On Wednesday, December 9, 2015, The Department of Justice announced that Bollinger Shipyards agreed to settle a False Claims Act suit in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The suit alleges that Bollinger misrepresented the longitudinal strength of patrol boats it was contracted to deliver to the Coast Guard. This misrepresentation resulted in the Coast Guard patrol boats buckling and failing while in service.
New York State Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden recently ruled that a former Vanguard Group tax lawyer’s qui tam complaint, filed in 2013 and made public a year later, must be dismissed and cannot be re-filed because it was brought in violation of New York State attorney ethic rules.
On October 30, 2015, the Department of Justice announced that 457 hospitals in 43 states had agreed to settle, for more than $250 million, False Claims Act allegations related to cardiac devices that were implanted in Medicare patients in violation of Medicare coverage requirements.
Contractors PAE Government Services Inc. and RM Asia (HK) Limited, tasked with vehicle maintenance capabilities and training services for the Afghanistan National Army, will pay $1.45 million to resolve false claims to the Government. Former PAE employee and qui tam Relator Steven D. Walker, along with the government, alleged that former managers for PAE and RM Asia engaged in a bid-rigging scheme that funneled government paid subcontracts to companies owned by the former managers and their family members by using confidential bid information to beat out competitors.
On August 6, 2015, the United States filed its Complaint in Intervention against Latonya (Tonya) Mallory, BlueWave Healthcare Consultants, Inc., Floyd Calhoun (Cal) Dent and Robert Bradford (Brad) Johnson for their part in a Medicare and Tricare fraud scheme involving three laboratories, including Health Diagnostics Laboratories, Inc.
VMware Inc., a manufacturer of computer visualization software, and Carahsoft Technology Corporation, a distributor of information technology, will be paying $75.5 million to settle claims that they made misrepresentations that allowed them to overcharge the government for VMware’s products and services.
On May 19, 2015, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law a state false claims act that largely mirrors the federal False Claims Act, including the ability of a qui tam relator to bring an action on behalf of the state.
Last Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court issued its long-awaited ruling in United States ex rel. Carter v. KBR, Inc.
On Tuesday, in United States ex rel. Nevyas v. Allergan, Inc., an Eastern District of Pennsylvania district court denied pharmaceutical giant Allergan’s motion to dismiss False Claims Act (“FCA”) allegations brought against it by Relator eye doctors in the Philadelphia area.
On May 14, 2015, PharMerica Corp. agreed to pay $31.5 million to resolve a False Claims Act and Controlled Substances Act lawsuit alleging that the company had dispensed Schedule II controlled drugs without valid prescriptions and then billed Medicare for the improperly dispensed drugs.
