On September 8, 2010, the First Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a false claims act case by invoking the public disclosure bar. The court held that a complaint for wrongful discharge under state law triggers the public disclosure bar where the wrongful termination is based on the same set of operative facts as the qui tam action.
The Justice Department is considering joining a qui tam lawsuit now under seal concerning the use of performance enhancing drugs in cycling races. The qui tam relator is Floyd Landis, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong.
In 2006, Charles Donigan sued his former employer, St. Jude Medical, under the Federal False Claims Act for allegedly paying kickbacks to physicians and other health care providers to induce them to use St. Jude medical devices, including pacemakers.
Hewlett – Packard settled claims that it knowingly paid kickbacks to systems integrator companies in return for recommendations that federal agencies purchase H-P products. The government also claimed that H-P defectively priced a 2002 contract with the General services Administration by failing to disclose complete information during the negotiating process.
Allergan settled claims of off-label marketing of its Botox pharmaceutical and other claims for a total of $600 million. The government accused Allergan of recommending Botox for unapproved uses including headache, pain, spasticity and juvenile cerebral palsy.
A physician, clinic owner and a number of clinic nurses pleaded guilty to participating in a large Medicare fraud conspiracy. Dr. Fred Dweck, Yudel Cayro and others referred numerous Medicare recipients for unnecessary home health care services and charged those services to Medicare. In total, Medicare paid more than $32 million of the $53 million fraudulent claims billed.
St. John’s Medical Center of Santa Monica, California has agreed to repay the federal government $5.25 million to settle claims that it overbilled Medicare. The government alleged that St. John’s “turbocharged” its claims to Medicare by raising charges more quickly than its actual costs rose. According to the government, the practice allowed St.
The Massachusetts Attorney General settled claims of off label marketing with medical device maker, Stryker Biotech. The state claimed that Stryker violated state consumer protection laws by falsifying documents from Massachusetts hospitals’ Institutional Review Boards in order to obtain get approval for the use of its bone growth products.
Furuno USA, settled a qui tam lawsuit against it for supplying electronic equipment to the US Coast Guard and Navy that was manufactured in China in violation of the Federal Trade Agreements Act. The government claimed that Furuno continued to provide Chinese navigation equipment even after it was advised that the equipment could not be manufactured in China.
On August 19, 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., a business unit of Johnson & Johnson, stating that it is marketing two products without required clearance or approvals in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
