In United States ex rel. Lutz v. Berkeley Heartlab, Inc., et al., 2017 WL 51691 (D.S.C. Apr. 5, 2017), the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina confirmed that the advice-of-counsel defense cannot be used as a sword and shield. In this action arising under the False Claims Act,
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently published a decision involving the government’s ability to execute writs of attachment against real and personal property as well as writs of garnishment against banks accounts. (See BlueWave Healthcare v. United States of America.)
In the underlying fraud case,
United States ex rel. Gohil v. Aventis, Inc. is a long-running False Claims Act suit filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by an ex-sales specialist against his former employer, behemoth pharmaceutical company, Sanofi Aventis. Relator Yoash Gohil filed this qui tam suit in 2002 alleging that his former employer engaged in a fraudulent marketing scheme to promote off-label the chemo-therapy drug,
On Monday, the DOJ announced the resolution of criminal allegations and a False Claims Act (“FCA”) lawsuit a relating to a scheme to defraud the United States and obtain kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals. A major U.S. hospital chain, Tenet Healthcare Corporation and two subsidiaries, Atlanta Medical Center, Inc.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia announced that several Lehigh Valley medical facilities and three doctors will pay in excess of $690,000 to settle false health care bill claims to Medicare and other federal benefits programs. The allegations under the False Claims Act were made by whistleblower Margaret Reynard against Dr.
A whistleblower’s retention and disclosure of confidential documents did not amount to breach of his employment contract, according to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
In United States ex rel. Cieszyski v. LifeWatch Services, Case No. 13-cv-4052 (N.D. Ill.), relator and one-time LifeWatch salesperson Matthew Cieszyski alleges that his former employer violated federal and state False Claims Acts (“FCAs”) by submitting for government reimbursement claims for heart monitoring services that violated relevant Medicare and Medicaid regulations.
The U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) has approved an award of more than $10 million to a tipster through its whistleblower program. The award – only the third in the program’s five-year history – is not only the largest ever approved by the agency, it is more than 30 times larger than its closest competitor,
On March 28, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina advanced a plaintiff-friendly interpretation of the False Claims Act’s (“FCA’s”) first-to-file rule. It recognized that naming new defendants who are related to defendants named in previously filed complaint and complicit in the alleged fraud renders the subsequent complaint sufficiently different to pass muster under the rule.
Last week, in Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, — S. Ct. —-, 2016 WL 1092414, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a district court decision certifying a class of workers who sued Tyson Foods under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and Iowa state labor law for short-changing them the time it took to change in and out of their protective gear,
Respironics is to pay $34.8 million for alleged False Claims Act violations related to the sale of sleep masks designed to treat sleep apnea. Allegedly Respironics, a Murrysville, PA based company, paid kickbacks in the form of free call center services to durable medical equipment (DME) companies that purchased the masks.
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.