MedStar Ambulance Inc., a large Massachusetts ambulance company, will pay $12,700,000 dollars to settle False Claims Act (“FCA”) allegations brought by a corporate “whistleblower.” The False Claims Act allows individuals with information about fraud on the government to bring suits on behalf of the United States to recover ill-gotten funds from contractors.…
This month, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that Shire Pharmaceuticals will pay $350 million to settle False Claims Act (“FCA”) allegations that Shire and the company it acquired in 2011, Advanced BioHealing (“ABH”), used kickbacks and other prohibited sales methods to compel hospitals, Doctors, and their firms to overuse its product “Dermagraft.”…
A long awaited Supreme Court decision that held major implications for False Claims Act litigants was handed down this week. On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court upheld a jury verdict that found State Farm Insurance Company (“State Farm”) defrauded a federal flood insurance program to avoid paying a homeowner’s…
Two whistleblowers brought fraud allegations against shippers of military freight and helped the U.S. Government recover $13 million in a False Claims Act settlement announced this month. The case involved a nationwide contract described by Transport Topics Newspaper as “the largest logistics outsourcing in history.” Richard Ricks, 58, and Marcelo Cuellar, 30, filed a complaint under…
Travis Thams, the whistleblower who filed a False Claims Act (“FCA”) lawsuit on behalf of the United States and 28 states, stands to receive a substantial portion of the $8 million settlement reached with his employer, Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (“CSI”). Thams was recruited to CSI to act as a District…
Ricky Howard, a former employee of a California construction company that did work on domestic military bases, will receive $1.48 million dollars for his information regarding fraudulent billing practices. Howard has worked in the masonry trade his entire career, and was employed by Harper Construction Company (“Harper”) when he discovered…
Last week, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit revived a False Claims Act retaliation case filed by two nurses allegedly terminated by a U.S. Department of State contractor. The decision reversed a district court’s 2013 dismissal of the complaint brought by husband and wife Ronald and Ramona Young…
Two former employees of Dallas-based South Hampton Community Hospital were allegedly terminated for reporting violations of the False Claims Act to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General. The two were allegedly threatened, harassed, discharged, and otherwise discriminated against for reporting that the hospital…
Contractual agreements with the U.S. military for goods provided in commissaries and exchanges can provide funding designed to ultimately benefit military families. The Morale, Welfare and Recreation (“MWR”) Fund, for example, is a comprehensive network of services that provides support, family child care, and discounted recreation to military personnel and…
Lawsuits brought in qui tam actions under the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”), as well as other government investigations, will lead to an estimated $8 billion this year alone in recoveries this year to resolve allegations of fraud against the government. The staggering amount, more than double the total from last…