THE LATEST IN WHISTLEBLOWER LAW
THE LATEST IN WHISTLEBLOWER LAW
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Nicholas A. Trutanich, the United States Attorney for the District of Nevada, has announced that his office will put in place a coordinator to help lead investigations and prosecutions of coronavirus fraud.
Is Stephens Institute, a San Francisco art school, liable under the False Claims Act for improper student recruitment? After a long journey, an Oakland jury is set to answer that question in April.
The Deputy General Counsel and Chief Legal Officers at CMS recently issued an internal HHS memorandum clarifying that the recent Supreme Court ruling in Allina may limit HHS’s enforcement practices.
Running a holiday sale or weekly special? Definitely promote it here to get customers excited about getting a sweet deal. Supreme Court’s recent Allina decision dooms FCA case based on Medicare guidance that didn’t go through notice and comment, and has a huge potential impact for all Medicare FCA cases.
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced more than $750 million in settlements under the False Claims Act in the first half of this year, Los Angeles-based Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP reported in its annual mid-year False Claims Act report.
A Kansas hospital settled a lawsuit initiated by two whistleblowers alleging that it had falsely attested that it satisfied the requirements for incentive payments under the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records Incentive Programs.
The First Circuit issued an opinion finding that the False Claims Act’s first-to-file rule is not jurisdictional. In doing so, the court flipped a $34 million award from one whistleblower to another, and deepened the divide among the circuits that have addressed the question.
Aerospace and defense manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne can’t avoid claims that it falsely claimed that it was in compliance with certain federal cybersecurity requirements to win government contracts, Judge Shubb of the Eastern District of California held. The case appears to be the first regarding False Claims Act liability for violation of cybersecurity standards under the Federal Acquisition Regulations.
Until Cochise, circuits were split on whether the FCA's three year “government knowledge” limitations period applied only to cases brought by the government, or if it applied to all suits brought under the False Claims Act, even where the government did not intervene.
On May 6, 2019, the Justice Department issued new guidance on how False Claims Act defendants can earn leniency in return for voluntary self-disclosure, cooperation, and remediation.
David Ji alleged that Chinese glycine was subject to an anti-dumping rate of more than 155 percent until 2011, and then more than 453 percent, but UniChem avoided over $11 million in duties by mislabeling its glycine in its customs documents as glucosamine. UniChem's owner testified that this is just the latest episode in a long held grudge that Ji—his former employer—harbors against him
The Department of Justice contends that Judge Staci Yandle in the Southern District of Illinois made several mistakes by refusing to end a False Claims Act case, U.S. ex rel. CIMZNHCA, LLC v. UCB, Inc. et al., 3:17-cv-00765 (S.D. Ill.). Judge Yandle’s ruling concluded that the government’s reason for seeking dismissal wasn’t sufficient to end the suit.
California legislators have introduced a bill (Assembly Bill 1270) that would amend the California False Claims Act to strike the tax bar, allow for prosecution of cases under the act by attorneys retained by the state or locality, and declare that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, 136 S. Ct. 1989 (2016) decision regarding the materiality element of the federal False Claims Act does not apply to the state’s statute.
A relator can’t amend the complaint to swap in a new relator, not named in the original pleading. That’s what the Ninth Circuit held last month in United States ex rel. Volkhoff v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, 945 F.3d 1237 (2020).
Running a holiday sale or weekly special? Definitely promote it here to get customers excited about getting a sweet deal. Attorney General Barr and HUD Secretary Ben Carson announced a Memorandum of Understanding, which provides guidance for alleged FCA violations by lenders that provide mortgage loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.
Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division announced new guidance for federal prosecutors evaluating a corporation’s ability to pay a proposed monetary penalty or fine.
Whistleblower accuses America’s largest military shipbuilding company of using unqualified workers and taking unreasonable shortcuts in applying a Special Hull Treatment designed to shield Navy subs from sonar detection.
According to 29 relators, a DynCorp-AECOM joint venture called Global Linguist Solutions LLC falsely claimed it was not the true employer of workers to obtain two multibillion-dollar translation services contracts with the U.S. Army.
The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud division brought criminal charges against 35 defendants in what it called “one of the largest health care fraud schemes ever charged.”
The Third Circuit held that the district court can dismiss a qui tam complaint without a hearing, rejecting that argument that the False Claims Act requires an in-person hearing before a court can grant governmental motions to dismiss qui tam claims.
Nevada Legal Services prevailed on a False Claims Act suit, brought on a pro bono basis, alleging that their clients’ landlord was committing fraud by charging their low-income “Section 8” program tenants illegal side payments. And last week the Court held that the plaintiffs could recover attorney’s fees as well, even though their attorneys worked for free.
On July 5, 2019, the D.C. Circuit rejected law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP’s whistleblower lawsuit, which alleged that four chemical manufacturers cheated the Environmental Protection Agency out of billions in fines by repeatedly failing to inform the agency about the risk of injuries posed by isocyanate, a common chemical used in a variety of consumer products.
Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc.—a New Jersey generic pharmaceutical company—has agreed to pay more than $7 million, enter a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, and cooperate with ongoing investigations into the generic industry to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act and antitrust laws, the government announced.
New Jersey filed a false claims lawsuit against owners of Purdue Pharma, accusing them of lying and pressuring doctors to increase sales of OxyContin and other addictive opioids, and targeting groups like the elderly. The suit was filed in Essex County Superior Court and names eight members of the Sackler family, Purdue’s founding family.
On May 24, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission awarded more than $4.5 million to a whistleblower for his role in uncovering a kickback scheme run by a subsidiary of medical device manufacturer Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.
The False Claims Act’s public disclosure bar prevents relators from pursuing allegations that are in the public domain unless the relator is an “original source," i.e., a person that has knowledge that is (1) “independent of” and (2) “materially adds” to public information. The Tenth Circuit recently issued an opinion that shines considerable light on what constitutes a “material” addition.
For the first time ever, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement publicly issued the agency’s Enforcement Manual, which includes a summary of its whistleblower program.
A Texas-based natural gas marketer agreed to pay more than $3.5 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that they engaged in mineral royalty fraud, the Department of Justice reported in a news release.
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