The past 18 months have been a (relatively) wild time for the False Claims Act - on the books since 1863. In FY2018 the Department of Justice obtained more than $2.8 billion in settlements and judgments from cases involving...more
8/26/2019
/ Appointments Clause ,
Article III ,
Cochise Consultancy Inc v United States ex rel Hunt ,
Cooperation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fraud ,
Materiality ,
Objective Falsity ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
Separation of Powers ,
Split of Authority ,
Standing ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Tolling ,
Universal Health Services Inc v United States ex rel Escobar
The United States Department of Justice this month released a revised and consolidated set of guidelines for determining cooperation credit for organizations facing exposure under the False Claims Act. The consolidated...more
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...more
5/16/2019
/ Appeals ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Cochise Consultancy Inc v United States ex rel Hunt ,
Dismissals ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Intervenors ,
Limitation Periods ,
Qui Tam ,
Reaffirmation ,
Relators ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Tolling
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...more
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...more
President Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, William Barr, is in the news for a June 2018 memo to top Justice Department officials criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller’s obstruction-of-justice investigation. ...more
For most individuals and organizations, it does not get much worse than the threat of a criminal conviction. But for recipients of Federal funds—whether providers, grantees, or contractors—a federal criminal conviction is...more
9/25/2018
/ Collateral Estoppel ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Estoppel ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Funding ,
Federal Grants ,
Plea Agreements ,
SBIRs ,
STTR ,
Suspensions & Debarments ,
Wire Fraud
In recent years the buzz in organizational criminal liability has come from so-called “individual liability” for acts of corporate wrongdoing—the idea that managers and employees are not immune from individual prosecution for...more
In recent weeks, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued two memoranda that might change the calculus of False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases. The memoranda at a minimum provide organizations with new—or at least...more
Institutions and organizations are increasingly expected to conduct a thorough, neutral investigation of allegations of impropriety, misuse of authority, and sexual harassment, among many other issues. No organization, public...more
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma once again have forced the construction industry to focus on best practices for responding to force majeure events.
Now is the time to put into action an effective recovery plan with the aim of...more
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...more
On January 20, 2017, in CFPB v. Great Plains Lending, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s civil investigative demands for documents from lending...more
In a closely watched case, the Court of Federal Claims last week refused to dismiss a health insurer’s putative class action against the Federal government for payments authorized under the Affordable Care Act. The Court’s...more
In the most recent example of its continued effort to hold individuals accountable for corporate misconduct, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced on September 27, 2016, that the former CEO of Tuomey Healthcare...more
Public entities at the Federal, state, and local levels set aside contracting opportunities, provide preferential price treatment, or otherwise grant favorable treatment to contractors (1) owned by veterans, women,...more
The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) published an Interim Final Rule on June 30th nearly doubling the per-claim civil penalties for violations of a number of laws, including the False Claims Act (FCA), the Program...more
In a unanimous decision on June 16, 2016, the Supreme Court charted a middle course between competing interpretations of the scope of False Claims Act. Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, Case No....more
The Department of Justice announced late last month that pharmaceutical manufacturers Wyeth and Pfizer would pay $784 million to resolve a False Claims Act investigation and qui tam lawsuit arising from Wyeth’s failure to...more
5/3/2016
/ Acquisitions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drug Pricing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Medicaid ,
Pfizer ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Qui Tam ,
Reimbursements ,
Settlement ,
Wyeth
On February 12, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its final rule regulating how healthcare providers must report and return overpayments. This rule implements the Affordable Care Act’s...more
In an opinion issued on January 27, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a qui tam lawsuit against the University of Massachusetts, holding that the University was...more
A recently proposed amendment to the Federal Acquisition Regulation precludes Federal contractors from entering into a confidentiality agreement with an employee or subcontractor that “prohibit[s] or otherwise restrict[s]”...more
Organizations routinely seek the advice of counsel in complying with the complex, evolving Federal regulatory scheme. But a recent Federal prosecution for government-contracting fraud illuminates the stark difference between...more
It has long been a goal of the Federal government to eliminate counterfeit parts—parts of unknown (and likely false) origin and uncertain reliability—from the procurement supply chain. But these efforts have picked up pace...more
In a recent memorandum issued to Main Justice litigating components and United States Attorney’s offices nationwide, Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillan Yates emphasized that “fighting corporate fraud and other misconduct”...more