False Claims Act Insights - Are the FCA’s Qui Tam Provisions Unconstitutional? One Federal Judge Says “Yes"
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False Claims Act Insights - Think You Know Whistleblowers? Think Again.
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Relator Ronald Streck filed suit under the False Claims Act (FCA) asserting that Eli Lilly falsely under-reported its Average Manufacturer Price (AMP) for Medicaid by excluding “price increase values” (sometimes called...more
Below are noteworthy False Claims Act (FCA) decisions from the third quarter of 2023. The main issues in the cases are: Materiality. The Fourth Circuit held that a pharmacist’s efforts to falsify patient eligibility...more
A recent District of Columbia federal court ruling reminds employers that a severance agreement containing a release of claims under the False Claims Act does not guarantee dismissal of a suit on those grounds....more
Last month in United States ex rel. Schutte, et al. v. SuperValu Inc. et al, the Supreme Court unanimously held (with Justice Thomas writing the opinion) that the False Claims Act’s (“FCA”) scienter element refers to a...more
In its recent unanimous and significant decision in the consolidated cases of United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu, No. 21-1326 (6-1-23), and United States ex rel. Proctol v. Safeway, Inc., No. 22-111 (6-1-23), the...more
On March 31, 2023, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dealt a blow to a trio of nursing home providers by denying their motion to dismiss a False Claims Act (FCA) claim brought by the...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) released its annual summary of False Claims Act (FCA) recoveries for the prior fiscal year, and the data points to a number of notable trends. Although DOJ brought in the second-highest...more
On January 13, 2023, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari1 to review the False Claims Act (“FCA”) scienter standard in two FCA whistleblower cases from the Seventh Circuit, U.S. ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu...more
In a split decision issued January 25, 2022, the Fourth Circuit strongly endorsed a defense to False Claims Act liability for entities that submit claims to the government in today’s complex regulatory environment, finding:...more
A recent split decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit strengthens an argument many defendants of False Claims Act ("FCA") cases have been advancing for years: the violation of an ambiguous...more
In United States ex rel. Silver v. Omnicare, Inc., et al. (D.N.J. No. 11-cv-01326), a whistleblower relator consistently alleged that certain pharmaceutical service providers have engaged in an illegal kickback arrangement...more
A federal judge recently ruled that submission of electronic data to the government can, under appropriate circumstances, give rise to liability under the False Claims Act. In U.S. ex rel. Marc Silver et al. v. Omnicare Inc....more
On January 8, 2021, in the first appellate decision of the year addressing a False Claims Act case, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the summary judgment dismissal of relators’ claims that a manufacturer of allergenic extracts...more
Qui tam cases in American jurisprudence rely on a simple premise: help prevent nefarious actors from defrauding the government and Uncle Sam will compensate you for your efforts. With its roots in English law, the American...more
Over the last decade, observers have noted that states have begun to play a greater role as regulatory enforcers – a trend that increased with the federal regulatory roll-back that began with the advent of the Trump...more
The Situation: A jury had originally handed down a large verdict in a False Claims Act ("FCA") case that resulted in $347 million judgment. The district court threw out that verdict, however, and the relators appealed. The...more
Nonprofit Hospital System and Physician Practice Reach $10 Million Settlement for False Claims Act Allegations - Centra Health Inc., a nonprofit hospital system, and Blue Ridge Ear, Nose, Throat and Plastic Surgery, Inc.,...more
Key Points: - False Claims Act plaintiff cannot use discovery to satisfy Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b). - Payment of fair market value is a dispositive defense in FCA actions alleging a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. ...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
WHAT’S INSIDE - Who Decides How Bankruptcy Laws Are Applied? PROMESA: An Experiment Doomed to Fail - The Role of Alter Ego in Restructuring - SPECIAL FRAUD SECTION - Don’t Depend on a Handshake - Health...more
In 2018, the False Claims Act (“FCA”) continued to be one of the federal government’s (“Government”) preferred civil fraud enforcement tools across a variety of industries. The healthcare industry, however, remained the...more
The False Claims Act (“FCA”) permits a person, known as a “qui tam relator” (or more commonly, a “whistleblower”), to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the federal government when that person has information that a healthcare...more
Our Government & Internal Investigations Team analyzes the use of data analytics by relators and the government in False Claims Act cases and other enforcement actions in the health care industry....more
A LOOK BACK... A LOOK AHEAD - While the uncertainty associated with legislative efforts to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) dominated most of the headlines for the healthcare industry last year,...more