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The False Claims Act is the government’s principal tool for addressing fraud in contracting, healthcare, mortgage lending, and grant administration. FCA Now provides timely developments about the law, enforcement trends, and other insights from Dorsey’s proven FCA litigators.

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Author: Kirk Schuler

Kirk Schuler

Kirk practices with the Trial Group in Des Moines. He joined Dorsey in 2015 after serving as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Districts of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Central District of Illinois. As a former federal prosecutor, Kirk brings significant trial experience and advocacy skills to benefit Dorsey’s clients involved in all types of civil and criminal litigation and government investigations.

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Statute of Limitations / Supreme Court / Uncategorized

16 May, 2019

Supreme Court Settles Circuit Split and Reads the False Claims Act Statute of Limitations Provision Broadly in Boon to Relators

Kirk Schuler

On May 13, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Cochise Consultancy, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Hunt, No. 18–325, and resolved a circuit split regarding the statute of limitations for an FCA claim brought by a relator between six and ten years after a violation, but less than three years after the government knew or should have known the relevant facts. The Court held...

Enforcement / Escobar / Healthcare / Implied Certification / Insurance Coverage

14 Feb, 2019

DOJ Levels False Claims Act at Pharmacies to Combat Opioid Crisis

Kirk Schuler

This month the Department of Justice brought a “first of its kind” action against two pharmacies, their owner, and three pharmacists for allegedly dispensing and billing Medicare for prescriptions in violation of both the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and the False Claims Act (FCA).  See United States v. Oakley Pharmacy, Inc., et al., No. 2:19-cv-00009 (M.D. Tenn).  The action, seeking both injunctive relief and civil...

Enforcement / Healthcare / Settlements

14 Jan, 2019

For FY2018, Justice Department Touts Nearly $3 Billion in False Claims Act Recoveries, Mostly From Qui Tams and Alleged Healthcare Frauds

Kirk Schuler

The Justice Department announced in a recent press release that it obtained more than $2.8 billion in settlements and judgments from cases involving fraud and false claims against the government. The vast majority of this amount—$2.1 billion—came from lawsuits filed by whistleblowers, or “relators” suing on behalf of the government, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claim Act (“FCA”). Included in the qui...

11th Circuit / Relators / Statute of Limitations

19 Apr, 2018

In One Decision, The Eleventh Circuit Creates Two Circuit Splits

Kirk Schuler

Rejecting the views of the Fourth and Tenth Circuits, the Eleventh Circuit held the FCA’s three year statute of limitations period in § 3731(b)(2) applies to a relator’s claim even when the United States declines to intervene, and in so doing held it is the knowledge of a government official, not the relator, that triggers the three year limitations period, rejecting the contrary view of...

Healthcare / Kickbacks

1 Sep, 2017

Consultant Guilty of Illegal Kickbacks By “Referring” Doctors’ Patients to Another Medical Provider in Exchange for Remuneration

Kirk Schuler

Under 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b)(1)(A) it is a felony for a physician to solicit or receive a kickback “in return for referring” a Medicaid or Medicare patient to another medical provider. But as a recent decision by the Eighth Circuit in United States v. Iqbal demonstrates, physicians are not the only ones capable of making illegal referrals under the statute—consultants can, too. Defendant Iqbal was a...