Compliance

The district court granted motions to dismiss by two defendants in a case alleging fraud on federal student aid programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education. The defendants provided evidence that the plaintiff had merely copied and pasted significant passages from previous cases to compile his complaint. As the plaintiff did not challenge these […]

The district court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment in a case alleging fraud on government healthcare programs. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants had a years-long practice of submitting claims for eye exams while identifying the wrong treating optometrist, which she alleged rendered the claims false. The defendants explained that they did not […]

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently rejected an argument advanced by two subsidiaries of a nationwide health care “watchdog” that the government improperly moved to dismiss two False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuits in U.S. ex rel. Health Choice Alliance LLC et al. v. Eli Lilly & Co. Inc. et […]

A corporate whistleblower can create more financial, organizational, and reputational damage to an employer by using the federal False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. § 3729-33, than by using any other “whistleblower” law. While the FCA contains no requirement that the whistleblower be an employee to create the damage, most FCA whistleblowers are employees, and […]

Mississippi pharmacist David “Jason” Rutland has pleaded guilty to defrauding TRICARE and private insurance companies by paying kickbacks for referral of medically unnecessary compound prescriptions to his pharmacies. This alleged scheme resulted in $180 million in fraudulent billings, $50 million of which were paid by federal healthcare programs. Among his alleged tactics were to adjust […]

A bipartisan group of senators, led by Senators Grassley (R-IA), Leahy (D-VT), Wicker (R-MI), Durbin (D-IL), and Kennedy (R-LA), has introduced the False Claims...

The district court denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss a claim of unlawful employment retaliation, finding that the plaintiff’s state law claims were broader than her FCA claims. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant unlawfully used her notary journal and seal to conclude real estate transactions when she was not present and then pressured her […]

The U.S. District Court of the District of Utah adopted the Supreme Court’s “but-for” causation standard in its instructions to the jury in a case alleging unlawful employment retaliation under the FCA. While the Tenth Circuit had previously cited the legislative history of the FCA’s retaliation language, the district court noted that the Tenth Circuit […]

After a series of high-profile supply chain and ransomware attacks, the federal government is ramping up its effort to improve the nation’s cybersecurity. In the past several months, multiple federal departments and agencies announced new policy initiatives and regulatory directives to drive their cybersecurity agenda forward, and state regulators are following the trend. It is […]

Corporate leaders can easily be entranced by their offices, trappings of power and position in their organizations. All too often, the C-Suite loses any real connection with the rank and file. Employees look to corporate leaders as examples of ethics and commitment to the corporate mission. If the leaders make no effort, the critical link […]