent RealClearInvestigations piece by James Varney found no proof that the firm behind the suit, Clarkson Law, coordinated with any newsroom, and I wouldn’t claim otherwise. But having spent several years as the target of frivolous litigation brought by a high-profile former DOJ lawyer who represented the leader of a separatist group Nigeria’s government designated a terrorist organization, acted as counsel for Edward Snowden’s one-time estranged father, and was recently blocked by a U.S. federal court judge from entering a case on behalf of deposed Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, I know something about how headlines are used to advance dubious litigation, seek visibility, and peddle controversy.