Episode 322 -- Checking in on Caremark Cases
On July 25, 2025, the Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion in United States ex rel. Sedona Partners LLC v. Able Moving & Storage Inc. (No. 22-13340) addressing an important procedural question under the False Claims Act (FCA)...more
In a qui tam action filed under the False Claims Act, the relator, Barbara Senters, appealed the district court’s dismissal of her fourth amended complaint (FAC), which alleged that Quest Diagnostics submitted false claims...more
On November 30, 2022, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated dismissal of a retaliation action brought by Don Ascolese (“Ascolese”) under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). See United States ex rel. Don Ascolese v. Shoemaker...more
Walmart successfully ended eight years of protracted litigation under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) on June 4, 2021, when the Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of Medicare and Medicaid fraud allegations against the major...more
On June 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of a qui tam False Claims Act (FCA) suit alleging certain physician compensation arrangements at Trinity Health violated the...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently released its report detailing the settlements and judgments obtained in 2019 from civil cases involving fraud and abuse claims. As in years past, the substantial majority of these...more
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently emphasized the heightened pleading standard that a relator in a qui tam False Claims Act (“FCA”) suit must satisfy to avoid dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6). United States ex rel....more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently issued a False Claims Act (FCA) decision calling into question productivity-based physician compensation structures under the Stark Law, in reliance on a controversial...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit endorsed two controversial interpretations of the Stark Law’s “volume or value” standard, known as the correlation theory and the practice “loss” theory in U.S. ex rel. J. William...more
As part of our ongoing discussion of the Polukoff False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam case (involving allegations that certain heart procedures performed by a cardiologist, and billed for by two hospital defendants, were not...more
On January 14, 2019, Intermountain Healthcare, Inc. and Intermountain Medical Center (Intermountain) filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. Intermountain’s petition comes after the U.S. Court of...more
On December 26, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an opinion in United States ex rel. Grant v. United Airlines affirming dismissal of the relator’s False Claims Act (FCA) allegations on the grounds...more
On June 16, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar1 (Escobar) unanimously upheld the implied certification theory of False Claims Act (FCA) liability and strengthened...more
On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit heard argument in United States ex rel. Escobar, et al. v. Universal Health Services, Inc. This case was sent back...more