On Thursday, the United States Supreme Court struck down a Vermont law that blocked drug manufacturers’ use of prescription drug information in marketing campaigns designed to sell new drugs to physicians.
Last week, United States District Judge Steve Merryday upheld Relator John King’s amended qui tam Complaint against grenade manufacturer DSE, Inc. and its subcontractors Kaman Precision Products, GTI Systems, and JKS Industries. Mr. King, a former employee at DSE, alleges that the company terminated him from the position of quality-assurance manager when he refused to certify the quality of defective grenades that either exploded prematurely or failed to explode at all.
Two American businessmen, George H. Lee and his son, Justin W. Lee, have been charged with giving U.S. Army officers airline tickets, vacations, and over $1 million in bribes to secure multimillion-dollar contracts to provide supplies to the U.S. military and to help rebuild Iraq.
American Medical Response (“AMR”), one of the country’s largest private ambulance services, will pay the United States government $2.7 million to resolve allegations that it defrauded Medicare and other federal health insurance programs.
The allegations against AMR were originally brought by several former employees, who alleged that AMR coded “basic life support” calls as “advanced life support,” which are reimbursed at a higher rate by Medicare.
Three related companies, Areté Sleep LLC, Areté Sleep Therapy LLC and Areté Holdings LLC, have agreed to pay the United States Department of Justice $650,000 to settle claims that the Areté companies defrauded Medicare in violation of the False Claims Act. The settlement resolves claims that Areté submitted false claims to Medicare for diagnostic sleep tests performed by technicians lacking the licenses or certifications required by Medicare’s rules and regulations.
On May 26, 2011, Judge William J. Haynes, Jr. awarded the United States $82,642,592.00 in damages after granting summary judgment in favor of the government on its False Claims Act (“FCA”) claim against Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. The award was based on treble damages under the FCA of $38,873,592 and $43,769,000 in civil penalties.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved rules on May 25, 2011 that could make it very lucrative for Wall Street and other corporate insiders to alert the agency to securities fraud. Under the new rules, whistleblowers will be entitled to receive 10 to 30 percent of the money they help the S.E.C.
In a recently-unsealed filing, California became the second state to join in a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit originally brought in 2007 against Education Management Corporation (“EMC”), a for-profit college company that operates 14 campuses in California under the “Argosy University” and “Art Institute” brands.
In a speech delivered on Monday, May 24, 2011, California Attorney General Kamala Harris promised that her newly-formed Mortgage Fraud Strike Force would employ the state’s “robust” False Claims Act to hold those who commit mortgage fraud accountable.
On May 13, 2011, in a case of apparent first impression, Judge John Gleeson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York held that medical services defendants may not implead their billing company where the Government, after intervening in a False Claims Act suit, asserts claims for unjust enrichment and payment by mistake.
If you are aware of any person, corporation or entity that you think may be violating the Federal False Claims Act or a State False Claims Act, contact us today.