Author: Siena Caruso

Siena is an associate attorney in Dorsey’s Trial Group, where she uses her domestic and international experience to achieve effective and efficient litigation outcomes for her clients. Siena’s litigation experience includes complex consumer class actions, multi-district, product liability, and commercial litigations, and regulatory compliance.

View Full Bio on Dorsey

Court Enters Judgment Totaling More Than $32 Million on Mississippi Jury’s $10.8 Million Verdict, Demonstrating Risks for Defendants Found Guilty of False Claims Act Violations at Trial

Shortly before COVID-19 halted jury proceedings across the United States, a Mississippi jury sided with the Government to return a $10.8 million verdict against Stone County Hospital and several affiliates for what the jury found were false Medicare claims submitted in violation of the False Claims Act (“FCA”). United States ex rel. Aldridge v. Corporate Management, Inc., et al., Case No. 1:16cv369-HTW-LRA (S.D. Miss.). In...

Escobar in Action: Physician-owners’ fraud claims against hospital defeated in Fifth Circuit appeal for lack of materiality

Following the passage of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), which placed new limits on physician-owned hospitals, St. Luke’s Health System (“System”) took action to change one of its hospital’s ownership structures through a buy-out of the physicians’ partnership interests pursuant to the Texas Securities Act (“TSA”). The TSA allows rescission for the original price paid for a security, plus interest, in exchange for a release...

$34 Million Reversal: First Circuit Overturns Its Precedent and Redirects Relator’s FCA Award to Another

Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit overturned its own precedent to hold the FCA’s first-to-file rule is “non-jurisdictional.” In so doing, the First Circuit flipped the district court’s award of $34 million from one whistleblower to another. United States v. Millenium Labs., Inc., No. 17-1106, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 13506 (1st Cir. May 6, 2019). The appeal arises out...