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FCA NOW

Government Enforcement and Corporate Investigations Practice Group

Data Security / Defense Industry / Enforcement / Settlements

20 Aug, 2019

Software Provider and DOJ Reach $8.6M Settlement for FCA Case Involving Alleged Cyber Security Shortcomings

Jack Huerter

Amid increased public and government attention to cyber security, a qui tam plaintiff’s lawsuit has resulted a large settlement for a government contractors’ purported misrepresentations regarding compliance with government cyber security standards. In what is believed to be the first-of-its-kind settlement of an FCA claim premised upon cyber security misrepresentations, Cisco Systems recently agreed to pay $8.6 million to the federal and state governments. The...

Intervention / Settlements

2 Jul, 2019

An Ambulance Provider’s Long Road to Settlement

Vanessa J. Szalapski

On June 20, 2019, more than six years after the case was first set into motion by the Relator, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced in a press release that Hart to Heart Ambulance Services, Inc. (“Hart to Heart”) settled a false claims act case—which alleged that it submitted false claims to Medicare for ambulance transports that were not medically necessary—for...

Data Security / Settlements

21 Jun, 2019

Alleged Violations of Government Data Security Requirements Yield FCA Settlement

T. Augustine Lo

On May 31, 2019, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister of the District of Kansas announced a $250,000 settlement with Coffey Health System to resolve a False Claims Act case.  The case arose from allegations that the hospital’s patient data security was insufficient to justify an incentive payment from the federal government.  The two whistleblowers each will receive $50,000 from the settlement. In 2016, two whistleblowers filed...

First-To-File Rule

21 May, 2019

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

Siena Caruso

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...

Statute of Limitations / Supreme Court

16 May, 2019

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

Ben Kappelman

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...

Overpayments / Settlements

13 May, 2019

Sutter Health LLC Pays $30 Million to Settle Alleged Overpayment of Medicare Advantage Funds, but Faces Similar Allegations in Separate Qui Tam

Erin Conti

On April 12, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Sutter Health LLC—along with its affiliates Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation, Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation, Sutter Gould Medical Foundation, and Sutter Medical Foundation—would pay $30 million to settle allegations they provided inaccurate information about Medicare Advantage Plan beneficiaries in order to receive inflated payments. The settlement stems from a coordinated effort between the U.S. Department...

Res Judicata

24 Apr, 2019

Fifth Circuit Affirms: Res Judicata Bars FCA Retaliation Suit

Briana Al Taqatqa

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit considered an appeal from the Eastern District of Louisiana, which dismissed appellants’ FCA retaliation claims based on res judicata. Res judicata, or “claim preclusion,” is the principle that a matter may not be re-litigated once it has been decided on the merits. Appellants had previously brought employment discrimination actions against Lockheed Martin alleging they...

Defense Industry / First-To-File Rule / Intervention / Statute of Limitations / Supreme Court

22 Mar, 2019

Supreme Court Considers Whether to Extend FCA Statute of Limitation

Alan Iverson

On Tuesday, March 19, the Supreme Court considered whether to extend the FCA’s alternate 10-year statute of limitations to cases in which the government does not intervene.   The case, Cochise Consultancy Inc. v. United States, ex rel. Hunt, involves a whistleblower’s qui tam action alleging that two defense contractors defrauded the government. The case centers on the FCA’s two statutes of limitations. One allows lawsuits...

7th Circuit / Enforcement / False Statement / Healthcare / Insurance Coverage / Overpayments / Pleading Standards

14 Mar, 2019

Another Qui Tam Suit Alleging a Scheme to Defraud by Reporting Inflated Drug Prices Survives Motion to Dismiss

Nathan Ebnet

Within the last five years, district courts in the Seventh Circuit have repeatedly denied motions to dismiss qui tam lawsuits brought under the FCA that allege a scheme to defraud government health programs by reporting inflated “usual and customary” prices for prescription drugs. By contrast, at least one district court in the Sixth Circuit recently granted such a motion under Rule 9(b). On March 7,...

Persons subject to FCA / Pleading Standards

4 Mar, 2019

Tribal Employees Cannot Shake FCA Claims Pleaded with Particularity When Sued in Their Personal Capacities

Caitlin Hull

Seven years after filing their initial complaint, a Montana federal court ruled that plaintiffs’ FCA action—at least on some claims and against some defendants—may finally proceed. Cain v. Salish Kootenai Coll., Inc., No. CV-12-181-M-BMM, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26955 (D. Mont. Feb. 20, 2019). In 2012, plaintiffs, as relators in a qui tam action, alleged that a tribal college, its board of directors, and various...